Railway hoping to sell tracks

Written by jrood

The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway said that it is taking steps to sell or abandon its tracks between Millinocket and Madawaska, Maine, because they are no longer profitable to maintain, according to the Bangor Daily News. The company is asking the state to consider buying the tracks and maintaining them. If that were to happen, the Maine Department of Transportation and the railway could work out a deal so the company's trains would use the rail lines without an interruption in service.  

The tracks and land are
worth about $17 million, Robert C. Grindrod, president and chief operating
officer, said at a press conference at the railway’s headquarters. Upgrading
them would cost an estimated $6 million, and the annual maintenance expense
would total about $2.5 million, he said. The legal process for abandoning rail
lines takes between eight and 12 months. Operations will continue as the
abandonment process goes forward, Grindrod said.

 

"The reason for this
action is purely economic," Edward A. Burkhardt, the railway’s board chairman,
said. "For some time, MMA has faced weak lumber, paper and other forest
products markets, and the economic downturn has greatly affected traffic on
these lines. This portion of MMA’s network is heavily loss-making, and as such
does not generate sufficient cash flow to provide for necessary capital
expenditures to ensure sustainability."

 

The 241 miles of track
are about half of what the Hermon-based firm, formerly the Bangor &
Aroostook Railroad, owns in the state, according to Burkhardt.

 

The lines are used by
freight – not passenger – trains, he said. Products transported over the tracks
in northern Penobscot and Aroostook counties include pulpwood, wood chips,
lumber, heating fuels and cooking oil for McCain Foods Inc. in Easton. Trains
travel the line two or three times per week, according to Grindrod.

 

"One solution would be
for the state to acquire this segment of our network and to assume the future
capital investment requirements," Burkhardt said. "This would, of course,
require funding, which would have to come from federal stimulus monies or would
have to be addressed by the Legislature. MMA considers this the best possible
solution as it would result in rail service being maintained at all stations."

 

The state owns the tracks
between Brunswick and Rockland, according to previously published reports in
the Bangor Daily News. Maine Eastern Railroad has the rights to operate freight
and passenger trains over the former Maine Central Railroad’s Rockland Branch.

 

Vermont owns all the
tracks in that state, according to Burkhardt.

 

Both Grindrod and
Burkhardt said that they have had conversations with Gov. John Baldacci and
officials at MDOT about using federal and state money to buy the tracks. Baldacci
supports passenger and freight railways, the governor’s spokeswoman, Joy Leach,
said. He also supports expanding the use of existing rail lines, she said.

 

Leach did not
specifically say that the state would be financially able to purchase the
railway’s tracks within the abandonment timetable of eight to 12 months. She
said the governor would work with railway officials, the state’s congressional
delegation and legislators to identify potential funding sources to keep the
trains rolling in northern Maine, if possible.

 

"MMA as a private company
cannot continue to sustain the level of financial loss which is currently
ongoing with little or no prospect of improvement," Grindrod said. "The railway
has too many miles to maintain and too little revenue to do it with."

 

The company welcomes
comments and ideas from the public, its employees and its customers, he said.

 

The railway began operation
in January 2003 and owns more than 745 route miles of track, serving customers
in Maine, Vermont, Quebec and New Brunswick, according to information on its
Website. It operates approximately 25 trains daily with main line operations
conducted daily between Madawaska and Searsport and between Brownville Junction
and Montreal.

Tags: