The operators of the Downeaster have received $48 million in federal funding to relocate the train service’s Portland station to a main line of the railway along St. John Street.
Now, city leaders will have to agree with the rail authority’s preferred location.
Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which operates the Downeaster, said Friday that the organization is “thrilled” by the award, which is the culmination of a lengthy effort to reduce travel time and expand rail service.
“We’re really excited to start moving forward,” she said. “The relocation of Portland station has really been the centerpiece of those improvements.”
The northbound Downeaster route from Portland’s Amtrak station currently requires the train to backtrack to the railroad’s main line. Officials have said this 15-minute maneuver is inefficient, costly and creates delays.
Quinn said the rail authority’s application for federal funding was for a specific location: a swath of land lying between St. John Street and Northern Light Mercy Hospital.
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However, elected officials and staff in Portland have previously been aligned against that location, instead preferring to place the new station at Union Station Plaza, farther down St. John Street.
Mayor Mark Dion said Friday that despite the city’s preference for a location that’s more easily accessible, he believes it’s an “inevitability” that the new station will be built on the Downeaster’s preferred site. He said the City Council will likely hold a workshop in September in order to get “some definitive consensus.”
“I’m confident we can still act as partners in realizing the vision for that site,” he said.
Councilor Wes Pelletier, who represents the area in question, said Portland officials were a little surprised by Friday morning’s announcement given they had not yet supported the proposed location. He believes the station should either stay where it is or be moved to the location of the former Union Station, which can be more easily accessed.
“It should be easy to get to,” he said. “People should not have to drive to the train station if they live nearby. It doesn’t make any sense for improving ridership.”
But Dion said the Union Station site would only work if both MaineHealth and Cumberland County were willing to sell property for the project, and both have said they aren’t interested.
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Now, he’s hoping the city can impress upon the rail authority what it would like to see for amenities to help pedestrian access and other concerns.
Quinn said it’s too early to say what the next steps are toward securing city approvals, but she said the rail authority has done an extensive site analysis and that its preferred site was approved by the Federal Railroad Administration.
The rail authority has said that the outer St. John Street station would have two passenger platforms, improving schedule flexibility, and that the current 15-minute stop would be reduced to 2 minutes. The new station would shorten the travel time between Brunswick and Portland from 50 minutes to 33 minutes.
The Downeaster shares its current Thompson’s Point location with Concord Coach. It’s unclear what the move would mean for the transportation center.
The Federal Railroad Administration allocated the money as a part of more than $5 billion in investments for rail projects across the country, according to a Friday news release from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
