Crazy Transit Pitches (Maine Edition)

[jlichyen]

^ We're getting into some fairly practical considerations for a "crazy" transit pitch threads, but yeah: the trunk route's the most important thing, so why divert resources at all to new rails north of Portland, where there's extremely little ridership? It *only* makes sense if there's a big influx of TOD along the route to justify the capital costs and reduce NNEPRA's massive per-trip operations subsidies. That said, I don't think it's that crazy to imagine high-density TOD getting built in greater Portland; there's certainly demand for it. It's just not gonna happen anywhere in Falmouth, Cumberland, Freeport, or Yarmouth.

It's also not going to happen when there's still so much available space on the peninsula itself, especially around Center Street and along the Bayside Trail. Turning I-295 into a boulevard with F-Line's elevated rail proposal is a useful way to make areas along that strip more viable to develop.

I took a look at the bus routes, and something I noticed is that there's at least four or five running down Congress - it's the single busiest section of the local bus network even though no individual line runs more than 3x an hour. I think closing Congress between High and Franklin to buses and non-emergency traffic would be a wise use of space, sort of like NYC's 14th street. And if the street succeeds as an exclusive bus lane then it'll be much easier to add streetcars in the future, as Fattony mentioned above.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Wasn’t there talk recently of reducing I-295 to an at-grade boulevard in stead of a divided highway? Again, probably not going to happen, but wouldn’t that open up substantial real estate for F-Line’s pitch?

Well, if we want to "Crazy" it up to the thread's name, sure...why not! Ask this, in that case: the rail-to-truck Intermodal revolution templated off Worcester County is coming to Portland-Auburn, is going to significantly reshape truck volumes away from time-of-day -specific congestion...and is likely to strongly favor 95 + Falmouth Spur from its Rigby & Auburn triage points over 295. Does that lead to enough load reduction in itself that the transit-enriched universe spurred from the coattails of the freight ROI removes enough extra time-specific volume that you can consider pulling the nukes out on a 295 bust-down?

I'd say that's a tall order even for real-world/non-induced demand usage that truly needs 295...but you might indeed get close enough in the ballpark where it's legit for a detail study and knock-down/drag-out local debate. It's still a lil' Crazy a pitch...but hardly an insane one if you hit it big on the load-reshaping ROI and transit coattails. Anyone who feels like deep-diving into that traffic profile will probably generate much fruitful discussion fodder.

---------------

Seriously, though...the rail bypass is mercifully fittable on the existing real estate--with or without 295 widening and with or without 295 compacting--thanks to the existence of that fat Marginal Way frontage over the virtual entirety of the 1.5 mile gap between rails-in-ground reuse ROW's. So...unfortunately as it were...is just too darn "Reasonable" a pitch to look away from and not kwaaaazy enough for that kind of satisfying thread-bender. The frontage was graded with 295's original construction (along with the double-wide Cove Bridge approaches), so that is the biggest cost saver of all cost savers for sidestepping 95% of all the EIS/permitting papercuts that typically drag a transpo project budget off-point. On bang-for-buck there are simply few better in all of New England than this one for upside vs. self-containedness. And when MEDOT has no choice but to laser-on B.F.B. and ROI because its whole existence depends on it...wow, what the shoe fits perfect!

 

[markhb]

Before the Downeaster actually went live (so, late 20th Century), and after the plans for an eventual extension to Brunswick came out (meaning Portland wouldn't be the terminus), there was real talk of the route following I-295 to maximize visibility of the train option (Union Branch to Forest Ave. - hug 295 - new Back Cove trestle - GT to Yarmouth Junction). To that end, MeDOT reserved ROW space on the southern edge with plans for a potential station near the Marginal Way Park & Ride. That ROW is still there, although somewhat hemmed in by the Intermed and Bayside Village buildings.

