Building passenger rail to Manchester won’t be too hard; paying for it will be
Concord Monitor
By David Brooks
Nov. 18, 2021
Image courtesy of the Concord Monitor.
"The first public airing of a plan to extend MBTA passenger rail from Lowell, Mass., to Manchester made it clear that the biggest obstacle will be the same as it has always been: Money. Specifically, local money.
“The 20 percent match, that’s been the big big stumbling block,” said Patrick Herlihy, director of Aeronautics, Rail & Transit for the Department of Transportation, in response to a question at Wednesday evening’s information session.
Federal Transit Administration capital investment grants require local sources to cover 20% of the total cost. Under the current schedule, by the end of 2022 this project would have to present “a credible and realistic financial plan to show the feds how the non-federal portion of the project is going to get funded,” said Herlihy..."
https://www.concordmonitor.com/passe...shire-43605924