AUBURN, Maine — The vision for passenger rail service between Portland and Auburn is “very realistic,” Tony Donovan of Maine Rail Transit Coalition told about 35 area residents at the Danville Junction Grange on Thursday.
Joan Saxe of Maine Sierra Club, a coalition partner with MRTC, told the public that planning and policy development at the community level for land use and regional transportation is essential. Public officials and local residents need to provide a shared vision for connecting Maine along these routes, she said.
Donovan, using a PowerPoint presentation, said the 29-mile stretch of track from India Street in Portland to Danville Junction crosses four bridges and road crossings along the St. Lawrence & Atlantic line that would be reconstructed for about $67 million.
Based on Maine passenger rail planning studies that began in 1995 with the Passenger Rail Service Act, 10 studies funded by Maine Department of Transportation since 2000 to 2011 examined in detail passenger rail from Portland to the Lewiston-Auburn area and beyond, including a future route through Oxford, Bethel and on to Montreal.
Rodney Richards of Pownal was told the trains could be running in 36 months.
“Why wait 10 or 15 years?” Donovan asked.
But, legislative action is needed along with campaigning with local, state and federal legislators and town officials.
Funding methods could capture some additional property tax revenue with property owners along the rail corridor. Funding is key to get passenger service.
Affordability for passengers drew concern, but based on commuter costs and AAA studies, Donovan said, commuters pay $8,000 per year to operate vehicles between work and home at a government reimbursement rate of 53 cents per mile.
“We believe we can reduce transportation costs for all commuters,” Paul Weiss of Cumberland said. “We pay for the most inefficient cost of cars on the road.”
Weiss said the target market is that generation that doesn’t want cars, the baby boomers and older people.
Danville Junction in the early 1900s was a thriving community for rail service. Residents in the area say the noisy freight trains that go through the area have hindered their ability to sell their homes.
Thelma Redmond of Danville said the train whistle blowing at 3 a.m. is unreasonable.
Another neighbor said he wasn’t interested in hearing the train whistle 24/7, but is looking forward to taking the train to Montreal in the future.
Warren Leunig of Hebron said, “This has been a railroad crossing town for 125 years. Ten freight trains go through here daily. It would be such a nice thing to have [passenger rail]. I hate driving to Portland. This is such a positive for your community.”
Tony Donovan, a founder of the Maine Rail Transit Coalition, said his group picked up a $15,000 grant from the National Association of Realtors to help spearhead efforts to bring passenger rail service to Auburn.
Donovan and Joan Saxe of the Maine Sierra Club are working with interested people and businesses to implement passenger rail and transit investments in targeted communities along the railway corridors.
Potential funding through the Federal Transit Administration Small Starts program is appropriate, Donovan said, and up to $75 million is potentially available for this development.
The small diesel trains carry 100 passengers on 22 trips per day. Stops in New Gloucester, Pownal, Yarmouth and Falmouth are proposed.
The Maine Rail Transit Coalition and the Sierra Club Maine are hosting regional visioning sessions to unveil a Smart Growth Mobility Project plan for transportation policy aimed to implement new strategies for future passenger rail and transit investments in targeted communities along railway transportation corridors, Saxe said.
Next, Donovan said, will be bills submitted to the Maine Legislature to prepare for engineering and design studies.
“Transportation is for the public good to make us a more livable community,” Donovan said. “If you want it to happen, it’s a community-based decision. Let’s go to work.”
Why don’t you just burn the money? Or flush it down the toilet.
Careful what you wish for. What those of us have found out with the expansion of Amtrak from Portland to Brunswick is the railroads have their own laws. Time and time again we were reminded that the railroad doesn’t have to adhere to local codes or zoning laws. They’ll listen to your concerns and then do whatever they want to whether you like it or not. The railroad could care less about whether your property values decrease. The BDN just reported that there is another shortfall in the state budget and these people want to increase a service that requires millions in subsidies.
Please note that “these people” are two entirely different entities. The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA) manages the Downeaster, operated by Amtrak. The Maine Rail Transit Coalition is essentially an alias of Tony Donovan and is pushing a pie-in-the-sky idea that doesn’t have a snowball’s chance.
Also, if certain folks in Brunswick didn’t want trains operating behind their homes, they shouldn’t have built their homes adjacent to a rail yard in the first place. Frankly, NNEPRA is being pretty darn nice to build a facility in which to service its trains, instead of doing it outside in the (still-privately-owned) rail yard.
Sounds like nativefreeporter is a NIMBY/BANANA of the highest order.
This so called rail yard hasn’t been used in many years. That’s why a neighborhood was built there. The people who live there say it makes more sense to build a layover station close to the former airbase to attract businesses which Brunswick desperately needs. I agree with them.
Anyway my comment wasn’t about the layover station (which wasn’t in the expansion plans and now will cost the taxpayers 3-4 times what they were led to believe) it was about how the railroad doesn’t have to adhere to local zoning laws or codes and they often don’t.. Stick to the subject matter or don’t reply. Sounds like you were looking to make a comment so you could call someone a name to make yourself feel good.
stop spending money until we actually have some
That is not how America was built.
LOL….seriously Mitt?
The anual US deficit was miniscule relative to what we have today throughout our history all the way up to 1913 with the advent of the Fed, income tax and the run up to WWI
financing the devolopment of America via a central bank is a long-adored nationalist progressive idea that has brought us to where we are today….practically bankrupt
America was built though the buildup of wealth……the buildup of debt over the past century has done nothing but destroy a once-great system by extracting the wealth our middle class used to own
“America was built though the buildup of wealth…..”
