STB to hold public hearing in Maine on MMA abandonment

The federal Surface Transportation Board today will hold a public hearing this spring in Maine on the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway's application to abandon 233 miles of rail line in Aroostook and Penobscot counties.

The STB decided
to hold a public hearing in Maine to allow citizens and stakeholders to provide
testimony on the effect of the proposed abandonment. The hearing will be
scheduled after the April 26 deadline for the written record but before the end
of May. The Board will announce details on the exact time and place for the
hearing in the near future.

"This
proposed abandonment would affect many shippers and the local and regional
economy and it is important that the Board hears from as many voices as
possible," said STB Chairman Daniel R. Elliott III. "The best way to
do that is for Washington to go to Maine instead of Maine coming to Washington."

The state of
Maine officially requested a public hearing on March 4. Shippers and elected
representatives from Maine, including U.S. Sen. Susan M. Collins and Rep.
Michael H. Michaud, as well as James L. Oberstar of Minnesota, chairman of the
House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, echoed the call for a
public hearing.

The full
decision announcing the intention to hold a public hearing in Montreal, Maine
& Atlantic Railway, Ltd-Discontinuance of Service and Abandonment-in
Aroostook and Penobscot Counties, Maine, STB Docket No. AB-1043 (Sub-No.1) is
available at www.stb.dot.gov.