Portland Transit West Project

citylover94

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I thought I would share some exciting transit news that is happening in the Portland area. There are two new routes being added as well as some updates to routes already in operation. The Husky Line aka Green Line which will operate every 30 minutes and the Blue line which will operate every 30-60 minutes. The major aspects of this project is improving transit between Gorham and Portland and between Westbrook, the Maine Mall, and Prides Corner. This is exciting in particular for me as a student at USM because it will make getting around the Portland area much easier than it was previously.

Fact Sheet
 
Figured this was the best existing thread for this:

Proposed rail service would link Portland and Westbrook

https://www.pressherald.com/2019/07/30/proposed-rail-service-would-link-portland-and-westbrook/

https://www.nnepra.com/sites/defaul...TransitStudy_FeasibilityStudyReport-Final.pdf

I'm a little shocked by the cost of this relatively short run, even just using DMUs. Doesn't seem feasible, though the $12.50 per trip estimate (not sure if that's from the study or PPH's own estimate) is cheaper than a cab ride from the Old Port to Westbrook and comparable to Uber/Lyft.
 
NNEPRA has lost its effing mind. The Mountain Division track to Westbrook is in generally horrible shape because there's not much freight traffic left, and Pan Am is an absolutely negligent owner. The physical plant west of Portland Transportation Center is totally shot; Pan Am doesn't maintain for shit unless they're hosting somebody else's trains and have to keep up appearances. This branch has been downgraded to industrial track status, the most bottom-barrel you can go for running track in terms of FRA inspection standards. To get even barely passable speed and ride quality on that track is going to cost them way more than this quote, and they are making some big leaps of faith with the ridership for such a short and high-priced dinky. If the costs are a 100% guarantee to increase substantially, the already bad-looking margins can't hope to bring it back in line.

They need to stop tilting at windmills like this and figure out how to get the Downeaster from Brunswick to Augusta. Find a bus solution for Westbrook instead of lighting study money on-fire for a dinky that can't hope to get even close to making its top- or bottom-line. They could've easily achieved a fleshed-out plan for that in the time they spent with head-in-clouds doing this rail study.
 
This wasn't NNEPRA's idea; they just get to coordinate and publish studies for any rail transit idea that gets pushed on them. In this case, I'm pretty sure that it was Rock Row that saw a track bisecting their project and wondered if they could turn it into a feature. They may even have funded the study, I'm not sure. But just like the Lewiston proposal that the Legislature asked for, NNEPRA hired the consultant, and came back with ridership and cost estimates for the actual decision makers to work with.
 

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