Ay-yup, I’m sure that is what the Irish and Swedes brought with them.
Public transit will only become profitable when it is MORE attractive to people than using private vehicles. Dunno about you, but I enjoy being able to drive where and when I want. I dont have to wait for a 5:00 train with 17 stops between here and my destination only to transfer halfway down the line and wait another 45 minutes.
Public transit by design will never be able to offer the same convenience of a private car, especially in a state like Maine. Only when road traffic becomes so unbearable that the trains are faster will Mainers start taking a train. Even in the last 5 years, when gas prices have doubled, transit ridership has NOT doubled. Obviously, the price of gas is not the sole factor, people still enjoy being able to move as they please.
Public transit does not need to be any more “profitable” than the road-car-truck system. Already, it is faster and more convenient to take the BAT bus from Bangor to the University of Maine; as roads and parking lots become more congested and gas prices comntinue to rise, this will become true of more and more places. We can’t keep driving the way we do forever.
“Public transit does not need to be any more “profitable” than the road-
car-truck system.” Why Not? What is the motivation to provide a quality good/service without profit?
“Already, it is faster and more convenient to take the BAT bus from Bangor to the University of Maine” The BAT is a joke. Work at the Mall? Forget going home, the last bus leaves three hours before closing. Say My UMO class starts at 9 am. I live on Broadway in Bangor. I would have to walk a mile to Hannaford and catch the 758 center st. bus to transfer to the Old Town bus. I would arrive at UMO at 845. Including the walk, it took me just about an hour to get from Broadway to UMO. I could get in my car, hop on the 95, not stop every 75 feet to pick up or drop off, and be to UMO in about 20 minutes, 25 if traffic sucks.
“as roads and parking lots become more congested and gas prices comntinue to rise” like i said, gas prices have doubled since 2008, but i dont see twice as many BAT buses on the road, for most working people, the BAT is just not a viable option. Trust me, i have used the BAT many times when my wife had the car out of town, the BAT does not appeal to me more than my car, and as long as the majority feel this way, public transit will never “go anywhere”
Your post touches on many reasons that we have to change or modify our car culture. Business development in outlying areas like the mall at the expense of downtowns is one. Limited evening hours is another. The inaccurate perception that driving is less subsidized that public transportation is a third.
From my home near downtown Bangor, I can get to the center of the UMaine campus faster by BAT bus than I could if I drove. But I live near downtown by choice. On the bus, I can read or catch up on work, productive time that would be lost to me if I drove. I would love to see more BAT routes and extended hours, but I would also like to see more businesses do what UMaine does — charge a fee for parking and give away rides on the BAT bus. People prefer driving because the infrastructure incentivizes it through free parking, low gas taxes, drive-through eateries and banks, public spending policies that favor drivers over transit riders, and a host of other hidden subsidies.
Low gas taxes? 48 cents a gallon is hardly what i call low. My car holds 17 gallons of gas, for every fillup thats over 8 dollars in taxes. 8 dollars on a $55 fillup amounts to a nearly 15% tax. And thats just for gas.
So yes, infrastructure is favorable to drivers, drive-thrus are awful convenient, but we take it on the chin when it comes to taxes, a portion of which subsidizes your bus fare. But we drivers pay it so that we can have more mobility, and the ability to have a vehicle to ourselves. I would rather my beautiful wife be in the seat next to me than some guy who hasnt used deodorant since Clinton was in office.
Even though I like the BAT bus the University Maine Run should have an express route from Bangor
BUS
Hear, hear!
I wish Bangor had $10-$15 tickets to Boston instead of $45
10 studies between 2000 – 2011? 10?? Really??
This is what these people do….study, after study, after study, after study
I feel pretty bad for these folks, as they have zero clue as to the economic calamity that is headed their way and they will have ZERO to offer society when it finally goes down….hence, they’ll be at the front of the breadline, with their little model trains and page after page of useless studies
light rail for Portland please!! Start with a loop around the peninsula with a spur out to the Jetport and the Maine Mall. Eventually extend out with lines running Scarborough/Saco/Biddeford, Westbrook/Gorham, Riverton and Deering neighborhoods/Falmouth/Yarmouth/Freeport. It could be paid by a county sales tax and rider fairs. It would be similar (but smaller in scale) to light rail in Seattle, Portland OR, and Salt Lake City (all of which I’ve had the pleasure to see in action). It would serve a need not served by the Downeaster Portland/Freeport/Brunswick run.
Even ‘jitney’ service featuring truckie equipped vans that would run on and off the present tracks could provide commuter service if conflicts with freight trains and crossings can be resolved.
Build service one van at a time, eventually replacing them with a lite rail car or, if Rail Canada hasn’t snapped them all up, a natural gas powered BUDD LINER refurbished by Industrial Rail of Moncton, NB.
Van pool and taxi cab operators could compete for franchises to operate the cars, and DOT would pick up expense of line/crossing upgrades and operating signals
Realistic? Idiotic is a better description.
A regular service of articulated buses could provide a more frequent, more flexible (in terms both of destinations and late night buses, etc…) and more accessible service for a FRACTION of the cost.
What do these dimwit planners actually spend their time on? It clearly isn’t thinking.
“the plans differ, the planners are all alike” – F. Bastiat
Please Come To Bangor!
We had rail service up through the 60’s, also had several different bus companies competing for business (thus lowering ticket prices), but the demand left and so did they. The government now subsidizes Greyhound, Concord and Cyr. We cannot afford rail service here.
Concord is only subsidized on its Coastal Route… I would like to see them offer $10-$15 tickets like they do between Boston and New York
Another sick joke government could play on the taxpayers of this poor country.