 

[TC_zoid]

Another idea, though admittedly it is pie in the sky for Portland, would be a monorail. It's easier to run this type of mode along the middle of a highway. It could start at the Maine Mall area, then run along 295 with several stops, then turn at Franklin Arterial. Then when it got close to the top, it could go under the hill, or under Congress Street. If there were additional monies (more pie), it could run under the harbor and come out and above ground in SoPo with a terminus at SMCC. It would be Maine Mall, Thompson's Point, USM/Portland Stadium, Marginal Way at Franklin Arterial, Congress Street (which would be under ground), Commercial Street (under ground), and SMCC (above ground). This idea would be the least intrusive with eminent domain. Enacting eminent domain in Maine is difficult as so many people are old (set in their ways), and lawyers abound in Portland. Whatever mode is selected, it needs to bring people to the top of the peninsula hill, somewhere in the middle (Congress and Franklin Arterial), as who will be walking from Commercial Street or Marginal Way up the hill to Congress Street? People won't walk up long, high hills. And in the winter with ice... A future extension could run north from the Maine Mall along Interstate 95, then turn at Rock Row, and head west along abandoned railroad tracks into Westbrook, then all the way up to Sebago Lake near St. Joseph's College as a terminus. Eminent domain for this plan is minimal, as nearly all of it is in between highways or running along abandoned (for the most part) railroad tracks.

 

[BosMaineiac]

One idea I thought of, as an alternative to using the SLR line as a relocated PAR mainline, was to convert that and the Westbrook line to light rail. Phase 1 could go from the Exit 15 park n ride in Yarmouth to downtown Westbrook, going through downtown as shown in the figure below. If the stretch from Forest Ave to Franklin can't be tunneled then it would have to run over the streets, but as Kennebec st isn't heavily travelled I feel this could be an easy conversion. It also would really help knit together Bayside and the Waterfront, which could encourage new developments in Bayside. The key prereq for this to happen would be a new Amtrak station at the historic Union Station location to avoid mixing with heavy rail traffic on the PTC spur. The line into Westbrook can continue to be used as freight during nights only, similar to the setup that the RiverLine has in NJ.

 

[TC_zoid]

One idea I thought of, as an alternative to using the SLR line as a relocated PAR mainline, was to convert that and the Westbrook line to light rail. Phase 1 could go from the Exit 15 park n ride in Yarmouth to downtown Westbrook, going through downtown as shown in the figure below. If the stretch from Forest Ave to Franklin can't be tunneled then it would have to run over the streets, but as Kennebec st isn't heavily travelled I feel this could be an easy conversion. It also would really help knit together Bayside and the Waterfront, which could encourage new developments in Bayside. The key prereq for this to happen would be a new Amtrak station at the historic Union Station location to avoid mixing with heavy rail traffic on the PTC spur. The line into Westbrook can continue to be used as freight during nights only, similar to the setup that the RiverLine has in NJ.
View attachment 9233

This could work. Franklin Arterial route is smart. Of course the cars need to be the double cars, like the Green Line in Boston. Too bad nothing can get closer to Maine Medical Center
as there will probably be 10,000 associated workers in the next few years. Maybe some kind of sky bridge walkway down to the old Union Station--enclosed and heated.

 

[Cosakita18]

This may not exactly be a "Crazy" transit pitch. But there are a lot of low-hanging fruit bus corridors that could be implemented into the existing regional transit network.

First off, I think the easiest and most impactful change to transit in our region would be a merger of METRO an SoPo Bus. To me it's absurd that a metro region of ~250,000 has 3 separate bus transit providers (4 if you count RTP / Lakes Region Explorer)

METRO is currently working on a series of changes to transit routing on the peninsula. The current plan is to combine routes 1 and 8 into a single bi-directional circulator route running every 15-20 minutes. The current proposed alignment looks something like this:

Additionally, some changes to existing routes are proposed:

- Realign Route 5 from Park Ave. to Congress St and up Munjoy Hill along the same alignment as the current route 1
- Extend Route 4 and Husky Line to terminate at the Eastern Waterfront.
- Extend Route 2 along High / State St and across the Casco Bay Bridge to terminate at the Knightville transit center.

If all these changes are implemented, the METRO network will look something like this:

Finally, my proposal would be for a rollout of 3 new fixed-route services in the near future. These routes would interline and connect with existing routes and fill some coverage gaps in the existing network.

