Posted 4:00 AM

Updated at 8:27 AM

Downeaster’s $13 million layover facility in Brunswick ready to roll

The long-awaited and much-debated shed will allow the rail authority to service trains overnight and add a third daily run between Brunswick and Boston.

By Dennis Hoey Staff Writer

dhoey@pressherald.com | @DennisHoey | 207-791-6365



[font size=1]Jim Russell of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority gives a tour of the new train shed in Brunswick on Thursday. Longer than two football fields, it will become fully operational Nov. 21. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer[/font]

The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority will finally unveil its new train layover facility in Brunswick this weekend, more than five years after it first proposed the project to improve service on the Amtrak Downeaster.

The 60,000-square-foot facility, which is longer than two football fields, will allow the rail authority to begin the overnight servicing of Amtrak Downeaster passenger trains starting in November.

Tucked between a quiet residential neighborhood to the south and the congestion that clogs traffic on Pleasant Street to the north, the facility is barely noticeable.

Once it becomes fully operational Nov. 21, the layover building will allow the Amtrak Downeaster to operate a third train between Brunswick and Boston – a service that Amtrak officials say is sorely needed, especially by passengers who might want to spend the day and night in Boston at a Bruins or Celtics game. Currently, Amtrak only operates two passenger trains north of Portland on a daily basis.