PORTLAND, Maine — After two community outreach events that began last April, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority has chosen a location for a relocated station in Portland that will eliminate the time-consuming replacement move for Downeaster Service that dates back to its launch in December 2001.

The agency is seeking further public comment on the proposal by Tuesday, August 27.

The new location, pictured above, is one of three under consideration. It is located south of the interlocking where trains currently branch off the former Boston & Maine (now CSX) tracks to serve the Portland Transportation Center at Thompson’s Point on the former Maine Central Mountain Division branch line.

From an operational point of view, the butt terminal worked well before Downeaster In November 2012, service was extended to Brunswick, Maine. Since then, trains have been operated on replacement trips that add 15 minutes to schedules to and from Brunswick. The authority estimates that the 20 additional daily round trips to the main line increase operating costs by nearly $1 million per year.

The incentive to move is also due to the lack of parking at Thompson’s Point, which is regularly full because it costs only $5.50 a day. “It used to be free,” John Shorb, a resident of nearby Scarborough, Maine, told News Wire. Another reason for the disappearance of parking spaces is that the Concord Coach Lines’ nearly hourly express bus service to Boston’s South Station or Logan Airport is a more frequent, if less convenient, alternative to public transportation. Downeaster Departures. The convenience of having both bus and train alternatives at the same location could be lost if the Downeasters move.

Shorb says the proposed new location is easily accessible by public transit and motorists via the Interstate 295 offramp. Compared to the current station, he says the new location “has easier access to Commercial Street, which leads into the Old Port business and entertainment district.”

Regarding the availability of sufficient parking spaces, Portland Press Herald reports that Northern Light Mercy Hospital announced that it will “jointly explore options” for the preferred location “that can be mutually beneficial, as long as the integrity of our campus and the safety of our employees and patients are maintained.”

Following input from the public and affected stakeholders, preliminary engineering plans and realistic cost estimates must be developed before land can be acquired and federal grants applied for. According to the article, construction costs are expected to be between $25 million and $30 million. The project will take at least five years to complete.

Operation of the Rockland branch in limbo

Meanwhile, a plan to start passenger service beyond Brunswick to Rockland on a former Maine Central branch line awaits the selection of a new operator on the state-owned tracks. After the branch line’s largest freight customer dropped out, Finger Lakes Railway subsidiary Midcoast Railservice suspended all service on the Rockland branch in late July (see “Midcoast Railservice drops out…”), Trains News Wire, June 12, 2024).

“The Maine Department of Transportation has taken over responsibility for maintenance,” Midcoast President Mike Smith tells News Wire. “They do a good job of maintaining closed state lines,” he adds. “But we have (temporarily) disabled all warning devices on the highways because there is no more rail traffic.”

Nate Moulton, director of freight and passenger services for the Maine Department of Transportation, said in an email to News Wire in early August that the agency would issue a request for proposals for a new operator “later this month,” but there has been no action since then.

The Maine legislature had approved $3 million for a three-year pilot project on the Brunswick-Rockland line based on Midcoast’s original plan to use two leased former Trinity Railway Express Rail diesel cars. The company installed accessible restrooms in the RDCs at its own expense. Several trips were made after a public demonstration in summer 2023 (see “‘Coastliner’ RDCs to debut…”, News Wire, June 28, 2023). However, the project reverted to Amtrak after the owner of the RDCs terminated Midcoast’s lease on the equipment.

Amtrak had proposed extending the NNEPRA Downeaster Trains beyond Brunswick to and from Rockland, but that plan stalled when an agreement with Midcoast failed to materialize.