April 19 – The operator of the Amtrak Downeaster hopes to increase passenger rail efficiency and appeal to travelers by building a new station in Portland along the mainline rail line that runs from Boston to Brunswick.
Passengers hope the new station will ease passenger and parking congestion where the Downeaster currently stops at the Portland Transportation Center, a facility owned and shared with the bus company Concord Coach Lines.
Located near Thompson’s Point at Congress Street and Interstate 295, the transportation center brings the northern Downeaster to a branch of the Pan Am Railways main line. To go further north, the train must reverse to the main line, a process that takes 15 minutes and reduces the timeliness and efficiency of the passenger service.
“That extra time makes the train less attractive as we try to promote more cooperative transportation options,” said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which operates the Downeaster.
Quinn said the authority, working with the Maine Department of Transportation, is considering three locations for a new station and platform along the main line and will present them in an online public meeting next Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m.
The locations are along St. John Street, she said. Two are located between the Veterans Memorial Bridge and Congress Street; one is just past Congress Street. Quinn declined to specifically identify the locations before the meeting.
During the meeting, representatives of the authorities will discuss the purpose of the project and the different options. They will then seek public input on the project, with a particular interest in gathering local and regional views and identifying concerns and issues.
“We have been working on this as a strategic issue for several years,” she said. “The purpose of the meeting is to provide information and solicit public feedback.”
Whether the project moves forward and how a site will be selected will be determined after next week’s meeting, Quinn said. Concord Coach Lines would continue to operate from the transportation center.
A new train station and platform would cost $25 to $30 million and could be completed within five years, she said. The authority would apply for federal funding to design and build the project.
The authority was created by the Maine Legislature in 1995 to oversee the restoration and operation of passenger rail service from Boston to Maine. It manages the day-to-day operations of the Downeaster, including budgets, contracts, marketing and customer service.
The Downeaster currently operates five round trips per day between Brunswick and Boston.
Passengers waiting Thursday to board a southbound afternoon train were open to the idea of a new station, especially if it addressed the need for additional parking at the Portland Transportation Center.
It’s a particular problem during the tourist season and school holidays, including this week when parking lots at the transportation center were full and cars were parked on grass and along medians.
Brandon Wohl, of South Portland, was heading to Saco with his wife and two sons for lunch at Fish & Whistle seafood restaurant in Biddeford.
“We do it every now and then for a little outing,” he said. “I don’t think a new station would change much for us, but it could provide more parking, which would be good.”
Limited parking at Portland station was also a problem for Kirstien Davidon from Hampden, near Bangor. She was traveling with her two daughters to Dover, New Hampshire, to visit the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire.
“I thought about going to Brunswick station, but the parking lot there looked small,” she said.
Abe Schafermeyer was on his way to Boston for a few days with his wife and two sons. They planned to visit the Museum of Science and the New England Aquarium and buy some dumplings in the Chinatown district.
Schafermeyer also rides the Downeaster three days a week to an administrative job at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, biking to the station from his home in Portland’s Deering Center neighborhood.
“It might take a bit more cycling to get to a new station,” he admitted, “but I’m a big fan of public transport, so if it helps increase ridership and take more cars off the road , then I’m all for it.”
