BRUNSWICK, Maine — A proposal to use a Rail Diesel Car to offer year-round connections on a former Maine Central branch line from Rockland, Maine to a rendezvous with Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority’s Amtrak-operated Downeaster at Brunswick, Maine, is being re-evaluated after the RDC suffered a debilitating breakdown last fall.
Midcoast Railservice, the carrier with operating rights on the state-owned track, had planned to use the leased “Coastliner” under a proposal to the Maine Department of Transportation.
Meanwhile, as NNEPRA and Amtrak are actively working to extend Downeaster round trips from Brunswick to Rockland this summer, a company that has offered proposals to compete with Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor went to the state DOT with a different plan.
Just run it
Midcoast vice-president George Betke tells Trains News Wire his company’s proposal to Maine Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note dates from 2019. That’s when he suggested launching multiple daily round trips with a self-propelled railcar to test passenger demand, rather than first spending money and wasting time on consultant studies. In response, the state allocated $3 million for a three-year test beginning in 2023 [see “Maine DOT proposes $3 million for pilot …,” News Wire, Feb. 2, 2023].
“The well-maintained branch remains an ideal commercial test bed for an inexpensive-to-operate, self-propelled vehicle: the line is strategic enough to be visible [to local residents] and small enough to be manageable,” Betke says. While plans to connect with the Downeaster at Brunswick were being debated, Midcoast ran almost a dozen excursions to Rockland last summer and fall [see “‘Coastliner’ RDCs to debut …,” News Wire, June 28, 2023].
Then in September, Midcoast learned its primary freight customer, Dragon Products, announced it was shutting down operations. “We need to find a way to transform this branch from freight with some passenger service into a passenger-dominated corridor that still has responsibility for incidental freight,” Betke says.
To make matters worse, the company discovered an electro-mechanical relay had failed on one of the RDC’s two engines. “We were unable to find a replacement on short order or figure out a substitute,” Betke says, adding, “Everybody loved the car. They liked its appearance, comfort, spaciousness, big windows for scenery viewing, but we reluctantly made the decision that it probably wasn’t a good idea to rely on it to provide a seven-day-per-week schedule.” The company had installed an accessible restroom at its own expense in the now-disabled car; a companion RDC remains operational in excursion service for Midcoast parent Finger Lakes Railway, based at Geneva, N.Y.
Through round trips sought
It is possible for Amtrak and NNEPRA to treat Rockland branch service as a separate contract operation, similar to an independent Thruway bus connection in Amtrak’s reservation system. But because self-propelled equipment isn’t an option at this time, the Maine-based operating authority hopes to extend Downeaster round-trips to Rockland this summer.
“Right now we’re looking to see if we can get limited service going with Amtrak using existing Downeaster equipment,” explains NNEPRA Executive Director Patricia Quinn in an email to News Wire. The plan involves running a morning trip from Brunswick, where trains are maintained at a layover facility, to Rockland. Then, train No. 684, which currently leaves Brunswick for Boston at 11 a.m., would instead depart earlier from Rockland. Evening train no. 685 (currently a 7:05 p.m. arrival at Brunswick from Boston) would be extended to Rockland as a round trip.
“In addition,” Quinn adds, “we’ve asked Amtrak if there is a possibility of securing a short set — two coaches — to supplement as a midday round trip. The goal is to operate three round trips daily.
Quinn says NNEPRA has given Amtrak the green light to begin the necessary work to meet system safety compliance requirements. “That will take some time, but we’re still hoping to at least launch something this summer; the goal is year-round service,” she notes.
Before service can begin, Quinn says existing temporary platforms used for Midcoast’s 2023 excursions will have to be refreshed, and a new one built at the Wiscasset stop. “We’re working in partnership with the Maine DOT, and there is a lot of community support, so I think we should be able to work through the station piece if the rest comes together,” Quinn says.
Once Amtrak becomes involved, the venture becomes more complicated. Its crews need to be trained, while overhead costs tacked onto equipment usage potentially make the operation substantially more expensive than if it was an independent initiative. The national carrier also necessarily calls the shots on right-of-way improvements it requires and is responsible with NNEPRA in striking an operating agreement with Midcoast.
An outside proposal
The alternative, unsolicited proposal to Maine DOT for the Rockland branch does not seek to establish the year-round transportation option NNEPRA, Midcoast and Amtrak are contemplating. Instead, the plan by AmeriStarRail LLC proposes to operate six daily Brunswick-Rockland round-trip excursions connecting to Amtrak trains, plus bus service from downtown Boston to Brunswick, Rockland, Bar Harbor, and Acadia National Park, from May 1 to Oct. 27, 2024.
A letter dated Jan. 12, 2024, that was sent to the media says the MidCoast Maine Central trains, “will offer Coach, First Class, and Dining Car service” and with each adult ticket purchased (sample fares were not provided), “kids 17 and under will ride free in the Family Coach Car.”
Equipment has not been specified in the letter to Nathan Moulton, Maine DOT’s Director of Freight and Passenger Services from Scott Spencer, AmeriStarRail CEO. City managers along the route, Finger Lakes President Mike Smith, and NNEPRA Executive Director Patricia Quinn were copied.
Midcoast’s Betke told News Wire that no one from AmeriStarRail had contacted the host railroad with any details before or after the letter was sent. But after an earlier version of this report was posted today, Spencer emailed News Wire to explain that negotiations had indeed taken place with Finger Lakes officials in Geneva, N.Y., to develop schedules and keep slots for Midcoast Railservice freight trains.
News Wire has asked for more details on what AmeriStarRail is proposing.
— Updated and substantially revised at 1:25 p.m. CT with new information from Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority Executive Director Patricia Quinn, AmeriStar Rail CEO Scott Spencer.
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