THE FUTURE OF WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW

Maine Loves Its Train. Can Other States Follow in Its Tracks?

The state knew something special had to happen if it wanted to revive intercity passenger rail service. A coalition of political and private support created the highly successful Downeaster.

Dec. 13, 2021 • Jake Blumgart

Every Friday evening, Wayne Davis strolls up to open the Amtrak station in Brunswick, Maine, and prepares for the arrival of his train. ... This small town is home to Bowdoin College and is the terminus of the Downeaster line, one of the most successful state-backed services in America’s passenger rail system. Before the new station opened in 2012, a train hadn’t reached Brunswick since the 1950s when the Boston and Maine Railroad spiraled towards bankruptcy. ... “As the last train left, the smoke was still hanging in the air and they tore the building down,” sighs Davis, who serves as a volunteer to prepare the welcome center after 4:30 on weekends — the full-time employees clock out by then in this sleepy corner of the world.

Mid-century transportation planners thought trains would never be back, and Davis has spent the last 30 years proving them wrong. He began his campaign in the late 1980s, forming a dues-paying advocacy group called TrainRiders Northeast. Enabling legislation was secured in 1991 and the first train rolled out of Boston’s North Station heading to Portland in 2001. Since then, it more than doubled its ridership before the pandemic hit.

“In 2020, leading up to COVID, we were breaking ridership and revenue records almost every month,” says Patricia Quinn, executive director of Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which oversees operation of the Downeaster.

In August 2019, the Downeaster enjoyed its best month ever with 60,944 passengers. Quinn thought the service would break 600,000 annual riders in fiscal year 2020, before the pandemic began suppressing travel. Even with ridership still reduced, in October the Downeaster was back to 68 percent of its passenger load of that same month in 2019.

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Jake Blumgart
Jake Blumgart is a senior writer for Governing and covers transportation and infrastructure. He lives in Philadelphia. Follow him on Twitter at @jblumgart.