Route 6 - The "Inner Crosstown" would run between East Deering and the Maine Mall along Ocean Ave, Deering Ave, St. John St. and across the Veterans Bridge into SoPo along Main St. and using the 95-connector to access the Maine Mall / Target.

Route 10 - Westbrook Transportation Center to the Eastern Waterfront. This route would run along Stroudwater Ave and Westbrook St. to service new residential and assisted living developments in that area. It would then go up outer Congress St. to interline with route 5. It would serve the PTC and Mercy Hospital via the Fore River Parkway before traveling up Commercial St and terminating at the Eastern Waterfront.

Route 11 - Cape Elizabeth to Downtown Portland. This route would run from Cape Elizabeth High School / Town Hall to the Elm St. Pulse in downtown Portland via Ocean St. / Route 77 and the Casco Bay Bridge. It would connect with South Portland local routes at the Knightville Transportation Center.

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

Well, you can forget about any plans to re-ignite the old WN&R rail along Warren Ave. Pan-Am has sold the old SAPPI east spur lines.

The section noted in orange below has been sold to Rocky Ledge Capital, Westbrook Seavey Main, LLC, who plans to combine it with their adjacent property and develop it into 4-5 story apartment complex (http://www.westbrookmaine.com/Docum...Downtown-District-Expansion_Public-Hearingpdf).

The section noted in red below was sold to MTR Development, LLC (development company owned by Chris Wilson, who owns and operates Les Wilson & Sons and who is developing a 4-story building across from Riverbank Park in Westbrook, among other recent in-fill developments of his in the city). The tracks were removed a few weeks ago, along with the old train car that was the home of Paul's Shoe Repair. Wilson plans to develop a mix of commercial and residential uses on the property.

 

[markhb]

Considering that the red part was essentially someone's lawn at this point, I'm not surprised.

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

That isn't to say the idea is completely dead. Someday, probably within the next 10 years, SAPPI will close the Westbrook plant. It's all but inevitable. They're down to one paper machine. That would open up that entire property to eventual development (after significant environmental remediation, obviously). This could open up the potential of re-igniting that line via connection to the SAPPI west spur.

 

[nomc]

https://www.mainebiz.biz/article/legislature-considers-return-of-passenger-train-service-to-bangor

 

[Cosakita18]

https://www.mainebiz.biz/article/legislature-considers-return-of-passenger-train-service-to-bangor

Honestly my first thought with the Lower Road routing is that trains between Gardiner and Augusta would be limited to 25 mph (or maybe even less) due to proximity to the recreational trail.

In my dream world, If and when passenger rail service makes it to Bangor, I would want the "Downeaster" to become a state-supported Bangor-Portland service making all stops. (It's not like NH or MA give any financial support to the DE anyway) Portland-Boston would be folded into the Northeast Regional brand with multiple levels of service. A local service making all stops and an express service running Portland-Exeter-Boston.

 

[Tom Nevers]

Honestly my first thought with the Lower Road routing is that trains between Gardiner and Augusta would be limited to 25 mph (or maybe even less) due to proximity to the recreational trail.

In my dream world, If and when passenger rail service makes it to Bangor, I would want the "Downeaster" to become a state-supported Bangor-Portland service making all stops. Portland-Boston would be folded into the Northeast Regional brand with multiple levels of service. A local service making all stops and an express service running Portland-Exeter-Boston.

Noooooo! Don’t require me to make a connection when I’m leaving Brunswick and traveling south of Portland.
We really need at least 8 round trips on the Downeaster, which is hardly crazy. Just halfway decent service.
I love the idea of a Brunswick - Bangor route. It’s the beginning of Brunswick becoming the rail hub of Maine! Next would be the coastal extension they keep talking about and then we could open commuter service to Lewiston via Lisbon using (mostly) existing tracks.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Honestly my first thought with the Lower Road routing is that trains between Gardiner and Augusta would be limited to 25 mph (or maybe even less) due to proximity to the recreational trail.

They have these magical devices called chain-link fences that can fix that restriction.

