PORTLAND, Maine — Following a pair of community outreach sessions that began last April, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority has settled on a site for a relocated Portland station that would eliminate the time-consuming backup move for Downeaster service that dates to its launch in December 2001.
The agency is soliciting further public input on the proposal through Tuesday, Aug. 27.
The new location, illustrated above, is one of three considered. It is south of the interlocking where trains currently diverge off of ex-Boston & Maine [now CSX] tracks to serve the Portland Transportation Center at Thompson’s Point, on the former Maine Central Mountain Division branch.
From an operational standpoint, the stub-end terminal worked well before Downeaster service was extended to Brunswick, Maine, in November 2012. Since then, trains have been making back-up moves that lengthen schedules to and from Brunswick by 15 minutes; the Authority estimates the 20 additional daily back-and-forth movements getting to the main line add almost $1 million annually in operating costs.
The impetus to relocate is also driven by the lack of parking at Thompson’s Point, which regularly fills up since it costs only $5.50 per day. “It used to be free,” nearby Scarborough, Maine, resident John Shorb tells News Wire. Another reason spaces disappear, he says, is that near-hourly Concord Coach Lines express bus service to Boston’s South Station or Logan Airport provides a more frequent, though less comfortable, alternative to Downeaster departures. The convenience of having both bus and rail alternatives at the same location could be lost if the Downeasters move.
Shorb says the proposed new facility location is conveniently accessible to public transit and drivers via the Interstate 295 spur. Compared to the current station, he says the new site “has easier access to Commercial Street, leading into the Old Port business and entertainment district.”
Regarding the availability of sufficient parking, the Portland Press Herald reports that Northern Light Mercy Hospital says it will “work collaboratively to explore options” for the preferred site “that can be mutually beneficial as long as the integrity of our campus and the safety of our employees and patients are preserved.”
Following input from the public and affected stakeholders, preliminary engineering plans and realistic cost estimates must be developed before property acquisition and application for federal grants can take place. According to the article, construction costs are likely to be in the $25 million to $30 million range. The project will take at least five years to complete.
Rockland Branch operation in limbo
Meanwhile, a plan to launch passenger service beyond Brunswick to Rockland on a former Maine Central branch awaits selection of a new operator of the state-owned tracks. After the short line’s major freight customer exited, Finger Lakes Railway subsidiary Midcoast Railservice ceased all operations at the end of July on the Rockland branch [see “Midcoast Railservice to exit …,” Trains News Wire, June 12, 2024].
“The Maine Department of Transportation has taken over maintenance responsibility,” Midcoast president Mike Smith tells News Wire. “They do a good job maintaining inactive state-owned lines,” he adds, “But we [temporarily] deactivated all of the highway warning devices because there are no longer any train operations.”
Nate Moulton, Maine DOT’s director of freight and passenger services, said in an early August email to News Wire that the agency would issue a request for proposal for a new operator “later this month,” though there has been no word of any action since then.
The Maine legislature had appropriated $3 million for a three-year Brunswick-Rockland pilot based on Midcoast’s original plan to utilize two leased former Trinity Railway Express Rail Diesel Cars. The company installed accessible rest rooms in the RDCs at its own expense. Several excursions were operated after a public display during summer 2023 [see “‘Coastliner’ RDCs to debut …,” News Wire, June 28, 2023]. The project reverted to Amtrak, however, after the RDCs’ owner cancelled Midcoast’s equipment lease.
Amtrak had proposed extending NNEPRA’s Downeaster trains beyond Brunswick to and from Rockland, but that plan stalled when a host railroad agreement with Midcoast failed to materialize.
