Downeaster
As the " Downeaster " means the American Railroad Company Amtrak her express train between Boston and Brunswick ( Maine).
History
With the increase of flight and private transport ridership went on passenger routes between Boston and Portland mid-20th century sharply, whereupon the local, operated by the Boston and Maine Railroad passenger trains were discontinued in 1965.
In the early 1990s, plans for a revival of passenger transport to Maine. The opening of the route was planned for 1995. As funding from the federal government was not initially approved, but no construction was out of the opening of the planned terminal station in Portland as a bus instead. Also, the next scheduled appointment in 2000 passed without the trains run. Only on 15 December 2001 drove the first express train on the 187 km stretch from Boston to Portland.
First perverted four trains per direction per day, each with four passenger cars. After in 2006 on weekdays, a fifth pair of trains was used to drive since the summer of 2007 five daily trains. Since spring 2008, a vehicle was added and the trains with five cars.
In recent years, passenger numbers increased rapidly to 2006 by 22.9 % and 2007 by 28%. Although the Downeaster making it the most successful passenger service provided by Amtrak, future funding is uncertain, as the U.S. federal government in 2009 set the contribution to the costs.
On November 1, 2012, the Downeaster went for the first time on Portland addition to Brunswick. The new route with a stop in Freeport is traveled daily by three trains per direction. Since 2003, travel in the summer months regularly scheduled passenger trains between Brunswick and Rockland along the coast, which are operated by the Maine Eastern Railroad.
Name
The name was inspired by an earlier express the Boston & Maine. The " Downeaster " backwards until the late 1940s between New York City and various destinations in Maine and New Hampshire. Whose name in turn goes back to a type of sailing vessels that were made in the 18th century shipyards in Maine.
Route
The trains start at North Station in Boston and first travel on the railway route Boston - Lowell. The first stop is the Anderson Regional Transportation Center in Woburn. The station was opened in April 2001 and is in addition to the express trains and suburban trains of the MBTA. In Wilmington, the Downeaster trains turn of the railway track Wilmington Agamenticus. The next station stop is Haverhill, where the suburban trains from Boston border on Reading. Shortly after the Haverhill line crosses the border into New Hampshire.
Trains stop in Exeter on the site of the former passenger station. Approximately 73,000 train passengers use the station annually, making it the largest passenger station in New Hampshire. The station Durham - UNH binds to not only the city of Durham, but also the University of New Hampshire ( UNH ). The last stop in New Hampshire is in Dover. The station building was opened there in 2003.
Just across the border to Maine bends the route of the Downeaster from the railway track Cummings Portland, which they followed up in the city of Portland. In 2002 Wells was born at Wells Regional Transportation Center, a new station building. The station Saco - Biddeford is located on the site of the former station Saco. 2009 here a direct transit traffic to the buses was created and renewed the station building. In Old Orchard Beach the trains from April to October. With 137,000 passengers in 2007, the terminus in Portland is the largest passenger railway station in Maine. The Portland Transportation Center station was built for the Downeaster and is situated on the western edge of the city center on the railway Portland Lunenburg. From here the Express buses depart to Augusta and Bangor, which operate on the trains in the port. In 1996, the station was taken as a bus station in operation.
The trains that travel to Brunswick, driving from Portland over the train track Portland Rockland. Please do so backward out of the Portland station back on the main line, as there are no connecting curve towards Brunswick. The intermediate stop in Freeport consists only of a platform with a small waiting room. The final stop in Brunswick at the station Avenue is two-pronged, but only the southern track has a platform at the reception building.
Downeaster in Wells, Maine
Station Brunswick