Good news for the Downeaster

Article in today's Portland Press Herald:

This has been a good summer for Amtrak's Downeaster service.

Ridership is up, in part because faster travel time between Portland and Boston is helping the train compete against automobiles, say rail authority officials.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/ ... ster.shtml

I'm sure the rise in gas $$$ as helped that out a little bit. Isn't the Downeaster supposed to go from 4 trains a day to 5?

b&m 1566 wrote: Isn't the Downeaster supposed to go from 4 trains a day to 5?

That is the plan!

One of my fellow teachers rode the Downeaster daily this summer,for a month,while she took a graduate course at UNH,and loved it! Trip to and fromPortland was about 75 minutes,and she had that extra time to do 2 hours of homework. Saved $(for the school,as we pay for graduate courses and mileage) as well as wear and tear on herself and her gas eating Suburban or her son's hi mileage Jetta! Got the commuter pass and where else can you park for $2.00 a day in Portland?

Been trying to figure out WHERE in N.H. Amtrak wants 2 new passing tracks?? Is Atkinson still "active"? Could also be around the Newton area too? They have Rollinsford/Dover and Rockingham Jct. for freights to take the hole. GRS has let some passing sidings just "rot"(they did just reactivate Walnut,extending from Royal Jct. at MP-185 to about MP 183). The long passing track at N. Berwick hasn't been used since the Downeaster debut and the revitalization of the freight mainline.

Guilford does NOT run many freights during the Downeaster's approximately 18 hr. operating window,what about 4-5 trains? They have a great record for keeping the Downeaster "on time",but with their "less than reliable motive power",and keeping crew's "hours on the payroll" down,I can see their wanting "more sidings". Of course,the Welfare State of Maine will kick in $$$$$,but doubt if N.H. will give 'em enough $$$ to buy one new tie!

Bud

wolfmom69 wrote:but doubt if N.H. will give 'em enough $$$ to buy one new tie!

Indeed. The funny thing is that the $1.4million that NH is being asked to contribute, is federal funding. The money is already there -- it won't raise anybody's taxes in NH -- they're just being asked to use it for the railroad rather than, say, widening a stretch of highway. But it's not looking good, and from what I've heard, the members of the NH Executive Council don't give a rat's @$$ about what their constituents want.

Small thinking from small minded politicians. Nothing new there from the asphalt state, ahh, granite state.

Ah,"The executive council"!!! A vestige of British Colonialism,but Maine kept it's,called the "Governor's Council",until the 1957 Sinclair report that told Maine to stop voting in September("as Maine Goes,So Goes The Nation"),combine 1 room rural high schools into SADs,and scrap the "council".

In pre independent America,the King appointed the Colonial Governor in most of the 13 colonies,and the voters elected the 1 house legislature,that met only every other year. To help the Governor make decisions,when the legislature was not in session(probably met 2-3 months in the first year of their 2 year terms,the Governor appointed a council of "leading citizens". Most states did away with this,come independence from Britain.

The Maine Governor's Council handled such things as approving appointments to key state jobs and pardons(the latter being very lucrative for bribes).

Seems like N.H. council has a lot more power on matters. I think,it was Burton,who's on,or was on this N.H. Council,that I met at a railfans day in N.H. He certainly seemed "pro rail",but must be in the minority.

Bud

What are the chances of that line being double tracked again? If so, how long will if be, before we see it? I only see rail traffic getting heavier on that line in the future so it may need to happen someday.

There's NO chance that Guilford would pay for it out of their own pockets, which means the money would have to come from the feds, and probably be partially matched by the State of Maine (hey, if NH won't even pay for a siding, they're certainly not going to help pay for putting in a second main line). I don't see it happening any time soon -- the money just isn't there. I think we're pretty damn lucky that the feds have decided to help fund the Downeaster until 2009. The funding was supposed to run out this year, I believe.

Susan Collins has twice pushed through an extension, first for 2006-2007 and now 2008-2009

Any thoughts on an extension to Rockland yet, it's been on the books for a while now.

They want to do it, but I think they want to do the Lewiston/Auburn extension first

First they need to get to Brunswick. You can't get from Portland to Rockland without going through Brunswick first.

According to the articles I've read and the DOT documents I've looked at, Amtrak service would be extended from Portland to Brunswick, and then riders would get off at Brunswick and board a non-Amtrak train (operated by Maine Eastern or whoever is operating the Rockland Branch at that time) to get to Rockland. Amtrak trains would not officially go to Rockland.

MEC you are correct. The Rockland train runs now from Brunswick and Bath: http://www.maineeasternrailroad.com/. The State of Maine wants to get high speed ferries running from Rockland to Bar Harbor to get people to Acadia w/o automobiles

to bad they(Amtrak) cant run to Bangor, I work on a cruise ship out of there and the MEC is rite by the city docks. Love to watch the action.
Mike Arnold