Entrepreneur wants to resurrect Maine-to-Vermont railroad
A Norridgewock entrepreneur has formed a startup company that aims to study what it would take to restart the Maine-to-Vermont Mountain Division Rail Line.
The Portland Press Herald reported David Schwanke plans to begin studying the rail line running from the Portland Transportation Center to the New Hampshire border after the snow melts. Schwanke earlier this month told members of the Route 113 Corridor Committee, an economic development group, that his plan would bring back the railroad in phases, first providing freight service to Portland’s waterfront for an estimated market of around 15 companies.
A second phase would extend to New Hampshire and bring passengers to the White Mountains, with ski trains in the winter and excursion trains in the summer and autumn. In a final phase, which Schwanke estimates would cost around $30 million, the line would connect with St. Johnsbury, Vt., where its trains would connect with other lines to Montreal.
Don Marson, a former vice president and general manager of the Maine Eastern Railroad, and Chalmers “Chop” Hardenburg, editor of the trade magazine Atlantic Northeast Rails & Ports, told the newspaper they were skeptical of the proposal.
Nate Moulton, director of the state’s industrial rail access program for the Maine Department of Transportation, told the newspaper he plans to meet with Schwanke later this spring and ask for a business plan that shows the railroad is viable. A 2006 state study concluded there was not enough freight traffic in the area to sustain the line.
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