I know, I know...TRNE flaks have rendered their garments the same way over proximity to the trail. All that proves is that half the time TRNE doesn't even know what its own advocacy is and is an easy mark for self-pwnage. But seriously...a fuckin' chain-link fence would solve the clearance envelope problem. It's not like working examples of close-running trails and highish-speed railroads are the least bit rare in this region.

In my dream world, If and when passenger rail service makes it to Bangor, I would want the "Downeaster" to become a state-supported Bangor-Portland service making all stops. (It's not like NH or MA give any financial support to the DE anyway) Portland-Boston would be folded into the Northeast Regional brand with multiple levels of service. A local service making all stops and an express service running Portland-Exeter-Boston.

All well and good, but first Maine has to figure out how they're going to pay for all of this. Now...you have CSX attempting to make a buy of PAR. The Back Road mainline to Waterville via Lewiston is in piss-poor overall shape and will be a money-put-and-a-half for the new buyers to upgrade enough to make running intermodal from Portland to St. John take less than the 2 days it takes today. If I were MEDOT, I'd be wadding up this Lower Road DE extension into a freight mega-deal to present to CSX. Namely. . .

• State seeks federal funding streams to upgrade Brunswick-Augusta on the MEDOT-owned to full Class 4/79 MPH track -=WITH=- freight fixins' like 286,000 lb. weight rating and double-stack clearances. And, yes, a frigging chain-link fence next to the trail.
• CSX (or, in the event the PAR sale collapses, some runner-up buyer) self-invests in Class 2 (25 MPH freight/30 MPH passenger) upgrades to the self-owned Augusta-Waterville segment, including all necessary weight and clearance upgrades. Such that the infrastructure will be pristine and upgrading 2 speed classes and installing a signal system for Amtrak to Waterville as Phase II of a DE extension is not a big further investment so long as the maint deficit has been settled.
• CSX/et al. abandon the Back Road between Leeds Jct. (split with Rumford Branch north of Lewiston) and Waterville, and salvage all reusable rail/ties/crossing hardware to plug state-of-repair gaps elsewhere in Maine. Then deed the land to the state for a trail. Much of that salvage hardware would do a world of good for what decrepit ruins pass for a "mainline" Bangor-Mattawamkeag, and could also be huge time-savers for the daily Portland-Rumford and Waterville-Skowhegan trains to the gigantic paper mills.
• In further exchange for the state giving them a 'free' high-speed freight line to Augusta to re-route Waterville traffic through, CSX/et al. commit to higher maintenance standards than PAR ever did on the remaining Yarmouth-Leeds segment of Back Road used by all manner of Auburn intermodal trains and the big Rumford paper mills job. It's already double-stack rated Portland-Auburn; if they'd agree to maintain speeds at Class 2 or better it keeps the dream alive for maybe someday a Lewiston passenger train that doesn't cost an arm and a leg in upgrades because the infrastructure will be better-kept under that quid pro quo deal than PAR has been arsed to of its own volition for the last 40 years.

Sadly...I just don't think the alphabet-soup agencies 'get' freight economics...much less 'get' their own state's economics enough...to know that they can't make this work without freight revenues paying the way. Something that currently is $0 on the Lower Road, in spite of all the synergies and a mainline-swaperoo ^^deal^^ the likes of CSX would consider in a heartbeat to get out from the maint overhead on the most desolate parts of the forlorn Back Road. I have zero hope the talking heads at NNEPRA could ever wrap brain around the necessity of this. TRNE can't decide if it likes trails better than passenger service as far as the State's Capitol is concerned. So this may have to be MEDOT's cause to get the others to toe the line.

But at least they are finally talking straight-on from Brunswick instead of this "fork service to Lewiston...", "fork service to Rockland...", "study the Mountain Division an umpteenth time" unfocused nonsense that took up so much short-attention span theatre the previous decade. That's progress in itself in that it tries to shore up what's already there rather than inadvertently kicking the legs out from under it. Now let's see them turn mild attitude adjustment into action planning...especially with CSX potentially given them a golden window of opportunity for a freight+pax synergies deal.

