B&M fights railroad's petition to end delivery service
B&M Baked Beans’ owners are fighting an attempt by St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railways to halt the rail service that delivers dried beans to the Portland plant.
The state has sided with the railway in its claim that shipment volumes are so low it is losing money on the line whose sole customer south of Auburn is the bean maker, according to the Portland Press Herald. The freight cars bring in all the beans used at B&M’s plant in East Deering. B&M has made baked beans there since 1913.
The railroad is asking the U.S. Surface Transportation Board for permission to discontinue the freight service on the 24-mile line that runs from Auburn to Portland. The federal board is scheduled to make a decision by the end of February.
In a written statement Monday, B&M said the railroad’s petition is based on information that is incomplete and misleading, and in some cases false, according to the Portland Press Herald. The bean company said the railroad substantially understated the level of shipments made to its factory and the factory’s dependence on rail service.
The newspaper reported that B&M also said the railroad filed the petition without any advance notice and without trying to revisit its compensation arrangements with connecting carriers or working with factory managers. But in a Dec. 27 filing, the railroad said it has tried for years to talk to B&M about ways to reduce costs or increase revenues, and the bean company has not shown interest. Under federal law, B&M can provide the railroad with financial assistance to subsidize the service, the filing said.
Without rail access, B&M would have to rely on more expensive truck transportation.
To protect industries and jobs, the state has previously opposed plans to abandon railroads elsewhere in Maine, the Portland Press Herald noted, but in this case it is siding with the railroad rather than the baked bean factory.
In its most recent filing to the Surface Transportation Board, B&M said it would bear the burden of discontinuing the line, according to the newspaper.
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