PORTLAND, Maine — Passenger rail service from Brunswick to Rockland will be on hold for at least a year as Central Maine and Quebec Railway takes over freight service on the line through a 10-year lease with the state.
The new op e rator last week confirmed to federal officials that it has notified all shippers along the 60-mile track that it would be taking over the service from Maine Eastern Railroad, owned by Morristown & Erie Railway Inc.
John Giles, chief executive officer of Central Maine and Quebec Railway, said in an email that the company has no plans for passenger rail service.
“While we are eager to grow the freight traffic over that [railway], the proof will be in the pudding,” Giles said in the email. “We will take over and serve customers seamlessly, are actively engaged with existing and possible shippers and do so with a sense of optimism for growth and commerce.”
Dragon Cement is the largest customer on the line, which also serves Brunswick Landing, Bath Iron Works, Dicaperl Minerals and the Rockland Industrial Park. The line connects with Pan-Am Railways in Brunswick.
The new line adds to Central Maine and Quebec Railway’s 481 miles of railroad, 220 of which are in Maine, 237 of which are in Quebec and 23 of which are in Vermont.
Central Maine and Quebec Railway told the U.S. Surface Transportation Board that it plans to hire as many as four employees for the Rockland branch, jobs that would be open to Maine Eastern employees. A Maine Eastern official said in September that nine people would lose their jobs in the changeover.
Central Maine and Quebec Railway’s proposal beat out Maine Eastern for the state-owned rail line, a decision Maine Eastern’s vice president and chief operating officer said was puzzling to him as the state did not call with any questions after receiving the submissions.
Maine Eastern had proposed year-round passenger service connecting with Amtrak’s Boston-to-Brunswick Downeaster line, which would have required some subsidy from the state.
Nate Moulton, director of the Maine Department of Transportation’s Office of Freight and Business Services, said the state will not subsidize the passenger service and “to Maine Eastern’s credit,” the state did not subsidize its previous seasonal passenger service.
Moulton said the state would wait until next year to solicit proposals for passenger service providers again — for service that would start in 2017.
By that time, he said, the Downeaster also could start running an expanded passenger service and new schedule that would give more options for connections with the Rockland-Brunswick route.
“That may give us a better product and better connections that may lead to more interest in running a passenger operation on the Rockland branch,” Moulton said.