SLOWLY, THEY REDISCOVER THE SUMMER RESORT TRAIN.

One possibility, picked up by Craig "Amtrak in the Heartland" Sanders, offers an intriguing reversal of the way the New England railroads went out of the passenger business.

The [Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority’s] passenger rail service plan released in May said potential new services could include diesel multiple-unit equipment would between Lewiston and Auburn, connecting with the Downeaster at Portland or Yarmouth.

The study identified three possible routes for the Lewiston-Auburn service, including an existing Pan Am Railways freight route, an inactive railroad right of way owned by the state that runs parallel to the Pan Am Route, and an abandoned route of way.

I wonder if one of those routes is the Brunswick to Lewiston Lower by way of Lisbon Falls, but that's for another day.

For now, I note that the through trains from Boston stopped running when a supposedly progressive management of Boston and Maine wanted to replace all locomotive-hauled passenger trains with Budd Cars, and the supposedly hidebound Maine Central, still hauling a lot of parcels and seafood ahead of the passenger cars objecting to those Budd Cars, which sometimes failed to activate signal circuits, running north of Portland.

But there are Amtrak trains running beyond Portland to Freeport and Brunswick, and for a brief shining moment, a connection to a Maine Eastern passenger train onward to Bath and Rockland was a summertime option.  That summertime option still appeals.  "Another potential service change would involve extending the Downeaster further up the Atlantic coast to Rockland via a rail line owned by the state whose last seasonal weekend passenger trains ended in 2016."

First, though, the Passenger Rail authority will have to rediscover that Portland's original Union Station was better placed for through service than the current terminus.

Amtrak now uses the 20-year-old Portland Transportation Center at Thompson’s Point, which is 10-15 minutes by car or city bus from downtown Portland.

For trains to continue to either Brunswick or Boston requires a reverse move that adds 15 minutes to the travel time.

The Portland station has one rail platform and is at capacity for car parking and bus docks.

The Rail Authority would like to see a new multimodal transit center along the Pan Am main line with a double platform so trains could meet there going northbound and southbound.

The Maine Department of Transportation is studying possible station sites and its report is expected to be released in September.

I know where there's a good spot for one, and there used to be more than two platforms there!

Perhaps the reason for studying everything in depth is that given a long enough study period, Jetson-style flying cars that recycle cow farts into water will become practicable, and passenger rail of any kind irrelevant.