24 replies to this topic

[Sloan]

Drone deployed in Brunswick battle over rail facility: Watch its video

Supporters of Amtrak’s plan to build a $12.7 million layover facility in Brunswick have enlisted a drone to counter neighbors’ opposition to the project, but residents who live nearby say the aerial video footage shot from the drone is misleading.

http://www.presshera...-rail-facility/

[Sloan]

Amtrak’s Brunswick boosters should focus on cutting losses, not grandiose schemes

Just as politicians obfuscate facts and create distractions, so does this organization of enthusiasts enamored with the notion that a widespread rail renaissance is worthy of massive public investment and ongoing subsidies. Its vision, acute so long as federal funding and compliant public officials are available, is nonetheless backward looking to an era predating the interstate highway system and modern airline network. States pay a heavy premium to extend passenger rail service to sparsely populated outlying areas.

https://bangordailyn...ndiose-schemes/



Sloan

[Sloan]

 

 

Brunswick’s marathon Amtrak depot controversy now focuses on stormwater permit

BRUNSWICK, Maine — The Maine Department of Environmental Protection next week will hold a public meeting on a stormwater permit needed for a proposed Amtrak train layover facility that for more than three years has stirred controversy in Brunswick.

The hearing – to be held at the Brunswick Country Club, 165 River Road, on Wednesday, March 25 – is intended to gather input on whether the project adheres to regulatory and statutory licensing requirements, according to a DEP news release.

http://bangordailyne...rmwater-permit/

[KevinKorell]

Bangor, ME Daily News, 6/17/15:

 

Amtrak train facility in Brunswick clears major hurdle

 

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection on Tuesday gave approval for a second time to a permit for a train storage and maintenance facility in Brunswick, the current end of the line for Amtrak’s Downeaster passenger rail service.

 

The project generated local controversy, as neighbors argued the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority was wrong to locate the $12.7 million layover facility at the location approved Tuesday.

 

This story

[CNJRoss]

"TrainRiders Northeast" website, 12/29:

 

(Note:  Article refers to The Times Record, Brunswick, ME)

 

 

Wayne Davis Provides the 'Real Story' Behind the Brunswick West 'BLF Open House' Complaints

 

When Consigli Construction Company offered a public tour of the Brunswick Layover Facility last week, one Brunswick West attendee threw a fit and left...and that's just the beginning of the story. The 'rest of the story' is from Chairman Wayne Davis, who was one of the invited guests. Here is his letter to the Times Record.

 

"TrainRiders/Northeast has, with mounting exasperation, read diatribes (many of them based on inaccurate assumptions and information) in this newspaper against the Brunswick Layover Facility and passenger rail in general. More recently (Private MLF Meeting Hijacked, 12/17/2015), these spurious attacks started to target TrainRiders itself. In that letter, Sandy Buckles indicates that she organized a tour of the layover site with Consigli Construction and intended it to be a private event attended only by certain select neighbors, and not by the public in general. If so, this was not communicated to others. Apparently, one of the initial invitees was a town councilor. That councilor announced the date, place and time of the tour at a Town Council meeting attended by the press and many members of the general public without indicating that it was private in any way, shape or form.  .  .  .

 

Continue here.

 

Video of the Brunswick Layover Facility

 

What did the Brunswick Layover Facility look like as 2015 was drawinig to a close? Inquiring minds wanted to know. Since the 'public tour' was now history, the next best way to view the progress-to-date was from the air. Consigli and NNEPRA gave Maine HDTV approval to fly over the yard. The flight was coordinated with the Brunswick Executive Airport and the Brunswick Police Department. You'll be impressed with the work to date.

Brunswick Layover Facility Moves Forward from Maine HDTV on Vimeo.

 

 

[CNJRoss]

Trainriders Northeast news release, 12/31/15:

 

AND THE GOOD NEWS IS

 

The decision of the Maine DEP to issue a storm water permit for the construction and operation of the Downeaster layover facility in Brunswick has now become final.  In November, that agency decision was upheld by the BEP.  December 29, 2015 was the last date for filing further appeals from that decision, and there has been no such filing.  

 

So ends a multi-year struggle to obtain the final permit necessary for the facility.  Although many in the Brunswick area supported NNEPRA’s proposed location for the facility, a group of neighbors who had purchased property next to what has historically been a rail yard, and which remained zoned for rail activities, objected, claiming that the facility should be located elsewhere even though other proposed sites were neither environmentally sound nor economically feasible.  The DEP and the BEP both determined that the neighbors objections to the storm water permit were insufficient to block its issuance.

