Democrats question Downeaster’s train depot location
Six Democratic legislators have joined Gov. Paul LePage, residents and others in questioning the planned location of the Amtrak Downeaster’s train layover facility in Brunswick.
The Bangor Daily News reported that the six Democrats sent a letter on June 18 to Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Downeaster’s operator, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, suggesting that the facility’s location be moved to South Portland.
The six legislators are Sen. Edward Mazurek of Rockland and Reps. Michael Shaw of Standish, Ken Theriault of Madawaska, Wayne Werts of Auburn, Peggy Rotundo of Lewiston and Christine Powers of Naples.
In the letter, they said NNEPRA should locate the 60,000-square-foot, $12 million layover facility at Rigby Yard in South Portland instead because it would be a “more logical hub” if proposed expansions to Lewiston-Auburn and Montreal eventually gain traction.
“One of the concerns is the feeling that the layover facility being built in Brunswick would somehow circumvent rail moving up to Lewiston-Auburn, New Hampshire, Montreal and Vermont,” Werts, one of the lawmakers, told the BDN. “Every town on this corridor — Auburn, Lewiston, Bethel [and] Guilford, [N.H.] — has already signed on and said they want passenger rail through their territory. Bethel has already invested $4 million. They’re just waiting for the train.”
Brunswick West Neighborhood Coalition, a group of abutters who have opposed Downeaster’s proposed location, said the legislators’ letter “indicates growing bipartisan concern” after LePage questioned the location for economic and environmental reasons in March.
Earlier this week, a Maine superior court justice nullified a stormwater management permit for Downeaster’s Brunswick facility after determining that abutters did not receive proper notification. NNEPRA will have to restart the permitting process.
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