(The following story by Tess Nacelewicz appeared on the Portland Press Herald website on June 17.)
PORTLAND, Maine — The Freeport town manager is skeptical about plans to run an excursion train from Portland to Rockland this summer during the Maine Lobster Festival in early August.
The train, which would make two round trips, would stop in Freeport and Brunswick at temporary platforms that the state would build for about $5,000 each. But Freeport Town Manager Dale Olmstead said liability insurance for the platforms could cost the town $15,000 and he’s not sure whether anyone would get off in town.
“We’re questioning if this makes sense,” Olmstead said Wednesday. He said he doubts whether anyone headed for the lobster festival would bother to get off in Freeport. If they did, he said, the train wouldn’t return for several hours or perhaps the next day. “How are they going get back?”
Brunswick Town Manager Donald Gerrish said that community also has many unanswered questions about the proposal. “We want to be supportive if we can, but we need to have a better understanding of it all and how it’s going to affect Brunswick,” he said.
Tracy Perez, a policy specialist with the Maine Department of Transportation, said the state too is waiting to learn more details about the excursion runs, which she said were proposed to Gov. John Baldacci by David Fink, vice president of Guilford Rail System. Guilford owns the track that runs from Plaistow, N.H., to Brunswick. The state owns the rail between Brunswick and Rockland. The excursion trains would be run by Maine Eastern Railroad.
Perez said the governor supports the excursion train proposal because it dovetails with Maine’s goal of increased “car-free tourism” to ease congestion on the state’s roadways in the summer. And Perez believes Freeport would benefit from the train. “Freeport is a major tourist attraction in Maine,” she said. “There probably are people who won’t take it all the way to Rockland who will go to Freeport.”
Also, she said, if the excursion trains are successful this year, that could pave the way for more trips in following years and provide an indication of the demand for regular passenger service north of Portland.
“It will give us an idea if there’s a market for rail service,” she said. “It will give us an idea if this kind of service is possible.”
Fink and a Maine Eastern Railroad representative could not be reached for comment Wed- nesday.
Freeport and other towns north of Portland have long sought passenger rail service. Amtrak’s Downeaster service from Boston now stops in Portland.
Perez said rail officials have told the state there would be two excursion trips during the lobster festival, which is Aug. 4-8 in Rockland, but she said further details still need to be worked out. The state would pay for temporary train platforms made out of wood or asphalt, she said, but the towns would be responsible for insurance costs. She said she didn’t know if Olmstead’s estimate of $15,000 for insurance is accurate.
Freeport officials and business leaders say many questions remain, such as schedules, ticket prices and marketing. Rodney Regier, chairman of the Freeport Town Council, said a spot at the end of Mill Street near the old hose tower is being considered as the location for the platform.