A New Station in Portland

NNEPRA plans to relocate the Amtrak Downeaster train station in Portland, Maine to a location along the CSX Freight Mainline (parallel to St. John Street).  Relocation of the station is necessary to expand passenger rail service and improve connectivity in the region.

The current station is located approximately 1 mile down a branch line.  The mainline station location will reduce travel time for Downeaster riders, improve reliability of freight and passenger trains, reduce Downeaster operating costs and is necessary to support passenger rail service expansion.  These positive impacts will increase Downeaster ridership and revenue, take cars off the road and support economic development along the Downeaster Corridor.  NNEPRA plans to pursue funding for final design and construction of the $55M project through the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), in collaboration with MaineDOT, and with full support from Amtrak and CSX Transportation.  

Vision for the New Station in Portland

The new station is planned to be located along the CSX mainline between Northern Light Mercy Hospital and St. John Street.  The site was selected by NNEPRA and MaineDOT through an extensive alternatives analysis.

The new station will have two passenger platforms, allowing northbound and southbound trains to meet simultaneously, increasing reliability and improving schedule flexibility. The current 15-minute stop will be reduced to 2 minutes at the new location.  The new station will shorten the current travel time between Brunswick and Portland from 50 minutes to just 33 minutes.

The platforms will be connected by an elevated pedestrian bridge which will provide direct access to both the Northern Light Mercy Campus and Fore River Parkway, as well as St. John Street, the Maine Medical Center shuttle, and the Congress Street corridor.  The facility will have passenger waiting and ticketing areas and restrooms with a pedestrian courtyard and parking on St. John Street.    

The new station location is currently served by METRO Bus Route 1 and BSOOB Bus Route 60.   NNEPRA is collaborating with local transit and intercity bus providers to improve and enhance connectivity to the Downeaster when the new station is complete, including connectivity to the Portland Transportation Center and Concord Coach Lines. 

A New Station is Critical to Passenger Rail Service Improvement and Growth

The current Portland Downeaster station at the Portland Transportation Center (PTC) on Thompson’s Point is located on a branch line about 1 mile from the CSX mainline. This requires train passengers travelling between stations north and south of Portland to make time-consuming reverse moves in and out of the station, adding approximately 15 minutes to each trip. This extra time makes the Downeaster less competitive than other modes of travel and hinders ridership growth while increasing labor and fuel costs. These movements also delay freight and passenger trains on the mainline, limit schedule flexibility, and prevent additional frequencies or future connecting passenger rail services in the region. The 2023 Maine State Rail Plan (MSRP) passenger rail investment program forecasted that the increase in ridership due to travel time reductions through Portland and the relocation of the station to a more walkable location was projected to be 66,000 riders annually. The 2025 Mayor’s Institute on City Design (MICD) Case Study: Downeaster Amtrak Station Siting recommended that a “new train station closer to downtown and the city’s employment/medical anchors will be of great benefit to the community in either location”.

How was the Site Selected

NNEPRA contracted with VHB to initiate a detailed study process to evaluate siting options for relocating Portland Station along the Mainline, as recommended by the 2021 MaineDOT Study. The Alternatives Analysis was conducted in accordance with the project planning process outlined in the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Guidance on Development and Implementation of Railroad Capital Projects and evaluated three sites in the project area.  The Portland Train Station Relocation Planning Report was published in December 2024 documenting why Site 3, located between Northern Light Mercy Campus and St. John Street, was selected as the location which best meets project needs:

• Site 3 offers direct access to the most jobs.
• Site 3 is the only site which can provide varying levels of multimodal access from the platforms on both sides of the tracks, connecting two areas of the city currently bifurcated by the railroad.
• Site 3 best improves pedestrian/bike connectivity by connecting St. John Street to the Fore River Parkway and its location between the major throughways of West Commercial Street and Congress Street.
• Site 3 provides connectivity to the Fore River Parkway and the opportunity for future collaboration with Mercy Hospital.
• Site 3 provides the most direct access to the Concord Coach Lines intercity bus station via the Fore River Parkway.
• Site 3 creates no new impacts to grade crossings and requires the least amount of costly infrastructure improvements.
• Site 3 is the only site that provides direct access to the Mountain Division branch, which preserves the opportunity for future passenger rail development to the west.
• Site 3 is the only site with direct access to maintenance facilities on the Mountain Division and best supports train operations. 
• Site 3 is comprised of land where acquisition is possible.
• Site 3 complies with local zoning code and land use and supports Transit Oriented Development (TOD) opportunities within 0.5 miles of the station site, including at Site 2.
• Site 3 is supported by Amtrak, CSX and MaineDOT.

Portland City Staff has expressed a preference for Site 2.  NNEPRA has performed additional analysis to confirm that:

• Site 2 presents significant operational challenges for freight and passenger trains due to the close proximity to the Congress Street grade crossing.
• Property is not available for train station development:
  • Site 2 abuts the Cumberland County Jail to the west and Maine Health property to the east.   The County has submitted a letter in opposition to siting the station immediately adjacent to the jail and NNEPRA is not able to acquire property from Cumberland County via eminent domain.
  • Site 2 is primarily owned by Maine Health.  A train station would negatively impact the employee shuttle and would limit Maine Health’s ability to expand to accommodate the community’s increasing healthcare needs. 
  • Site 2 is bordered by a large building, an existing parking garage, a plaza and the County Jail constraining visibility and connectivity to/ from St. John Street and prohibiting connectivity to/from the Fore River Parkway.

Project Timeline

Resources