When I told my boss I was taking the train to Maine for the weekend two ago, he reacted by surprise. “There’s a train to Maine?”

Since the largest city in the state is just over 62,000 people, it’s a fair question. Much of the state is extremely rural and the total population reaches only 1.3 million.

Despite this, the state’s Amtrak service is booming in popularity. The Downeaster service, which provides service between Portland, Maine and Boston via several stops in southern Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts carried record 441,769 riders in FY2008, a 28% increase over the previous year.

The route was launched in 2001, a joint partnership between Amtrak and a special rail authority established by the Maine state government. (13 other states also contract with Amtrak for rail service) Thanks to this arrangement, Amtrak operated the train and the rail authority oversees marketing and management of the line. Initially the route was plagued with delays as the train shares the track with freight trains. Improvements in recent years have cut the average trip time to around 2.5 hours, just over what a similar trip take driving, although recent on-time performance of around 70% clearly needs improvement. The route has its own website, marketing plan, and Downeaster trains now have free Wi-Fi service for passengers.

Why is the service a success? Although a rural state, a significant portion of Maine’s population is clustered in southern Maine near Downeaster stops. The state shares close economic ties with Boston, meaning many commuters — a recent performance report says they make up one-third of the passengers. Furthermore, the two end stations are closely tied to public transit — bus routes in Portland and The T subway and commuter rail system in Boston. Most of all, the service enjoys clear support by riders and political leaders alike who have worked hard to build new stations, keep ticket prices low, promote the service, and trouble-shoot schedule problems. One rider even set up a blog to track news relating to the train.

The success of the rail line has inspired one of the communities along the route, Saco, to build a train station adjacent a collection of vacant factory buildings, where a long-planned redevelopment will put apartments, offices, and stores. The project, featured in a hopeful promotional video, won final approval from municipal officials last year. Although the train station is not yet complete, a large wind turbine installed by the city to power the building is already operating.

The Amtrak system is often discussed as a whole, whose fortunes rise or sink according to macroscopic forces such as the funding whims of Congress and the price of gas. While true to some extent, the Downeaster reminds us the success of Amtrak routes also depends on state-specific service contracts and funds, intermodal transportation planning, stations quality, and the combined efforts of Amtrak staff, riders, and local political leaders. Although the Downeaster faces major obstacles, including long-term funding sources and aging infrastructure, its success thus far has been no accident.

Photos by LenEdgerly and PhotoPunk used courtesy Creative Commons license.

• Walk out on the Maine State Pier. From here you can get a good view of the city’s working waterfront, and see the Casco Bay Lines ferries coming and going. If you have some more time you can walk out on Widgery Wharf and get up close and personal with some lobstermen.
• Walk down Exchange Street in the Old Port. There’s lots of shops, when I am in town I tend to stop in Emerson Books, Books Etc., JavaNet, and Gritty McDuff’s.
• If you have some more time, the Portland Museum of Art has a good permanent collection and Portland Sea Dogs games are fun.

But don’t take my word for it – here’s some more reading:

> National Geographic: “48 Hours Portland: The Best of a City in Two Days”
> About.com: “Visit Six Lighthouses Near Portland Maine”
> Portland Convention and Visitors Bureau
> Get some ideas from my photos of Portland

> See my Flickr Portland set

Perhaps it was the Christmas decorations or the new snowfall, but I was again struck by the vibrant downtown economy of Portland. (For photos see my Portland Photo Project or my Flickr) Few storefronts were empty and despite the heavy snowfall there were people out and about, and the Downtown Lounge was filling up when we left to try another spot. With great urbanism, cheap beer, and affordable housing I was quickly fantasizing about relocating my (future) internet business to the city, my friend reminded me of some of the drawbacks: it’s small, he hasn’t met many people he likes, and there just isn’t a very strong internet culture. There’s a few businesses that offer free wireless internet but although Craigslist has launched a Maine version, it’s relatively quiet. A handfull of programming and web-related jobs I could find on there testify to a small high-tech sector, but any move would certainly be a contrast from Washington where the blogger meetup alone can draw 20+ people each month.

On the trip I also noticed several high-end urban residential developments under construction, a good sign for the city and which corroborates the impression I have of an overall healthy economy. I also spotted the hitherto unknown (to me) offices of Portland Magazine, who claim on their website to be of some renown.

My trip also included a trip to the Maine Mall, which I wrote about rather stridently for this website in 2002. It seems the post has attracted some interesting comments since I had looked at it last, including from one former mall security guard!

On Sunday I took a trip to Haverhill, Massachusetts, where my brother has recently purchased a house. Haverhill is an old mill town on the Merrimack River like Andover and Lowell. Just 30 minutes from Boston and connected to downtown by the MBTA commuter rail system I think the historic stock of buildings downtown (above) are ripe for redevelopment. In fact, a large apartment complex on the riverbank was under construction when I visited. While I don’t know much about development in the metropolitan Boston area it seems that a concerted effort to revitalize these small, historic cities along existing transit corridors could result in pleasant urban spaces with a high quality of life.

Here’s the announcement:

Please join members of the Maine Fair and Independent Courts Coalition during the week of December 12 in a nationwide effort to draw attention to the nomination of Judge Sam Alito to the Supreme Court and give Mainers a chance to express their concerns about his troubling record.

Allies and activists will be getting in a van and traveling throughout the state to get people talking within their communities about what his confirmation could mean for Maine people. Local media outlets will be invited to cover the campaign in different areas of the state as we talk with people and gather petition signatures in stores, coffee shops and other gathering places.

We need activists to make the trips with us as well as local contacts at each stop to be present. This will be a particularly good opportunity for local activists to state their personal objections and thoughts on the nomination of Judge Alito. …

Exact locations will be announced shortly. If you are interested in traveling in the van or meeting us in one of the above locations, please email organizer at mainewomen.og for specific information.

The effort is organized by leaders of dozens of Maine citizen groups including the Maine Women’s Lobby. A detailed schedule is after the jump.

Like many schoolchildren in Maine I visited the Maine State Museum on school field trips in elementary school on several occasions. I don’t know if school groups from the area visited the City Museum before it closed, however compulsory attendance to any new museum could be an opportunity for area students to learn about D.C. history and also function to put a new museum on the map.

Although I remember the Maine State Museum as an effective if modest museum, their website could use an upgrade …

WHAT: Informal Greely HS Class of 2000 Get-Together
WHERE: Gritty McDuff’s (Where else? – 396 Fore Street, Portland ME, 207.772.2739)
WHEN: 7:00 p.m., Saturday, August 20

I was there last week. Click for a bigger view, or better yet, see the full sized version.

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The
exciting part in Bangor didn’t come during the speech, but after it.
Card had said his piece, the small audience had applauded politely and
he was headed for the exit, when an old Mainer stood up in the middle
of the room and said his piece. “Where are you going? I thought this
was supposed to be a dialogue.� Card turned and paused, the cameras
flashed, and he began to move back towards the podium.

The man,
a retired history professor (whom the BDN identifies as “Clyde
MacDonald, 75, of Hampden”) asked an excellent question about the
wisdom of drawing down the trust fund in order to fund a new program
when the real issue in Social Security is solvency. Card mocked him a
bit and turned for another question. I think he picked me because I was
clean-cut and wearing a young-republicanesque polo shirt.

I
began my question by stating that President Bush often denigrates the
Social Security trust fund, claiming it doesn’t exist and that it is
full of worthless IOUs. I didn’t get any farther. Card looked right at
me and said that the President does no such thing. …

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