Bath (Maine) train station could be used again

BATH — An inactive train station in Bath could be a stop on a route between Brunswick and Rockland as soon as this summer.

Read the article at:

http://www.pressherald.com/news/coast/040603bath.shtml

So now they say it will be regular "commuter service" from Portland to Rockland. I guess if they can't get Amtrak to do it they'll find someone else for now... I don't know if summer visitors will help revenue, but I have visions of another "Champlain Flyer." Let's see if the state will keep throwing money at it...

Having "someone else" operate the commuter rail between Brunswick and Rockland has always been the plan, right from the beginning. The Downeaster may expand from Portland to Brunswick but it will not go further than that. A separate entity will operate trains from Brunswick to Rockland -- most likely the Maine Eastern, a.k.a. Morristown & Erie. M&E already has the equipment, whereas Amtrak barely has enough equipment for the trains they are currently running.

Ah, I see. I'm not very up on this issue. Most of my information is based off the feature in Downeaster a few years ago. They were talking about bringing the train to Rockland, then bringing a highspeed ferry into Bar Harbor/Ellsworth, then running a train from the ferry terminal north to Bangor. The latter part seems far-fetched since the ferry would need to bypass MDI to get anywhere near existing rails (if this is even possible), plus it would mean rehabbing a big part of the long-abondoned MEC Lower Road (which I wouldn't mind myself except that the cost would be a bit expensive for the state to finance). I know the ferry idea is still out there but have you heard anything on that latter bit?

I don't know. I think without that Brunswick to Portland
connection they're going to have a hard time getting
decent ridership. I think what's happened is that since
Maine DOT has already done the work on the Rockland
branch in expectation of the Downeaster going to Brunswick, and since the passenger equipment is sitting
around too, that they think they may as well do something. Maybe they think that by starting the Rockland service up they can put pressure on the
various funding agencies to help them close the gap.
Actually, though, it may backfire; if ridership is low,
they may use that as an excuse to kill the Brunswick
Downeaster extension.