Rail Related Development in Northern New England

The last time the Quebec "secession" movement was on the front burner
was in 1995, when secession was defeated by 53,000 votes. Such a move
would split Canada in half. There was speculation at the time that if that
occurred, the Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince
Edward Island would petition to be annexed by the United States. There
would be pros and cons to such a move on many fronts, including rail traffic.

Nosing about for developments at Eastport, I came across the port's Facebook page (go figger!):

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eastport- ... 9635655575

...which includes pics of their new wood chip/pellet conveyor and warehouse footprint. Also, among the article links was this:

http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles ... or-pellets

It's filled with dubious propaganda, .e.g.,"The Northeast has only three deepwater ports, all in Maine...", but it has lots of interesting nuggets. Exporting pellets over Searsport? From Corinth?

News reports indicate wood chips may start flowing through Eastport within the next month. An interesting development to continue following, particularly in light of the fact that the port is at risk of losing its bread-and-butter pulp business.

Cowford wrote:News reports indicate wood chips may start flowing through Eastport within the next month. An interesting development to continue following, particularly in light of the fact that the port is at risk of losing its bread-and-butter pulp business.

Any indication of interest in rail transloading?

No word on that... I'm hoping as this business develops it's reported from which areas the chips are being sourced... I'm thinking southwestern NB and the eastern corner of Maine, as further north/west in Maine would have made Searsport the more logical port.

Although you may disagree with it...I think we're going to see a rail bond to re-connect Eastport to the rail grid sooner rather than later. If they start handling any substantial quantities of anything in bulk it will be an obvious step.

I'm interested in your thoughts re: what the thresholds would be for that to make economic sense in your experience.

Good luck with that Gokeefe. The Indian Reservation took over the ROW and now have a nice walkway. Doubtfull they will give it up cheap.

Is that ROW railbanked?

steamer69 wrote:Is that ROW railbanked?

My impression is no it isn't.

miketrainnut wrote:Good luck with that Gokeefe. The Indian Reservation took over the ROW and now have a nice walkway. Doubtfull they will give it up cheap.

Something simple like hiring preferences for tribe members at the Port of Eastport and other such concessions would probably go a long way. I agree that an all cash transaction would be extremely expensive. The alternative is some kind of "trackage rights", i.e. the rails on the reservation belong to the tribe (e.g. Passamaquoddy Tribal Railway Inc.) and they receive royalties from the trackage/haulage rights.

gokeefe wrote:

miketrainnut wrote:Good luck with that Gokeefe. The Indian Reservation took over the ROW and now have a nice walkway. Doubtful they will give it up cheap.

Something simple like hiring preferences for tribe members at the Port of Eastport and other such concessions would probably go a long way. I agree that an all cash transaction would be extremely expensive. The alternative is some kind of "trackage rights", i.e. the rails on the reservation belong to the tribe (e.g. Passamaquoddy Tribal Railway Inc.) and they receive royalties from the trackage/haulage rights.

Yeah, but just HOW many miles would they need to completely re-lay in order to connect?
And how would they actually get across the island? I don't see a ROW anymore after it starts down the peninsula.

Cosmo wrote:Yeah, but just HOW many miles

hahaha.....

George,
If it's not railbanked, then the assertion that someone (most likely the tax payers) will have to pay through the nose to get it is probably correct. One way or another it's going to cost the state....unless they are real good at eminent domain....

If chip-shipping in Eastport begins in earnest, no matter the mode, taxpayers will pay for it. Increased roadway wear and tear, increased roadway congestion, and increased potential of highway accidents will be part of reckoning for the asphalt approach.

steamer69 wrote:One way or another it's going to cost the state....unless they are real good at eminent domain....

I doubt eminent domain applies to tribal lands. I'm nearly certain it wouldn't (unless the tribe itself was using it on its own lands).

jaymac wrote:If chip-shipping in Eastport begins in earnest, no matter the mode, taxpayers will pay for it. Increased roadway wear and tear, increased roadway congestion, and increased potential of highway accidents will be part of reckoning for the asphalt approach.

That's one of the reasons I even brought up rail in the first place. The roads in Washington County are already pretty rough as it is. ME 9 has been rebuilt extensively but I'm pretty sure MDOT would want that to last as long as possible.