Collins announces more than $53M for freight rail upgrades in rural Maine
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that the Maine Department of Transportation has been awarded $53,313,091 for freight rail upgrades to enhance safety, speed, and reliability along two Eastern Maine Railway mainlines in Penobscot, Aroostook, Washington, and Piscataquis counties.
This funding will also be used to rehabilitate currently dormant tracks to provide a connection to the One North Bio-Industrial Park in Millinocket. This funding was awarded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration’s Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program. Eastern Maine Railway and One North will contribute the 20 percent non-federal match required for this project, for a total project cost of more than $66.6 million.
“This investment will make critical safety and reliability upgrades to enhance freight rail service in rural Maine,” said Collins. “Repairing and expanding our state’s rail network will strengthen economic opportunities and support jobs throughout the state by connecting our rural communities to national and global markets.”
The grant will support substantial improvements across 140 miles of rail, including the installation of over 86,000 new crossties and more than 108,000 tons of ballast, replacement of jointed rail with continuously welded rail, installation of Equipment Defect Detectors, and upgrading seven highway grade crossings. By rehabilitating yard tracks and other improvements in the Industrial Park, this project will support the Maine forest products industry and new and sustainable industries in the Katahdin Region.
According to the FRA, the CRISI Program aims to invest in a wide range of projects within the United States to improve railroad safety, efficiency, and reliability, and to mitigate congestion at both intercity passenger and freight rail choke points to support the more efficient movement of both people and goods.
Since joining the Appropriations Committee in 2009, Collins has helped secure over $1 billion in competitive transportation grants for the State of Maine.