PAR, CMQ, EMR/MNR awarded $20m fed grant

[MEC407]

From the Portland Press Herald:

The federal government has awarded Maine $20 million to help fund an ambitious $37.3 million project that will allow the state’s railroads to offer faster and more reliable freight service to businesses.

The project will rehabilitate 380 miles of track throughout Maine and remove longstanding bottlenecks. Four private railroads will supplement the grant with $14.5 million, and the Maine Department of Transportation will oversee the program and provide $400,000.

The scale of the project and the level of cooperation among the state’s railroads are unprecedented, said Nate Moulton, director of rail programs for the Maine DOT.

He said the project will allow the short-line and regional railroads to work together to provide customers with better service.

“They will act more like a single large railroad, like a Class I, to provide good and smooth service from one end of the state to the other,” he said.
. . .
The railroads involved in the projects are Pan Am Railways, the largest railroad in New England; Central Maine & Quebec Railway, which connects Searsport with interior Maine and points west; and two railroads, Maine Northern Railway and Eastern Maine Railway, which are owned by a subsidiary of J.D. Irving.

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.pressherald.com/2015/10/26/f ... from-feds/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;