Calais Branch Railroad to be wrecked for trail

On April 27 the Legislature’s Transportation Committee endorsed, with two dissenting votes, a plan by the state Department of Transportation to remove 86 miles of track from Ellsworth to Pembroke from the state-owned Calais Branch railroad corridor for its conversion to a multi-use recreational trail.

Underlying this decision are the DOT’s assertions that the existing track is unsuitable for restoration and must be entirely replaced for future rail use, and that the corridor will be “railbanked” for track replacement when justified. These facts were ignored or brushed aside:

That the condemned track will break continuity of the 126 mile-long rail line approved for purchase in 1986 by statewide referendum – presumably for railroad purposes.

That existing track, while needing major repairs, is built to the same standards of rail weight as many miles of track in regular service today in Maine, plus similar track that the DOT is now funding for rehabilitation.

That Downeast Rail Heritage Preservation Trust has leased the westerly 26 miles of the Calais Branch track, in similar condition, to be upgraded privately for tourist train service by 2009.

That trail advocates propose to apply net salvage value of track

materials for trail construction –

not for railroad purposes.

That track removal will escalate the cost of future rail restoration from incremental repairs to total replacement at higher standards, plus cost to relocate the established trail, plus the predictable resistance of settled trail constituencies, plus new environmental permitting uncertainties.

That destroying southeastern Washington County’s western connection to the national rail system limits a future Eastport rail re-connection to a single outlet through Canada, which involves a Canadian railroad company, a difficult physical connection and two international crossings to return to Maine.

It takes truly far-sighted leadership indeed to claim convincingly that this railroad segment can ever be restored once the existing track is removed. The reality is that costs for total track replacement, plus the cost to relocate the trail and resistance from established trail users will combine to ensure that the economic and political bars to restoration remain insurmountable. Meanwhile, prospective rail users will

shun the region formerly served by

the condemned track.

Maine’s political and transportation leadership have thus recorded their priority for a recreational trail over restored rail service as a path to prosperity for southeastern Washington County. In contrast, the formerly abandoned railroad through Maine’s Mid-Coast Region that was purchased by the state in the same time frame as the Calais Branch is now restored to productive service, while much of Washington County’s coastal railroad will soon be wrecked to make a

linear playground.

Is this decision testimony to Maine’s current regional, developmental and transportation priorities?

Jack Sutton is president of MRG Inc. /DownEast Rail and a resident of Belgrade. His e-mail address is jtsutton@prexar.com.