Annual Meeting
Annual Meeting
Amtrak Pulls It's Horizon Cars Causing Service Disruptions and Cancellations - The Downeaster Maintains Its Regular Schedule
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- Created: 27 March 2025 27 March 2025
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From Amtrak: "In compliance with federal requirements and its ongoing commitment to safety, Amtrak routinely inspects its railcars and locomotives. We discovered corrosion in several Horizon railcars. While working with the manufacturer, we decided to remove the equipment from service after learning of additional areas of concern from intensive inspections of multiple cars. The removal of this equipment from service will affect services on several routes: Downeaster, Hiawatha, Borealis, and Amtrak Cascades. Some trains, such as the Downeaster, will operate with fewer cars, while other services will be provided substitute transportation until a long-term plan is developed."
Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority stated in an email to Trains News Wire that the Downeaster trains have been running for several months with one Horizon car and three Amfleet cars. Quinn wrote, “The Downeaster service continues to operate its five round trips daily but with three Amfleet coaches in each consist.”
A total of 70 cars — 61 coaches and nine food-service cars were pulled from service. More details from Trains Magazine.
Wells Transportation Center Construction Underway
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- Created: 08 March 2025 08 March 2025
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From Seacoastonliine: "The $11.8 million project involves replacing the station’s existing high-level boarding platform, building a second boarding platform on the other side of the tracks, and connecting the two with an overhead pedestrian bridge.
Once complete, Amtrak Downeaster trains arriving at the station from opposing directions will be able to board passengers and let them off at the same time.
The new platform and the added track capacity will support an additional Downeaster train that will operate between Brunswick and Wells each morning. The train’s schedule will be designed to serve commuters traveling to and from the Greater Portland Region."
Some five years ago, TrainRidersNE interviewed NNEPRA Executive Director Patricia Quinn about the project. Major improvements take time - the result will be appreciated by passengers and crews alike.
Amtrak CEO Resigns
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- Created: 25 March 2025 25 March 2025
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The unexpected resignation of Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner sent shock waves through the passenger rail community - its advocates, employees, and passengers.
From the AP: The announcement signaled that the leadership change came down to Amtrak maintaining support from U.S. President Donald Trump. In a statement, Gardner said he was stepping down “to ensure that Amtrak continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of this administration.” A successor for Gardner was not immediately named.
Gardner’s departure also arrives just weeks after billionaire Elon Musk floated the idea of privatizing Amtrak at a Morgan Stanley tech conference earlier this month.
Musk, who has been at the forefront of the Trump administration’s aggressive push to downsize the federal government through the Department of Government Efficiency, reportedly called Amtrak “kind of embarrassing” — while comparing the U.S. carrier to passenger rails seen in other countries, such as bullet trains in China.
A statement from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took aim at Amtrak’s Washington D.C. operations — calling on Amtrak’s leadership to “clean up Union Station” and “rid of our nation’s treasures of homelessness and crime.”
Jim Mathews, president and CEO of the Rail Passengers Association, was interviewed by NPR. Here is his perspective.
High Priority Legislative Alert
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- Created: 03 March 2025 03 March 2025
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The legislature will be taking up a bill that will determine the future on passenger rail north of Brunswick!
LD 487, Resolve, Directing NNEPRA to Apply for Federal Funding for the Purpose of Identifying the Rail Corridor Connecting Portland to Orono as an Intercity Passenger Rail Corridor
Maine’s Transportation Committee has set a public hearing on LD 487 to begin at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Room 126 of the State House. The Committee has also scheduled a work session on this bill to be held beginning at 1:30 pm on Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Room 126 of the State House.
This bill represents the future of passenger rail service in Maine, providing a way to expand that service directly to the northern half of our State.
We need as many people as possible to testify in favor of its passage and, if possible, to attend both the public hearing and the work session!!!
Passenger rail in Maine extends only as far north as Brunswick. Many passengers travel from north of that Town to get on Amtrak’s Downeaster service, some from hundreds of miles away. This includes not only people from Maine but from Quebec and the Canadian Maritime provinces as well. Designation of the CSX-owned and operated rail line from Portland through Auburn, Lewiston, Waterville, and Bangor to Orono as an intercity passenger rail corridor will make Maine eligible for federal funds to upgrade that line for passenger use.