A bill to fund passenger rail service from Portland to Brunswick, Rockland, Lewiston and other points west and north received early approval in the Legislature Friday.
The Senate approved an amended version of the bill, which allocates roughly $6.2 million over the next three years to help repair 28 miles of Pan Am Railways track; upgrade the rail between Portland to Brunswick; and support transit, aeronautics and rail transportation in Maine, according to the Bangor Daily News. The House passed the bill April 4.
The bill now returns to the Legislature for final enactment. It does not pay for Amtrak’s Downeaster rail operations, for which federal funding will expire July 1, 2009. Gov. John Baldacci has committed to address operations funding by next year, the paper reported.
