Rail is a Smart Transportation Investment for Maine
Click here to tell Maine Department of Transportation to create a plan for passenger rail service!
Sierra Club strongly supports and advocates re-establishing passenger train service and the expanded use of existing rail netwroks to move goods across the state and region. Rail transportation is significantly more energy efficient (frieght rail is 2/3 more efficent than trucks), reduces carbon and air pollution from automobiles and trucks, traffic congestion, wear and tear on roads and bridges, and makes our neighorhoods safer for pedestrians and bicylists, while creating jobs and helping to revitalize town centers and reduce poorly-planned sprawling development.
Maine Passenger Trains
Sierra Club Maine and the Maine Rail Transit Coalition are advocating for a plan to provide passenger train service connecting Portland to Auburn, with future connections to Maine locations and eventually to Montreal.
The plan is part of the Smart Growth Mobility Project developed by the Maine Rail Transit Coalition, Sierra Club Maine, Maine Commercial Association of Realtors and interested citizens and businesses, to implement new strategies for future passenger rail and transit investments in targeted communities along railway transportation corridors.
Three proposed bills in the 2015 Maine legislature would secure the necessary investments to provide passenger rail service between Portland to Lewiston. Click HERE for a lobbying factsheet.
Learn More:
Passenger train service is a benefit to Maine, Lewiston Sun Journal, August 6, 2017.
Op-Ed: Expand Rail, Other Public Transport to Fight Climate Change, Grow Economy, Portland Press Herald, 6/26/15.
Editorial: Our View: Lewiston/Auburn train service would boost economy. Portland Press Herald, 6/2/15.
Bill That Funds Passenger Train Study for Lewiston-Auburn Line gets Broad Support. Sun Journal, 3/11/15.
Municipal Leaders Tout Bill to Study Yarmouth/Auburn Rail Link. Maine Public Broadcasting Network, 3/11/15.
Full Video of News Conference on Portland to Lewiston Passenger Rail, 3/10/15.
Portland-Auburn Passenger Train Could Be First Step Toward Rail Connection with Bethel-Montreal. Bangor Daily News, 8/7/14.
Aerial Video of the Portland-Auburn Passenger Train Route
Maine Rail Resources
Maine Rail Transit Coalition
Draft Maine State Rail Plan 2010
Transportation Governance and Finance: a 50-State Review of State Legislatures and Departments of Transportation
NEW: Study shows rail brings economic investment
Freeport is known as a world class shopping destination and home to LL Bean’s headquarters. Deb King, Executive Director of the Greater Freeport Chamber of Commerce, said retailers in the town’s 170 store shopping district adjacent to the new train platform look forward to more shoppers visiting from Boston and Portland when train service begins in November. The new $2.5 million movie theatre next to the train station is the latest new attraction to open in Freeport.
In Portland, private developers are planning a $100 million investment in Thompson’s Point near the train station. The investment would turn a brownfield site into a new entertainment and business district for the city. The new investment includes a sports and convention complex that would be the new home of the NBA Development League’s Portland Red Claws. The new development would create 475 permanent jobs that would add $11 million in annual wages to the Portland economy. In addition city coffers would see nearly $1 million per year in new tax revenue.
These investments are just the start for the people of Maine. An independent study shows that by 2030, Downeaster train service will spur nearly $7.2 billion in new construction along the corridor. Nearly 18,000 new jobs will be created. State and local budgets will benefit each year from nearly $75 million in new tax revenue generated from increased economic activity.
Maine has put together a short video of what the locals are saying about the project.
Maine Rail Study Documents
Portland North Alternative Modes
Portland to Lewiston/Auburn & Montreal Passenger Rail Feasibility Study
The studies listed above are available on the MaineDOT website.