Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — The future of Maine Maritimes and Atlantic Railway service from Madawaska to Millinocket will be the topic of discussion at a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. In a recent release, Denis Berube, director of planning and transportation services at Northern Maine Development Commission, said it had been suggested that the main focus of this meeting will be on “collecting feedback to two questions, which essentially summarize most of the issues folks in Aroostook County might have.”
Questions include:
• What are the most pressing statewide and regional rail issues and barriers we face over the next five to 10 years? and
• What criteria should the state of Maine use to prioritize rail investments?
“The folks from HNTB who were hired by MDOT to write this document will be on hand to listen to public comments and suggestions. Events like this don’t come around very often, and I would urge everyone who is affected, both directly and indirectly by rail issues in the county, to attend and offer input,” said Berube.
Presque Isle City Manager Tom Stevens said representatives from the city would be attending and he urged leaders from other communities that will be impacted, if rail service is dropped, to do likewise.
“We plan to have someone from the city at the meeting. If rail service is discontinued, it will affect existing businesses as well as our ability to attract future developers,” said Stevens. “Several areas of our Industrial Park are served by rail, including our intermodal site.”
Stevens said rail has served county communities well over the years and, with high fuel prices, continues to give rail an economic advantage over other modes of transportation.
“Rail provides an alternative, cost-effective means of transportation as part of the overall transportation network of the county and also Presque Isle,” Stevens said.
Berube said MMA’s decision to pursue shutting down rail service between Madawaska and Millinocket was announced recently and was based on financial limitations.
“MMA Railway announced recently that it is taking steps to sell or abandon its tracks between Millinocket and Madawaska because they are no longer profitable to maintain. The company is asking the state to consider buying the tracks and maintaining them. If that were to happen, the Maine Department of Transportation and the railway could work out a deal so the company’s trains would use the rail lines without an interruption in service,” said Berube.
“The tracks and land are worth about $17 million,” Robert C. Grindrod, president and chief operating officer, said at a press conference. “Upgrading them would cost an estimated $6 million, and the annual maintenance expense would total about $2.5 million.”
The legal process for abandoning rail lines takes between eight and 12 months. Operations will continue as the abandonment process goes forward, Grindrod said.
“The reason for this action is purely economic,” Edward A. Burkhardt, the railway’s board chairman, said. “For some time, MMA has faced weak lumber, paper and other forest products markets, and the economic downturn has greatly affected traffic on these lines. This portion of MMA’s network is heavily loss-making, and as such does not generate sufficient cash flow to provide for necessary capital expenditures to ensure sustainability.”
The 241 miles of track are about half of what the Hermon-based firm, formerly the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad, owns in the state, according to Burkhardt.
DOT is developing the Maine State Rail Plan, an analysis into the state rail system’s strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, with a scheduled completion date of early 2010. The plan will be discussed at next week’s meeting. For more information, visit www.maine.gov/mdot/railplan/index.htm.
Tuesday’s meeting will take place 6-8 p.m. in the St. John Room at UMPI’s Campus Center.
