[3][4] The initial focus of the NHRTA was to provide oversight for the proposed Capitol Corridor intercity rail project (not to be confused with Amtrak's Capitol Corridor service in California), which would have connected Concord, New Hampshire, with Boston, Massachusetts, via Manchester and Nashua and the existing MBTA Commuter Rail Lowell Line, and also include a stop at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.

Additional current projects of the NHRTA include the possible extension of the Haverhill MBTA Commuter Rail line to Plaistow, New Hampshire along the Coastal Corridor.

[6] The agency would prove to be extraneous; by 2010, constant political opposition and funding issues would hamper all NHRTA rail projects.

Following the 2010 election, some members of the New Hampshire General Court (the state legislature) began efforts to repeal the NHRTA.

Following a promised veto by Governor John Lynch, a Democrat,[9] and a committee recommendation to kill the bill, the Senate passed an amended version of HB 218 in May 2011.

The initial focus of the NHRTA has been on the proposed Capitol Corridor, which would connect Concord, New Hampshire, with Boston, Massachusetts, via Manchester and Nashua and the existing MBTA Commuter Rail Lowell Line, and would also include a stop at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.

[11] At a public forum on March 5, 2014, the NHRTA presented preliminary results of the Capitol Corridor Rail and Transit Alternatives Analysis.

[15] URS Corporation, the consultant conducting the study, predicted significantly lower ridership for an enhance bus-on-shoulder service, at 1,200 passengers daily.