Federal government kills state’s $23M request to save rail service
By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
HOULTON — Business owners “will be at the mercy of the trucking companies” if they lose rail service in northern Maine, according to Robert Elder, MaineDOT director of freight and business services. MaineDOT lost its bid last week for a $23 million federal grant to purchase 240 miles of railroad tracks from Millinocket to Madawaska. Those tracks are owned by Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MMA) which has filed a “Notice of Intent” to abandon them.
The state is looking at other options to rescue the imperiled rail service. If MMA is successful in getting the abandonment, the metal tracks alone are worth an estimated $6 million as salvage. If sold for scrap, which would leave a gravel bed for that stretch of land, business owners who use the trains would be left somewhere between a rock and a hard place. The impact on business, said Elder, makes a solution “one of our highest priorities right now.”
Competition, expansion stifled without rails
What’s at stake “in northern Maine, obviously, is that it gives all shippers who can use rail a competitive advantage when negotiating rates with truckers. If they do have the trains, it will allow expansion as the economy comes back in the north and the rest of the state which depends on northern Maine,” said Elder. 
Houlton Pioneer Times/Elna Seabrooks
THE EDGE — Abandonment of rail tracks in northern Maine could adversely affect businesses who will be at the mercy of trucking companies.
Without train service, he said, “it’s going to be harder to excite new business because this is a big abandonment and people are going to read about it. There will be a negative economic impact felt throughout, not only Aroostook County, but some of the adjacent counties.”
A possible solution is in the Legislature which is considering a bill to issue bonds for $20 million. That option may get traction in the Transportation Committee with support from Aroostook County.
According to a statement issued by MaineDOT, the agency has retained an attorney who specializes in Surface Transportation Board proceedings, regulated at the federal level, to represent the Maine’s interest. The attorney has filed a request for information in connection with the potential abandonment. The state is also working with Railroad Industries, Inc. (RII), a consulting firm that specializes in finding business solutions for continuing operations on distressed rail lines. Additionally, MaineDOT “is continuing to negotiate with MMA to find a business solution that would allow continuation of uninterrupted service.”
According to MaineDOT, “abandonment of the line would adversely affect some 22 active shippers and other businesses in the region that currently utilize the rail service for freight movement.”
