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Politicians, business leaders speak in support of revitalizing passenger rail service in central Maine The Maine Rail Group sponsored the presentation about LD 227 "To Conduct a Feasibility Study for Extending Passenger Rail Service from Brunswick through Augusta and Waterville to Bangor."  Share Getting a passenger rail system through the heart of central Maine is a key to encouraging development and making sure cities in the region don’t miss out, some local officials say. They brought that message Monday to a virtual forum at which advocates discussed a proposal to study the feasibilit...

Updated April 11 increase font size Central Maine not included in Amtrak’s 2035 vision plan. What does that mean for the future of passenger rail in the region? Experts say future not totally bleak, even if central Maine is not part of the passenger rail giant's long-range plan. Locomotives and boxcars in January at the Pan Am Railways yard at 55 College Ave. in Waterville. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel file If passenger rail service were to return to central Maine, it would probably not be because of Amtrak’s 2035 vision plan. Amtrak released its plan in late March after President ...

Amtrak 2035 Map: Hopes and Challenges Amtrak 2035 Map: Hopes and Challenges Written by David Peter Alan, Contributing Editor As Amtrak marks its 50th anniversary, many are reflecting on the railroad’s past half-century and wondering how it will do in the next. “America’s Railroad” recently released a map showing the services it would like to offer by 2035; 14 years from now. As planning frontiers go, that is not a very long time. For us seniors, who remember the entire Amtrak era, it feels like an eternity; far beyond our lifetimes. ...

January 19, 2021 Third in a Series: Advocates Uncertain as Politics Comes Into Focus Written by David Peter Alan, Contributing Editor My two previous reports in this series showed that companies and a union who could benefit directly from various DOT grants made highly favorable statements about Pete Buttigieg. That means little on its face, because the statements came from entities who could say little else. Advocates for the riders on Amtrak and transit are not bound by that constraint, and they have endured other DOT heads who have not been...

Few American cities do as well as Chicago has done in terms of providing rapid transit service that covers the city like a blanket; only New York and Washington have systems that provide coverage that’s as dense or denser. But the blanket has some holes in it. The just-passed (but not yet signed by the president) coronavirus relief bill offers assistance to transit agencies struggling to avoid slashing service in the face of continued low ridership. That assistance will come a little too late to keep the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) from going ahead with previously anno...