NNEPRA Board Meetings
Summaries of NNEPRA's monthly board meetings
Maine DOT Supports NNEPRA Goal to Relocate Portland Station to the Mainline
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- Created: 23 February 2021 23 February 2021
At this month's NNEPRA Board Meeting, Executive Director Patricia Quinn announced that the Maine DOT was on board with the rail authority's goal of moving the Portland passenger station from its current location to a new facility on the mainline. Such a move would eliminate backing out of the Portland Transportation Center in order to maintain service to and from Freeport/Brunswick. Ms. Quinn figures that one-mile detour' costs the Downeaster at least two hours of unnecessary travel each day - that's 14 hours a week!!!
The DOT has pledged up to $2 million for a feasibility study which is expected to take two years. More on this topic can be viewed at Maine Public.
In other news from the meeting:
- Ticket-generated income since July (beginning of the fiscal year) was $1,047,133 with 46,136 passengers. Ms. Quinn noted that ridership to date is but 15% of the normal passenger load but it is growing, albeit at a slow pace. However, ridership at the Haverhill station has picked up because the MBTA has suspended weekend service there.
- NNEPRA is planning to return the 5th roundtrip by Memorial Day if Covid-19 restrictions for Interstate travel are relaxed. Assuming that the Red Sox return to Fenway Park, night games will once again see a later northbound train departure.
- Cash is now accepted for Downeaster travel at the Portland Transportation Center and onboard.
- Bicycles are now able to 'roll on' to all trains at all stations - one per coach.
NNEPRA January, 2019 Board Meeting
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- Created: 29 January 2019 29 January 2019
Executive Director Patricia Quinn presented the latest Downeaster Performance Report summarizing the first two quarters of FY2019.
Ridership: Each of the six months showed uneven variations, but the bottom line on actual ridership revealed a small decrease from the targeted goal (-1% or 280,726 vs. 284,036). Ms. Quinn reported that ridership in January would likely exceed the targeted goal.
Revenue: The numbers exceeded slightly the projected farebox ($5,273,148 vs. $5,265,446).
NNEPRA's 2018 Fiscal Year Ends with Strong Numbers
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- Created: 30 July 2018 30 July 2018
The NNEPRA Board heard an impressive report on FY2018, which came to an end on June 30th.
Executive Director Patricia Quinn pointed out that FY2018 was the second strongest period in the Downeaster's history, missing setting a new record by just 5,000 riders. Ridership grew 7.75% over FY2017. There was also good news on ticket revenue. It came in at $10,245,061 - exceeding $10 million for the first time and the previous fiscal year by $1,624,943 or nearly 19%!
Ontime performance continued to be a problem. So far this calendar year it has averaged 70%. NNEPRA, Amtrak and PanAM will be meeting soon to how best to address the problem.
The Downeaster's overall customer satisfaction continued to outpace Amtrak nationally, 90-83.