Rockland, Maine hasn't seen passenger rail service since 2015 when the Maine Eastern Railroad ceased operations. In October 2017, Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority announced plans to extend one weekend Downeaster round trip to Rockland station (on the National Register of Historic Places) between Memorial Day and Labor Day beginning in 2018. Intermediate stops would be made at Bath​, Wiscasset, and Newcastle. The planned service to Rockland was scuttled after Amtrak failed to conduct a risk assessment. However, the feasibility of extending service arose again in 2019. (Bath awaits delayed Downeaster service as testing continues) 

Regular passenger train service to Rockland ended in April 1959. The Rockland train station is where the Trackside Station restaurant is located, at the intersection of Union and Pleasant streets. The station was built in 1917-1918. The Maine Department of Transportation owns the station and the rail line.

The Downeaster itself began service on December 15th, 2001, retracting the route historically traversed by the Maine Central Railroad's Flying Yankee which ended service in 1957. Yes, you heard me right, until December of 2001, Maine hadn't seen passenger rail service since the late 1950s.

In 2021, Amtrak announced their plans for expansion across the United States, and sure enough, Rockland was included.

For information about previous service to Rockland station, read about the Rockland Branch.

An alternate project could be to extend the Downeaster to the state capital, Augusta, via Auburn. To my knowledge, Augusta has not seen passenger rail service since the days of the Boston & Maine Railroad.

For these reasons, an extension of the Amtrak Downeaster MUST be made further North into Maine.