It was 15 years ago that three people came together to discuss what it would take to have Amtrak extend their passenger trains from Boston to Portland. From an initial gathering of 21 interested citizens a few months later, the number of ordinary citizens wanting to participate in such an effort grew to about 300.
With that core group, which took the name Trainriders/ Northeast, press conferences were held, signatures were gathered – initially about 25, 000 to assess public opinion – then close to 90,000 to request passage of Maine's passenger rail service act in 1991.
When this citizen initiated bill – directing the Maine dot to bring Amtrak to Maine began its long trip through the legislative process, Trainriders membership grew to 800, then to 1,300 – which led to the Maine legislature’s decision to adopt this citizen initiated passenger rail bill as their own – for the first time in Maine’s history. The people had spoken – and our elected officials listened!
From the very beginning, the driving force behind the rail initiative was a growing group of plain, everyday citizens. It was plain citizens who arranged the initial meeting between state, federal and Amtrak officials. It was not governors, or federal or state officials, nor was it paid lobbyists who appeared before congress – it was plain citizens who requested more transportation choices.
Today we celebrate the second anniversary of the Downeaster. Similar celebrations are being held today at the Wells, Dover, Durham and Exeter stations to mark the occasion. We’re all delighted that some of our goals have been met without a doubt -
We have wonderful Amtrak crews, with friendly and knowledgeable ticket agents, engineers, conductors and assistant conductors and we have excellent food service in café cars staffed by pleasant attendants. Of course we also have the wonderful volunteer train hosts who have helped to make the Downeaster the train that travel & leisure magazine calls “the most charming train on the North American continent”. Ok – we’ll take “charming” but we also have an on time performance of 92.9 this past November – the highest in the entire national Amtrak system. The first year the Downeaster carried over 300 thousand passengers and exceeded revenue estimates by $1.5 million dollars. As we approach the end of the second year we’ve seen modest
ridership gains – and we’re beginning to see trends.
However, there are still unsettled issues which threaten the future of this remarkable train.
First, we paid for an 80mph train and all we have is sixty. There’s an entire constituency who have tried the Downeaster, but will not continue to use the service until travel time is reduced.
We also paid to have the Downeaster be an important feeder for the national passenger rail system. However, the lack of shuttle service between north and south stations has discouraged travel on the Downeaster for Amtrak destinations beyond Boston.
We also know that our original proposals were right on target. In addition to reduced travel time and connectability, we need increased frequency. In 1989, Trainriders requested 6 trips – officials offered 3 – and we settled for 4 – temporarily. We now know we were right in our assessments in order for the Downeaster to realize its full potential. Failure to correct the continuing problems endangers the service.
It's time to stop talking about ensuring the continuing success of the Downeaster and do something while we’re still able. It’s time for our governor to intervene and we call on our U.S. Senators and Congressmen to become more involved in these long standing issues. We are extremely disappointed in the apparent lack of concern shown by some key officials.
We would ask everyone here to pick up that pen and write to our officials or call or e-mail them to voice your concern. We must make them understand that this is not a toy train, it is not and never will be a "choo-choo" – this train was intended to become a critical and essential part of Maine’s transportation plan. Maine citizens deserve transportation choices for the future – choices that offer more than being stuck in their car on overcrowded interstates or circling over Pittsburg waiting for storms to clear over Chicago.
The Downeaster is the peoples train. If we don’t express continued support for improvements and expansion – we’re afraid the train could be lost. So let’s all make a new years resolution to do whatever we can to assure that this train will be operating faster and more conveniently in the very near future.
I’d like to thank Hannaford Food and Drug for providing our Downeaster cake today and invite everyone to enjoy a taste. We also thank Len Libby Candy Company of Scarborough for providing the wonderful Bangor taffy as well. This is the famous rail taffy that was created for the Maine central railroad during the early 1900’s for sale on the Boston, Portland and Bangor trains.
We appreciate your being here today.
Remarks of TrainRiders/Northeast Chairman, Wayne E. Davis at the 2nd Anniversary observance of Amtrak's Downeaster Train service, December 15, 2003.
| 
