Each day an often late and mostly empty Amtrak train makes a stop at Claremont Junction, New Hampshire. It’s a train that has become a quixotic example of what is wrong with state subsidized passenger rail and an example of what more will be coming for New Hampshire and the rest of New England.
Each empty seat reportedly costs $83.00; it isn’t difficult to calculate exactly how taxpayers are pouring in, and losing, over $21 million a year into the state-subsidized Amtrak Vermonter, which runs north from New York City with a later, often late, truncated terminus at St. Albans.
But staring down at the empty platform at Claremont Junction, the greatest support for this train likely comes from Vermont, except this simply isn’t the case. It’s actually from New Hampshire.
With the departure of Senator Patrick Leahy (R-Vermont) puts another ranking member at the forefront of supporting empty seats, state subsidies and no real direction for Amtrak and this Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire). There is a current proposal to expand the Amtrak Vermonter back into Montreal, including adding a day train through Claremont and ending at White River Junction, Vermont. Nothing is ever said about ridership on these proposed trains or whether it’s a good idea to spend even more state-subsidized millions on rail to a foreign country with little chance of success.
Senator Hassan seems to have a keen interest in Amtrak. It won’t be long before her Vermont designs will be over in Nashua, Manchester, with widespread, if not slavish, support from Concord.
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