NNEPRA updates Wells station work and urges support to relocate Portland station to main line

Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA), updated the Wells Select Board on July 15 on the status of the Wells Transportation Center project and a multi-jurisdiction plan to relocate the Portland Transportation Center to a main-line site.

Quinn said NNEPRA has a $31 million station expansion under way in Wells that will add a second passenger platform and a connecting pedestrian bridge; a temporary platform was scheduled to open later that week to preserve service while construction continues. She said the project also supports a planned sixth round trip that would run between Brunswick and Wells and then on to Portland to improve commuting options.

NNEPRA presented numbers intended to show the operational and fiscal benefits of moving the Portland station from its current branch-line location on Thompson’s Point to a main-line site closer to the hospital and employment centers. Quinn said the current station requires inbound trains to enter the terminal and reverse back onto the main line — a maneuver that adds travel time, causes bottlenecks on CSX-owned track and increases operating costs. Using 2023 ridership as the example, Quinn said the backup move consumed about 31,000 crew overtime hours and burned an estimated 8,600 additional gallons of fuel, contributing roughly $973,000 in annual operating costs due to the reversal alone.

NNEPRA compared two candidate relocation sites in Portland. The authority recommended the site adjacent to Mercy Hospital and the Forest Avenue/John Street corridor (referred to in the study as "Site 3") because it provides more pedestrian and transit connections, direct access to job centers (9,500 jobs within a half-mile walking distance in the study area), fewer rail conflicts and no requirement for a third track. The authority said railroad stakeholders Amtrak and CSX and NNEPRA’s board have endorsed Site 3.

Portland city officials prefer an alternative ("Site 2") that NNEPRA said is largely owned by MaineHealth and is zoned for medical facility expansion; NNEPRA told the board that MaineHealth has plans for that parcel and that the authority concluded Site 2 is not available for the project. Quinn said the authority is preparing to repackage its analysis for additional review and is seeking municipal support from Downeaster station communities to strengthen a federal grant application; the relocation estimate presented to the board assumed a federal grant match and a project cost in the ballpark of $50 million.

Quinn also reported on systemwide maintenance work and ridership. NNEPRA said $65 million in repair and improvement projects are underway, including a $34 million tie-replacement effort to restore roughly 124,000 ties across about 78 miles of track; the tie project required periodic bus bridge service and had forced cancellations earlier in the year. She said Wells is a busy Downeaster stop — approximately 30,000 boardings and alightings a year at the station — and that completing the Wells expansion will integrate the town into NNEPRA’s plan to add a sixth round trip from Brunswick through Wells to Portland.

Board members asked what Portland’s objections were; Quinn summarized Portland’s preference for transit-oriented development at its preferred site but reiterated that MaineHealth’s ownership and plans make Site 2 unavailable. Select Board members asked how the relocation would affect local transit connections and whether Mercy Hospital and bus operators could serve a relocated station; Quinn said discussions with bus operators and Mercy Hospital are under way and that Mercy had indicated support for the preferred site’s pedestrian access.

Quinn asked the board for a letter or municipal resolution supporting NNEPRA’s analysis and the authority’s recommendation for Site 3. NNEPRA said missing the previous federal funding window delayed the application and that timely municipal endorsements would strengthen future grant applications.

No formal action was taken on the relocation at the Wells meeting; the board discussed drafting a resolution for a future meeting and asked staff to prepare a proposed letter of support for consideration.