Passenger service on Rockland rail line included in state transportation plan
Well, it appears that this petition may turn out to be victorious. The Maine Department of Transportation has proposed committing $3 million over the next two years for a pilot project for passenger rail service between Rockland and Brunswick.
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.
That being, said, I need to continue racking up signatures on this petition as quickly as possible so that by the time October rolls around, I will have at least 1,000.
More recently, I have written another petition relating to passenger rail service in Northern New England; you can view it and sign it here. https://www.change.org/Amtrak_to-NH