PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 13, 2025
The Legislature is currently considering a bill, LD 30, that would authorize removal of 25 miles of state-owned rail line from Portland to Auburn and replace it with a pedestrian trail costing at least $1 million a mile for which no funding is currently available. This would be a serious mistake, and the Legislature should reject or at least amend it to prohibit the use of state funds to remove rail. Most of the line is still in use for freight service. Rail removal in no way constitutes “interim use,” as LD 30 claims. Once rail is removed, it is highly unlikely rail service will ever return. A trail could be built alongside the railroad, as Maine has already done in six other locations. We support rail-with-trail construction on state-owned lines. ~ Peter Cole, Maine Rail Group