29th TrainRiders/NE Annual Meeting

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Created: 17 November 2017 17 November 2017

Our Annual Meeting was held at the Holiday Inn By The Bay in Portland on December 15th, 2017. We heard presentations from NNEPRA Executive Director Patricia Quinn (The Downeaster continues to grow in ridership and revenue.), MDOT Commissioner David Bernhardt (Maine is forging new alliances with rail companies and states.), President David Fink of PanAm Railroad (We are committed to supporting on-time Downeaster service.), Gene Skoropowski, Former Sr. VP of All Aboard Florida (Florida's first privately-funded passenger rail service will begin operation this month), Chairman Wayne Davis and Executive Director George O'Keefe.

Ms. Quinn regularly updates our membership on the Downeaster 'numbers.' They were impressive and her presentation can be seen here.

Gene Skoropowski proudly presented an overview of Floridays private passenger rail system now coming online - Brightline. You can view his presentation here.

In this year's video, the city manager of Bath, town managers of Wiscasset, Newcastle, Damariscotta and the executive director of Rockland Main Street spoke of what the proposed seasonal weekend service from Brunswick to Rockland would mean to their communities and the travelers on board the Downeaster.

Adjournment was at 3:30 pm. Many of those in attendance then boarded the Downeaster (on us) for a trip to Freeport to see L.L. Bean's spectacular Christmas display and program. Afterwards, they took the 5:25 pm in Freeport and continued on to points south. It was a train-friendly event.