Bond would expand rail service

FREEPORT – A long-discussed idea to link Rockland and Portland by passenger train came a step closer to reality Friday as Maine Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport, unveiled a $40 million rail bond proposal.

The bond would provide funding for rail improvements on the Pan Am, or Guilford, line between Portland and Brunswick. The improved track would enable the Amtrak Downeaster, the daily commuter train from Portland to Boston, to continue to Brunswick and make possible a passenger rail connection on Maine Eastern Railroad to Rockland.

The bond bill would provide $39 million to the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority in Portland to be used for capital infrastructure improvements, Edmonds said. An additional $1 million would be made available to the Maine Department of Transportation for capital rail improvements providing a direct link from Brunswick to Lewiston.

The rail bond proposal would become part of a much larger state transportation bond package put before the voters for approval in November 2007.

“The Downeaster has proven itself to be a worthy asset and deserves further investment and expansion,” Edmonds said at a press conference in the Freeport Town Council chambers.

Although it is too early to tell about details of debt service, Edmonds said that traditionally the payback period for Maine’s bonds is 10 years.

Area lawmakers, railroad officials and representatives of organizations and towns benefiting from the proposed expansion attended the ceremony.

Edmonds hailed the progressive thinking of state transportation officials more than 40 years ago in starting a highway system that led from Kittery to Aroostook County.

“We want to be just as forward thinking and progressive when it comes to passenger rail,” she said.

Calling trains a safe, efficient, clean form of transportation, Edmonds said she hoped the proposed expansion would promote sustainable growth and encourage communities north of Portland to thrive as they have in southern Maine because of rail.

She envisioned an eventual extension of freight and passenger train service beyond Rockland to Augusta, Waterville and Bangor.

Gordon Page V. Page Sr., director of passenger operations for Maine Eastern Railroad, said the service in 2006 processed more than 14,000 passengers between Brunswick and Rockland.

“In 2007, we are projecting a 25 percent increase in ridership,” he said.

Maine Eastern Railroad operates on 57 miles of track between Brunswick and Rockland with stops in Wiscasset and Bath. The line is owned by the Morristown & Erie Railway, which began more than 100 years ago in the nation offering freight service.

The line operates freight trains routinely servicing local industry, including Dragon Cement in Thomaston, Page said.

The problem lies with the 30 miles of track between Brunswick and Portland because it is not up to Amtrak’s standards for passenger trains and needs rehabilitation, Page said.

“They would have to bring the track up to a reasonable speed,” Page said.

Rep. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick, a member of the Brunswick Local Redevelopment Authority, said rail would be important in the economic development of Brunswick Naval Air Station as a civilian facility when the Navy leaves in two years.

“We want to connect the base proper,” he said. “We have the rights-of-way for a direct connection to the base.”

Gerzofsky added: “This train service is so vital to what we’re going to need at the base. We can move people much more efficiently, much cleaner, much better, and safer with this rail service. It’s going to benefit the whole state once we branch out.”

Patricia Quinn, executive director of Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which administers the Amtrak Downeaster, would be responsible for running the expanded Amtrak line to Brunswick as well and would be in charge of the bond money. She said she now could run two trains a day on a new line without having to get more equipment.

“If the bond is approved as presented, the Authority would enter into an agreement with the railroad for track rehabilitation.” Quinn said.

“We already have an operating agreement with Amtrak. Once we’ve signed all the agreements, construction on the line would take about two years,” she said in estimating a starting date for the new service.