 

[GIL]

From Wikipedia, some route details of previously successful main lines (pun intended):

“The State of Maine Express traveled a similar route, six days a week, many seasons. It went from New York City's Grand Central Terminal to New Haven, Providence, Worcester, Lowell, Portland and the Bar Harbor region. In contrast to the Bar Harbor Express (which made no stops between Providence and Portland), the State of Maine made several local stops. Passengers to points beyond Portland needed to change to a Maine Central to complete the trip. Various destinations afforded by the Portland transfer included Waterville and Rockland. The default destination was Ellsworth, from which passengers would take ferries to Bar Harbor.”

 

[markhb]

Are there any existing customers between Leeds Jct. and Waterville (or even Oakland, since the line as far as the latter could become an industrial track if warranted)?

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

Are there any existing customers between Leeds Jct. and Waterville (or even Oakland, since the line as far as the latter could become an industrial track if warranted)?

Hammond Lumber in Belgrade is probably the only potential customer on that stretch

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Hammond Lumber in Belgrade is probably the only potential customer on that stretch

Yep. The one and only. And at only a few cars per delivery, that's not a customer worth keeping in the event of a mainline swap. The Madison Branch has been out-of-service since 2012 with no potential customers ever since the big paper mill closed. PAR has already been raiding that ROW to rip out newer lengths of replacement rail for patches elsewhere on the system, so the only branch between Leeds and Waterville is also 99.99% dead pending the new owners belatedly filing the abandonment paperwork.


Prior to about 1985, Maine Central forked the mainlines at Yarmouth and sent loaded cars Portland-Waterville up the Lower Road because of its easier riverfront grades, and ran mostly empties on the hillier/more-desolate Back Road where they could take coasting advantage of some of the down-grades. So there wasn't really any on-line business there historically...just the branchline jobs to the paper mills of which "PORU/RUPO" (Portland-Rumford/Rumford-Portland daily) is the only survivor. The only reason PAR chose to get off the superior route in favor of the inferior one was to get out of spending money on some Lower Road cycled maintenance that was due. No cost too chintzy to shoot one's self in the foot ducking, in Tim Mellon economics. Right now the Back Road has decayed to 10 MPH and takes an entire day to get a freight train between Portland and Waterville.

CSX would definitely be all-in on a shotgun deal with Downeaster expansion north of Brunswick to regain the superior mainline routing and shed some costs in the process. Dumping $$$ down the black hole to pull the Back Road up to even 25 MPH at *borderline-acceptable* state-of-repair is a fool's errand for the meager ROI (albeit one they may have no choice but to do if there's no other way). Partnering-up on new mainline infrastructure may be the sum total difference in CSX/etc. choosing to reinvest in Waterville Yard as a major I-95 intermodal trucking site vs. simply slashing it down to the barest possible ops-minimum as a crew-change point on the slow 2-day sojurn between Portland and Bangor. And that has large implications for Northern Maine's economy, so the alphabet-soup agencies need to read the needs behind that DE Augusta/etc. extension in three dimensions for how the freight economy stirs the whole drink. As is, Waterville is going to get broadsided next year with mass layoffs as PAR's World Headquarters engine shop gets shut down post-merger with all of those high-paying shop jobs relocating to Albany where CSX services its Northeastern fleet. So either they find some strategic way to exploit ROI up there or the rest of the downtown yard could be next on the chopping block gutting out Waterville's downtown from the riverfront on out.


Even if passenger-funded upgrades stopped at a Phase I Augusta, that's still enough Class 4 track to slash half the travel time off a Portland-Waterville freight right then and there. New owners can then piecemeal-upgrade the Augusta-Waterville half (called the "Augusta Branch" today for the 3x a week local that runs as far south as the feed mill in Augusta) to 25 MPH. Thanks to PAR destroying most of Northern Maine's customer base over 40 years it wouldn't have to be double-tracked most of the way to easily accommodate a Downeaster schedule with 40 MPH freights; most of the trans- Portland/Waterville business is wadded up into a single daily round-trip that's long in car length but self-contained within its slot...so congestion is several orders of magnitude lower out here than it is on the Western Route south of Portland. Running nonstop on good track, the Portland-Waterville transfers also would stay well ahead of any DE's making local stops, so passing tracks would only be needed at opposite-direction meets (and the Lower Road, despite being majority single-track, has luxury of many former passing sidings) and around station platforms for installing full-highs (a la Brunswick).

