Act now to help save Montreal rail route

Financial problems plaguing the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad System have surfaced as a court considers a creditors’ petition to declare the company bankrupt. Regardless of the outcome, assets of the once-proud Hermon-based carrier clearly must be sold to satisfy its obligations. The way those assets are liquidated has critical implications for existing B&A customers and for the ability to attract new industry to northern Maine.

Maine is geographically disadvantaged in the North American railway network. We are not served directly by any of the four major trunk lines in the Northeast and Eastern Canada, so rail users need ready access to those carriers in order to obtain competitive rates and service for interline traffic. B&A’s current gateways are with Canadian National at Van Buren, Canadian Pacific and others in the Montreal area, and Guilford Transportation at Hermon. Those routing options could be preserved for B&A customers if its assets were sold to a single rail operator.

Recent comments in the press suggest that a one-party sale is unlikely. Buyer interest reportedly is focused on the north-south Madawaska-Searsport line, placing the east-west Brownville Junction-Montreal corridor at risk. This is the shortest route to the West and the only one offering connections with all the “Big Four” railroads in eastern North America – CSX Transportation, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and Norfolk Southern. Without it, Maine traffic would be captive to a circuitous route to the north via Van Buren, to the south over an intermediate carrier (Guilford) before reaching the trunk lines, or would simply be diverted to the highways.

Private interests seeking the maximum recovery of what is owed by B&A will drive the sale process. From a purely commercial standpoint, the value of B&A’s parts may well be more than the whole. The danger is that Brownville Junction-Montreal has greater near-term worth as salvage than as an active rail link. This segment has no on-line shippers at present, and Montreal and the Midwest on the other; moreover, it needs investment in track improvements to maintain train speeds and safety. Longer term, however, it represents an alternative to the long-discussed east-west highway across Maine – one that would take freight off the roads, offer access to a lucrative Canadian market for tourism, and create an efficient way to expedite shipments inland from the revitalized Searsport marine terminal. With construction about to start on a new $16-million deepwater cargo pier there, an efficient rail route inland that is not subject to control by competing East Coast port interests is a very desirable asset.

The Joint Standing Committee on Transportation will hold a public hearing Oct. 10 on the threat of railroad abandonments. The governor and Legislature need to consider the public interest in maintaining a viable northern Maine railroad with multiple connections. Precedent for state investment in rail infrastructure was set 15 years ago, when the first of several segments then being abandoned was purchased to prevent track removal. Brownville Junction-Montreal, however, represents the first opportunity for the public sector to control a line with significant commercial potential for all of Maine, as well as New Brunswick. The opportunity to reconcile private and public interests for the future benefit of Maine industry is one that should not be wasted.

Sharon Libby Jones of Greenville represents House District 111 in the Maine Legislature.