Maine Eastern Railroad (MERR) Discussion

I'm confused as to how the state picks an operator BEFORE negotiating financial terms. Until I hear otherwise, the whole thing stinks.

I wonder about the future of the Rockland engine house.

eustis22 wrote:ok...what industry is in rockland?

Rockland is just the end of the branch. In Maine Coast days, there was a customer there that received occasional boxcar loads of bagged salt and bagged blasting grit, but I don't know if that lasted into Maine Eastern's tenure, or even into the time when Safe Handling Rail was the operator.
The two easternmost customers, Dicaperl (formerly Chemrock) and Dragon Cement are in Thomaston, less than 1½ and 2½ miles away from the Rockland yard (respectively).

Maine Eastern also hauls cement cars to Brunswick for interchange with PAR. I believe some go to a Dragon facility in Windsor, QC, and some to Millis MA. (See the Bay Colony thread elsewhere on this forum.)
I believe MDOT owns the roundhouse, along with the rest of the infrastructure. I don't think it was Maine Eastern that put a fire alarm system in the building, but I might be mistaken.

I thought it was discussed previously that passenger operations would be a stipulation for the contract? Perhaps I'm not remembering correctly... If there's no tourist train, I have to wonder if Amtrak to Rockland truly is in the cards. At least seasonally.

Also, the news articles notes this contract was for Brunswick to Rockland. Was Brunswick to Augusta a different bid? Or was it part of the same bid, but not referenced in the press release due to current out-of-service designation?

So, a new thread with a new railroad?

Why would a private equity firm like Fortress have the slightest interest in bidding on an isolated branch that integrates with no other holdings, has virtually no business, is held captive to a competitor (PAR), and is a rather provocative intrusion into that competitor's bread-and-butter territory which will ensure that the captor will not play ball with the captive? I mean, are they also angling for the Lower Road, which is just as fruitlessly landlocked and an even more provocative intrusion that'll get PAR applying the warpaint? These are bean-counters looking for a return on stock price. Unless they're setting chess pieces to make a run at buying PAR (and this is an awfully strange and anti- leverage-building way of doing so), this is just not how private equity managers strategize. Something smells all kinds of off about this. Fortress is getting something they want out of this, and if absolutely nothing above-board gives the slightest hint to what that something is then there's some purposeful obfuscation going on by them and MEDOT to hide the real reasons. And why would they hide it unless that was something reflecting poorly on both parties?


And bang-up job MEDOT firing another round of bullets into your foot by killing off the passenger service that is one of the few things giving the struggling Brunswick extension of the DE a long rope to build its ridership base. Next time NNEPRA opens its mouth about Lewiston and funding or operations therein, they're just going to get told to pound sand by Amtrak and the keepers of the FTA's Fed grants purse-strings...since they're feeling a little bit burnt right now by the bill of goods they were sold on Brunswick. What a weird state. If there is a point on the pro vs. anti-rail spectrum for being "self-destructively pro-rail", Maine has made themselves right at home inside that wormhole in spacetime. With vigor.

Many thanks to therudycometh over the duration of the ME for all of the information and hard work!

papabarn wrote:Many thanks to therudycometh over the duration of the ME for all of the information and hard work!

Agreed!

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:Why would a private equity firm like Fortress have the slightest interest in bidding on an isolated branch that integrates with no other holdings, has virtually no business

45G tax credits for a 50 mi piece of track?

And bang-up job MEDOT firing another round of bullets into your foot by killing off the passenger service that is one of the few things giving the struggling Brunswick extension of the DE a long rope to build its ridership base.

??? There is no DE-MERR connection. They purposely avoided this to avoid more stringent FRA scrutiny. Don't overlook that ME officials in NJ went to jail a few years ago - not the most reputable bunch.

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:Why would a private equity firm like Fortress have the slightest interest in bidding on an isolated branch that . . . has virtually no business

Three regular customers might be "virtually no business" in your fast-paced world, but there's still freight moving on the Rockland Branch. For people who live around here, that means fewer trucks on US Route 1.

NYC27 wrote:Don't overlook that ME officials in NJ went to jail a few years ago - not the most reputable bunch.

You're painting with a rather broad brush, there. Let's not overlook the fact that besides the "working stiffs" in Maine who are out there in all kinds of weather trying to keep the freight moving, there were others in NJ who put in a lot of time and effort on it. (Not mentioning any names, but the initials for one of them are "TRC." )
One of the comments in the Bangor Daily News says that (paraphrasing here) it might have been better if more decisions were made in Maine, and I can't say I'd disagree, but as the saying goes, "It is what it is." (I actually hate that phrase.)

>The two easternmost customers, Dicaperl (formerly Chemrock) and Dragon Cement are in Thomaston, less than 1½ and 2½ miles away from the Rockland yard (respectively).

>Maine Eastern also hauls cement cars to Brunswick for interchange with PAR. I believe some go to a Dragon facility in Windsor, QC, and some to Millis MA. (See the Bay Colony thread elsewhere on this forum.

Thanks. Hardly seems enough revenue to justify the bid. What's the upside for CMQ given all their issues in Vermont? Do they even HAVE passenger stock? Dioes this mean Maine Eastern is out of business?