A new Downeaster station is coming to Portland, using $48 million in federal funding to relocate the transportation center on Thompson’s Point to a main line of the railway.
Currently, the northbound Downeaster route from Portland’s Amtrak station requires the train to backtrack to the railroad’s main line. Officials have said this 15-minute maneuver is inefficient and creates delays.
The project will move the station east of Interstate 295. But a specific location hasn’t been chosen yet — city officials and the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority have previously disagreed about where a new station should be located.
The Federal Railroad Administration allocated the money as a part of a more than $5 billion investment for rail projects across the country, according to a Friday news release from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
This is a developing story.
