Charting Maine’s Future

Maine has neglected its railroad infrastructure for decades, but with skyrocketing diesel fuel prices, increasing disillusionment over hours spent behind the driver’s wheel, and concern over carbon dioxide and other forms of air pollution from motor vehicles, a growing chorus of Mainers is calling for new investment and new services on our state’s freight and passenger railroads.

A recent report from the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a smart-growth ally based in Chicago, has evaluated the various economic benefits of the Downeaster’s passenger service. In just a few years of operation, the Downeaster has already helped to spur major investments in quality, downtown developments near its stations: the developers of the Saco Island project cite the train as a major factor in their decision to rehabilitate that city’s historic mills, and passenger rail access has given new vitality to Old Orchard Beach with major new condominium developments. In Portland, the long-underutilized Thompson’s Point industrial area is now being marketed as an urban transit-oriented development opportunity. In Brunswick, a major downtown, mixed-use development is being planned merely in anticipation of the passenger rail service that state officials have long promised for the town:

Maine Street Station, Brunswick

CNT calculates that the cumulative investments in downtown development that the Downeaster could catalyze might add up to over $7 billion in the next 20 years, providing over 40,000 new housing units and almost 7 million square feet of office space with easy access to transit. The service will also save Maine commuters a quarter billion dollars in transportation costs every year by giving us an alternative to driving, and these new transit-oriented developments will provide an extra $76 million annually in new state and local tax revenue.

Nationwide, the Wall Street Journal has reported on new, multi-billion-dollar investments in America’s privately-maintained freight railways, especially as trucking companies struggle with rising fuel prices and urban congestion. According to the Journal, “a load can be moved by rail using about a third as much fuel as it takes to haul it by truck. And rail transport is becoming more efficient still, [railroads] say, as operators speed their lines and logistics companies build huge warehouse areas along routes.”

The Maine House of Representatives recently approved LD 2019, which would expand Downeaster service north to Brunswick by making improvements to a key freight railroad that connects Portland to the northern part of the state. By investing in this relatively short connection, visitors from the south will be able to ride trains all the way to Rockland in the summer on the privately-run Maine Eastern Railroad, and future passenger connections to Lewiston/Auburn, Augusta, Bangor, and even the Canadian cities of Montreal, Quebec, and St. John would be possible.

Maine’s Senate will vote on LD 2019 very soon - if you’re interested in supporting transit-oriented economic development in Maine, look up your Senator’s contact information here and give them a phone call or send them an e-mail message.

Read the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s full report on the Downeaster’s economic impacts here.

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