White appointed to rail committee

WEST PARIS —  Selectmen, at their February 14 meeting, appointed Town Manager John White to a committee studying the feasibility of bringing passenger rail service back to western Maine.

The committee is being formed by the Western Maine Economic Development Council. White said the idea is to recruit a representative from each of the towns along the existing rail corridor to join the committee. 

The plan is to restore passenger rail service from Portland through Lewiston and northern New Hampshire, with Montreal as the ultimate destination, according to a letter addressed to White from Glen Holmes, WMEDC's director.

"Every town except for Woodstock that he [Glen Holmes] has talked to has signed on," White told selectmen. 

Selectmen also adopted a resolution endorsing the Oxford & Coos Counties Corridor Coalition, a group of municipalities backing the proposal.

According to Holmes' letter, the goal of the task force is to promote the development of passenger rail service in western Maine on the St. Lawrence Atlantic Railway for economic development. 

Signing the resolution means the town supports the study, White said.

Research on the plan is still preliminary and comes at no cost to the town. 

"I don't see any problem with it," said Selectman Wade Rainey. 

"It probably wouldn't have any direct benefit to us, but being in the area, hey – it may, if they can make the numbers work," White said.

"It seems to me that St. Lawrence and Atlantic have done a lot of work to their track in this area," White said. "I think it's in pretty decent shape." 

"As long as we [western Maine] get some business out of it, that's the main thing," Selectman Dennis Henderson said.