(The following story by Joshua L. Weinstein appeared on the Portland Press Herald website on May 20.)
PORTLAND, Maine — Overly optimistic ridership estimates have left Amtrak’s Downeaster passenger service needing $1.7 million more in federal subsidies. Rail officials plan to take the moneyfrom a fund earmarked to extend the train service from Portland to Brunswick.
Officials want to use another $1.2 million from the same fund to fix existing tracks.
Officials said Wednesday that it makes sense to use money from the Portland-to-Brunswick fund because that project has been delayed. They insisted that they still intend to extend service north of Portland.
Today, rail officials will ask the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation Committee, PACTS, for permission to move the federal money from the Portland-to-Brunswick project. Federal law prohibits shifting the money without that committee’s approval.
John Duncan, executive director of PACTS, said members have indicated they will approve the request.
Patricia Douglas, manager of marketing and development for the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which runs the Downeaster, said Wednesday that “aggressive” ridership estimates have been adjusted to reflect actual performance.
“We have learned,” she said, explaining that ridership during the train’s first year was above projections.
“We thought we were going to continue to go gangbusters,” she said. “We’ve leveled off.”
Ron Roy, the state Department of Transportation’s director of passenger transportation, said even if PACTS approves the request, the fund to bring service to Brunswick will still have $10 million, along with money from a bond issue.
He said the first priority is to stabilize the Portland-to-Boston service. If that fails, he noted, there will be nothing to expand to Brunswick.
The rail authority, he said, also hopes to reduce the trip time from two hours 45 minutes to 2 1/2 hours. Douglas said the authority also wants to add a fifth daily round trip.
Dale Olmstead, Freeport’s town manager, said he is concerned that state officials will not extend service beyond Portland.
Freeport has designated a spot for a train station, and has been spending money and conducting studies. A developer there wants to build a train station into a hotel project.
But, he said, “There’s a growing feeling in Freeport and Brunswick that there is not a firm commitment at the state level to bring the train to Brunswick . . . We used to get dates from Maine DOT on when that will happen. MDOT will not even give us a date anymore. If the folks from MDOT were honest with us, they’d say that link is now in doubt.
“Now that they’re beginning to rob that fund,” he said, “it further convinces me that perhaps the state has decided that they’re not going to pursue that link.”
Olmstead plans to be at today’s meeting to ask state officials how serious they are about service to Brunswick.
The answer, Roy said, is very serious. But on the timing? “We’ve got probably a year and a half worth of work, under the best of conditions, before we start construction,” he said.
Wayne Davis, of TrainRiders Northeast, a private rail organization, said he wishes Portland-to-Brunswick service would happen sooner. He noted that the Downeaster’s ridership has rebounded and is exceeding expectations.
Nancy Connery, a transportation consultant who lives in Woolwich, predicted years ago that the rail authority’s ridership projections would be wrong.
Now, she said, “they’re moving the deck chairs around as fast as they can . . . It’s going to cost a lot more and it’s going to have less ridership.”