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Central Maine likely to incorporate branch into existing network
IF it was the intent of the state of Maine to always include the passenger travel on the rail line, they should have selected an operator who would also include passenger trains with the freight operation. That the state didn’t and awarded the operating contract to a larger freight operator, one who could care less about tourist trains, doesn’t bode well for the future of passenger travel on that branch at this time. At least the upgraded track won’t go to waste, even though freight trains are much harder on track than passenger trains.
This was an unusually good decision by the Maine government. Maine Eastern has done little to nothing to increase freight traffic on this line. Not that there is a ton of potential customers (the environmentalists have seen to that) but CM&Q will be better at it. Unlike Trains I would not necessarily call the tourist operations of Maine Eastern popular. When the servce was first instituted it had some passengers but once the railfans rode the line and “got the mileage” the general public didn’t pick up on it. The schedule was switched to accomodate an Amtrak connection in Brunswick and that was a disaster and once that was dropped the new schedule was deemed too long by the tourists who wanted a short 1 to 1 1/2 hour ride and then move on to other things. They did not want an all day outing to downtown Rockland which offers little in the way of diverions for a family. Maine Eastern’s bid was higher because they had to subsidize their passenger operations with their freight revenue and we all know what that results in. What Maine needs is fewer tractor trailers on its roads and not another tourist operation.
I’m quite surprised there were only two bidders, though not surprised CMQ was interested and won out. I’d have thought this would have been a natural for Ed Ellis and Iowa Pacific to bid on. There are other New England shortline players around too who might have bid (three come right to mind, and I’m sure there are others). It makes me wonder how the bid was structured and publicized.
CMQ management does have a history of being friendly to passenger operations and my feeling is their appointment could actually clear the way for a new passenger operator in the future or perhaps even an extension of the downeaster from Rockland or Augusta.
This is the future of a lot of the tourist passenger operations. The insurance has gone through the roof so it is a lot easier to stick with freight operations. The only ones that will remain is those that are primarily a tourist passenger operation.