Maine Passenger Service

This "New England Railroad" has received a lot of attention on the various New England railfan discussion boards lately. The guy who has been posting information about it says that he can't give any specifics because of confidentiality agreements between the company and the investors. I suppose that's theoretically possible... but I don't see how it would be possible, theoretically or otherwise, to upgrade the tracks and have the service running by June-July 2005, which is the date he's been talking about.

None of it adds up.

There is no possible way. No way. If they started rehabbing that branch tomorrow, there is still no way it could be up and running by July 2005. Common sense folks. Probably just a tech savvy guy who likes getting us railfans excited.

BWP

Response from MaineDOT:

We are aware of New England RR and some of their proposals. They have contacted the Department but we are not actively involved with them developing any operations at this point. We have been trying to set up a meeting with them to find out if they have the funding and knowledge to actually operate service. In my mind there is no way that you would see any service in the near term if indeed they do have funding available, certainly not next summer.

Nathan Moulton
Manager of Rail Transportation
Office of Freight Transportation
Maine Dept. of Transportation
16 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333
Ph. (207) 624-3563
Fax (207) 624-3251

All you need to consider re: the proposed service by Mr.
Adams is:

1) It took 10 years to institute Amtrak's Down Easter
service. The tracks were already in place. New
England Railroad proposes to have in place a service
by July 2005, and the track is missing in some places
and requires almost brand new replacement over the
rest of the route. Let's not even consider outstanding
ownership issues that we need to be resolved.
(Guilford owns both ends, Portland - S. Windham, ME
and Gilman to St. J, VT)

2) Name one railroad in the United State that provides
this type of passenger service at the distances being
described that isn't supported by the federal and
state goverments and operated by Amtrak or a Commuter
Rail organization (Metro North, NJT, etc). You can't
because there isn't one, no private firm would make
money, and it is being debated whether or not the
Northeast Corridor could make a profit if run
privately, and that is an already established corridor
that has 4 tracks and has seen multimillion dollar
investments in capital improvement. Your "investors"
if they are investing, would be interested in a return
on investment, your proposed services requires grants
or subsidies, choose whatever term you would like to
call it.

3) Comments on the failure of services such as NYN&W RR(Which I rode in its brief tenure) and the Acadian, (which I chased from
Danville Junc. to Berlin, NH during its 3 month
hurrah) sums up the rest.

There is no need to comment any further. If this company has
passenger service running in the next 10 years between
Portland and St. J, I'll buying everyone on rr.net a ticket

BWP

By the way, I am a major believer in private and
public investment in rail infrastructure, to all
classes of Railroads, both freight and passenger, and
Amtrak and Commuter Operations. But there are many
better candidates at this point than the Concept of
the New England Railroad. Hey, why don't we start with
regular passenger service between Portland and
Freeport, ME a market that actually has current
potential?

Amen! & well said,Brooks! Bud

Well, that begs the question of what this is all about. Is this a publicity
stunt, or are they trying to run the old bait and switch like the folks in
Binghamton did with New York State, pretend to be interested in passenger service, score some $$$ for track improvements, and then use 'em for freight rail improvements without doing anything about passenger service. I think that's the real game here.

This whole thing seems to be nothing more than a wild fantasy in one man's head. The folks at MaineDOT have debunked it, so there really is no need for further speculation as to whether it's true or not.

this has got to be a big joke. The State of Maine has already spent considerable money buying lines like the Mountain Division and Lower Road- they don't want to have to buy them back again if this company goes under.

How about inviting the proponent of this service to join this thread and discuss it with us? That could be useful for everyone involved.