 

The neighbors sued NNEPRA in state court in 2014.  That court overruled the initial DEP approval on procedural grounds. NNEPRA reapplied and the DEP approved the new application in June of 2015.  The neighbors then appealed the new DEP decision to the BEP which in November of 2015 upheld the DEP ruling. The skillful handling of this matter by NNEPRA, as well as its legal and engineering teams, contributed greatly to this outstanding result. TrainRiders Northeast also took a leading role in this struggle, intervening as a party in the proceedings before the DEP and the BEP, and working with other parties (not least of which was All Aboard Brunswick) to ensure that this project moved forward.  Contrary to the claims of opponents, this was a win for everyone.  Among other things, the facility will: (1) substantially reduce the cost of providing service between Portland and Brunswick; (2) allow for the addition of at least one extra round trip per day to and from Brunswick; (3) form the basis for additional trips in the future; (4) reduce noise and emissions; and (5) ease the burden on maintenance personnel who now have to work on the trains outside in all weather conditions.

 

Construction of the facility has been ongoing since this fall.  The building’s steel frame is almost complete and according to officials, the roof should be installed sometime in February.  Updates and a recent video of the site can be seen on our Web site www.trainridersne.org NNEPRA’S web site <nnepra.com> includes additional updates, as well as pictures of the construction as it progresses.

[CNJRoss]

TrainRiders/Northeast:

 

 

Video:  Brunswick Layover Facility Tour, May, 2016

[CNJRoss]

TrainRidersNE.org:

 

 

State Finds No Major Issues After NNEPRA Review Published on Thursday, 21 July 2016 22:42

Maine’s Government Oversight Committee (GOC) met today in Augusta and heard Beth Ashcroft, director of the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability (OPEGA), present a 7-page report detailing her agency's preliminary investigation of NNEPRA. This investigation was initiated at the request of Sen. Stan Gerzofsky (D. Brunswick), who, among other things, opposed NNEPRA’s choice for the site of the soon-to-be-completed layover facility in Brunswick and who accused that Authority of mismanagement and a lack of transparency. 

 

After extensive research into the operations and governance of the rail authority, Ms. Ashcroft stated that OPEGA found no significant issues with NNEPRA.  More specifically, the report stated that:

• OPEGA does not find that mismanagement or lack of transparency are “areas of high risk at this time.”

• OPEGA has not “identified any potential concerns or high risk conditions that lead us to definitely recommend further review” of any NNEPRA functions which are “key to providing the most effective and efficient passenger rail service possible.”

OPEGA noted that NNEPRA “appears to have strong practices in some areas, like procurement and contracting, which are already reviewed to some degree through . . . federal reviews and independent financial audits.”  OPEGA’s conclusion that “there may be limited value to spending OPEGA resources on more detailed review of NNEPRA at this time” is a strong endorsement of NNEPRA’s practices and activities, validating the value of that agency to the State of Maine and the rest of northern New England.   

 

OPEGA's 7-page report will be followed by a more detailed Information Brief in September, after which the GOC will consider whether any follow up is needed. A copy of the report is available at http://legislature.m...-statement-.pdf.

 

[CNJRoss]

AP 7/21:

 

Committee looks at authority that runs Amtrak Downeaster

   

 

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) -- A Maine legislative committee is examining oversight and cost issues through its ongoing review of the rail authority that runs Amtrak Downeaster's train service from Boston to Brunswick.

 

Last year, the state Government Oversight committee voted to review the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority following transparency and operations concerns brought by Democratic Sen. Stan Gerzofsky, of Brunswick.

 

Committee staff on Thursday said their preliminary research hasn't revealed any big issues with the authority's operations,  .  .  .

 

Continue here.

[KevinKorell]

Why are they picking on the poor Downeaster?  This is a viable asset that Maine has (and to a lesser degree the stations it serves in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.)  It provides a corridor of 5 daily trains between Boston and Portland that are often very full of passengers, and two of those daily trains extend to Freeport and Brunswick.  If this hullaballoo about the Brunswick Layover Facility is  ever resolved, I believe that more trains will be extended north of Portland allowing for more discretionary ridership to the Freeport and Brunswick stations.  Ridership benefits when there are numerous potential choices for travelers to make.  The current one train in the morning and one in the evening does not provide enough service in other midday times, such as when passengers would want to travel up to the LL Bean and other outlet stores near the Freeport station.