(The following article by Hiroko Sato was posted on the Foster’s Daily Democrat website on September 10.)
DOVER, N.H. — Nearly three years and nine months after Amtrak’s Downeaster began shuttling people between Maine and Boston, the train service made a big mile stone: transporting 1 million passengers.
Ethel Hubert of Salem became the Downeaster’s millionth passenger on Friday. A frequent train rider, Hubert said she was surprised to find herself in the center of the celebration.
“I go to Boston quite often” by train, said Hubert, who emerged from train 686 bound for Boston onto the Dover station platform with balloons in hand.
Paul Richards, a retired supermarket worker from Dover, who volunteers at the Dover Transportation Center as a station host, said he was pleased to see the winner was a senior. Richards said he sees a number of elderly people use the train in addition to college students. The ridership has been increasing, he said.
Richards is part of TrainRiders Northeast, a non-profit organization that promotes train use.
Hubert was provided with a one-year pass to ride the Downeaster and a $100 L.L. Bean gift certificate and tote bag, according to Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority. All passengers also received commemorative “Thanks a Million” t-shirts.
The train is also holding a drawing on Oct. 1 to give away overnight packages in Portland and in Boston, as well as a half-day kayak tour.
The Downeaster’s 114-mile route between Boston and Portland includes stops in Old Orchard Beach, Saco and Wells in Maine; Dover, Durham and Exeter in New Hampshire; and Haverhill and Woburn in Massachusetts.