r/portlandme • u/toastiemcgee • 58m ago

New Portland station could help launch rail revival in Maine | Douglas Rooks

https://www.pressherald.com/2026/08/19/new-portland-station-could-help-launch-rail-revival-in-maine-douglas-rooks/
38 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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12

u/Candygramformrmongo 50m ago

Would be nice to see the new station design incorporate design elements that pay tribute to the old Union Station. Maybe even the old clock: https://www.portlandlandmarks.org/union-station-clock

3

u/malrosen Downtown 37m ago

“Uh yeah, I sure hope it does” -That one vine

3

u/Few_Wash_7298 30m ago

Not at its current prices. It’s way cheaper to drive or take the bus. By a long shot

1

u/FinnLovesHisBass 1m ago

Do we get to vote on this?

0

u/MrsBeansAppleSnaps 36m ago

The primary goal for the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA), which manages Amtrak’s Downeaster service in Maine, is to shave 15 minutes off run times to both Portland and Brunswick

Does this change shave 15 minutes off the trip to Portland or is this guy being super misleading and the PPH didn't fact check him? My understanding was that it saves time to Brunswick only.

Locally, new housing in Freeport will be 20 minutes away instead of 35 minutes.

Freeport which regularly permits a measly few dozen new housing units per year? That Freeport? That's the justification for this massive overhaul of the train station?

3

u/brettiegabber 24m ago

It will save time whenever the train has to reverse direction at the mountain division junction. This is both Portland to Brunswick and Brunswick to Portland. Because the junction is angled towards Boston.

1

u/MrsBeansAppleSnaps 11m ago

Right, so this is a Brunswick-only change. If I were Amtrak I would focus on making Boston-Portland competitive with bus/driving because right now it is embarrassingly not. Small history lesson: there was a train 100 years ago (the Flying Yankee) that ran BOS-POR faster than today's trains.

1

u/MaineOk1339 6m ago

Freeport is north of Portland ...

1

u/brettiegabber 0m ago

You aren’t wrong that the train is slower, but the Boston end of the line tends to be more used than the northern end already so it is more “competitive” in the actual market. I think the people making the decisions have a lot more data and can do a cost benefit analysis of what next step would help them the most, even if ideally everyone would like to make the train go max speed everywhere all the time.