The Back Road to Leeds won't be going anywhere; the two paper mills in Jay and Rumford are still healthy, and the intermodal yard in Auburn at the interchange with St. Lawrence & Atlantic (double-stack, 286,000 lb. lane from Montreal) is one of the prime 'gets' in this deal for CSX since they'd invest in more traffic at that site in a way half-assed PAR never dreamed of. So the portion of that line that matters for future Portland-Auburn/Lewiston or Portland-Montreal passenger traffic will be busier than ever and kept to better state-of-repair than ever even if that most-desolate stretch of track between Leeds and Waterville gets axed for a rail trail with the mainline swap. Traffic north of Portland has always forked in a "V" shape northwest vs. northeast....PAR just made a false choice sacrificing one side of the "V" for the other all those years ago, and making all endpoints on it inaccessible during a day's work from their negligent maintenance practices.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

That isn't to say the idea is completely dead. Someday, probably within the next 10 years, SAPPI will close the Westbrook plant. It's all but inevitable. They're down to one paper machine. That would open up that entire property to eventual development (after significant environmental remediation, obviously). This could open up the potential of re-igniting that line via connection to the SAPPI west spur.

View attachment 10025

Unfortunately if SAPPI closes in Westbrook you're not going to have the opportunity to do anything, as the Mountain Branch will surely be abandoned in-full all points west of PTC. Which is why there is such seeming desperation to throw something/anything at the wall right now for a commuter rail dinky. The propane dealer near the Mall with the 6-car loading siding is the only other customer on the branch. Given that Rock Row developers already have to be salivating over that parcel, and it would be silly-easy to relocate the dealer a couple miles east on the mainline...I'd say odds of the rail trail going in before 2030 are very high.

As much as we'd love to reserve Westbrook for some sort of commuter rail candidate...remember, it's a marginal prospect at best since the area is well within reach of Portland city buses. And simple ping-out from PTC probably was never going to get it done in the first place; you needed to either shoot for some sort of 'circuiting' flavor with what flotsam you could grab, or it simply wouldn't have enough service bona fides to exist as a linear poke. So as much as it sucks that PAR/SAPPI cashed in the east-side ROW for chintzy short-sighted redev, those were awfully low odds to begin with given the lack of state control of any of the ROW's. BRT honestly isn't that hard to pull off out here, so it's hard to say a major chance was missed if the line dies for freight before there's any chance of putting a passenger toehold in there. Given how much the state already embarrassed itself with multiple instances of Fryeburg over-studying squandering a pretty decent cache of money, and how there's so little on their rail network that they can independently mount without freight revenues underwriting large portion of the ROI, that's not a mistake they'd want to repeat if the line's PTC-Westbrook operational status goes into limbo.


Though it definitely impacts this "to stay at PTC or to not" tortured debate and the scruples of putting one's finger on the scale for the PTC stub over making the obvious move to Union Station. Mountain Jct. going away entirely would not be the worst thing in the world for Downeaster schedule-keeping.

 

[Cosakita18]

I don't think the Mountain Branch is doomed to abandonment. There is freight potential along that corridor, but the barriers to restoring service have been just a bit too high for most potential customers (and the state) to stomach. Just a few years ago there was a very serious proposal to build a wood-pellet plant in the Steep Falls / Baldwin area, which would send 350,000 tons of wood pellets via rail on the Mountain Division to Portland for export. That project never quite came to fruition, but it does indicate that the line could have some functionality as a freight corridor in the future (albeit as an industrial branch with limited volumes) Also, Dead River just built their Larrabee Rd distribution facility 6 years ago, so I don't think they'll be compelled to move any time soon.

Personally, I don't see Portland-Westbrook commuter service as a viable investment in the next 10-15 years because, as F-Line said, the entire corridor is well within METRO's service area, and frankly I would rather see short-term transit investment prioritizing frequency and service improvements to existing METRO corridors.