Everyone loves trains. But when passenger rail enthusiasts get wound up, basic rules of business — such as cost efficiency, the law of supply and demand, even common sense — go right out the window.
Such is the case with columnist Doug Rooks.
In a recent column (“Making the trains run on time,” July 27), he argued for the construction of a huge $16 million Amtrak maintenance and layover facility in Brunswick. Rooks claims that the giant garage is needed “to allow more trains to run to Brunswick daily.” Conversely, he argues that rushing in to expand passenger rail service to Lewiston-Auburn without proper planning is a bad idea because, “We will be doing no one … any favors if trains don’t fill the seats, and they don’t run on time.”
Ironically, that last line is an apt description for the current Brunswick-Portland route: late trains and very few riders. Yet Rooks inexplicably argues that rail service between Brunswick and Portland merits expansion.
Most businesses would only plan a $16 million expansion when current supply can’t meet demand, when they can’t produce enough product to satisfy customers. In the case of the Downeaster between Brunswick and Portland, there sure seems to be enough “product” — available seats — but not very many customers.
Even using their own ridership figures, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which operates the Downeaster, says 52,000 people rode the train between Brunswick and Portland last year. That means on average, the train pulls in and out of Brunswick Station four times each day with only about 35 people on board — on a train that holds 300.
The train runs right by the Yarmouth home of columnist Edgar Allen Beem, who recently observed, “Most of those Downeaster cars look pretty empty to me, but maybe that’s what 30 passengers per run looks like.”
On most days, the actual passenger count is much lower. April’s figures show that only 62 people on average took daily trips between Portland and Brunswick, or about 15 people on each of its four runs. Reliable figures obtained by the Brunswick West Neighborhood Coalition (which opposes the layover facility) show that on many days, fewer than a dozen people are on board.
Of course, one of the reasons that more people don’t ride the train is because of the inconvenient schedule. There’s also the problem of late trains. According to Amtrak, during the last 12 months, the Downeaster arrived at its destination late more than half the time, the worst performance of any Amtrak train in the northeast and one of the worst in the country. (The Vermonter, for example, was late only about 20 percent of the time.)
NNEPRA blames the delays on poor track conditions caused by an unusually cold winter (apparently it was colder in Maine than Vermont). If true, wouldn’t it make sense to spend all those federal and state funds to improve the track — especially between Portland and Boston, where ridership numbers are high — instead of expanding service to Brunswick where riders are hard to come by?
This is exactly what several key legislators argued in a recent letter to NNEPRA. The legislators, which included the House and Senate chairs of the Transportation Committee, wrote, “We question the concentration of resources on the current line above Portland,” and suggested South Portland as a better location for the proposed Brunswick layover facility.
But even though one of the legislators who signed the letter is a veteran conductor with Amtrak, Rooks dismissed their complaints and suggested they don’t know what they are talking about. Amazing.
What is even more amazing is NNEPRA’s total disregard for efficient management of taxpayer dollars. According to NNEPRA, The Downeaster Cafe — the train’s food service car — operated at a loss last year of more than $160,000. Rooks wants us to believe that the government can efficiently operate passenger rail service when it can’t seem to make a profit running a hot-dog stand.
But when those figures from the food service car were discussed at a recent NNEPRA meeting, the board actually congratulated its executive director. Why? Because the loss wasn’t as bad as other Amtrak trains in the U.S.
Is that really any way to run a railroad?
Bob Morrison of Brunswick is the chairman of the Brunswick West Neighborhood Coalition.
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