Within days of submitting a column offering my take on Gov. John Baldacci’s rail plan, another railroad in Maine started looking for a state buy-out. The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic railroad announced its intent to sell or abandon 241 miles of track in northern Maine, because freight traffic cannot generate enough cash to maintain the line.

As expected, the response from Augusta was everything would be done to find funding to keep the line running. It appears illogical, though perhaps aligned with our current economic stagnation, that each challenge our state faces is responded to with offers of money, not solutions.

A quick look at a Maine rail map shows a tangled web of public and private railroads, some usable and some not, some receiving state subsidies for capital upgrades, and some not. While in some instances private railroads appear to generate enough business to make a profit, the lack of business along other lines puts them on the brink of shutting down.

So what’s the problem to solve? I think the problem is not a railroad without the money to upgrade and maintain its lines. The problem is a lack of freight (or passenger) customers on the line to justify private investment. This problem is exacerbated by disjointed conversations statewide about the priority of rail access and planning for economic development around those rail lines.

The former is a symptom of Maine’s business climate and the latter is a symptom of Maine’s leadership vacuum.

Here’s an idea for Maine’s leaders, or those that dare to think big: If we can recognize that development will go where the infrastructure is, and that railroads in Maine are fixed assets, what plan is there on the regional level to develop around rail, and what is the state’s strategy to support it?

Not every community has a railroad running through it. But if the right investments are made, it won’t matter, because prosperity will spread. Let’s start from a Lewiston-Auburn hub, and try to imagine what revitalized rail might look like for the region.

From the Grand Trunk Rail Depot in downtown Lewiston, residents and visitors could depart towards the airport, where they could switch trains to head towards Portland and Boston, or north and west towards Bethel and Montreal.

With strategic expansions of rail spurs near the Auburn Intermodal Facility, industrial and commercial development parks could be expanded regardless of town boundary and flow smoothly into southern Poland.

As that rail line continues into Mechanic Falls, the option to re-introduce passenger service provides efficient commuter access to Lewiston-Auburn jobs and breathes new life into that village, growing its local tax base and supporting small businesses.

Further out, the line connects with the Oxford Fairgrounds (and the possibility of an Oxford County casino). That type of major visitor hub, accessible via rail and situated between Portland and L-A to the south and ski resorts and Montreal to the north, would drive passenger traffic.

Between Oxford and Montreal is Bethel and the mill towns of Berlin and Gorham, N.H. Berlin and Gorham are both seeking a new economic identify with their transition from pulp and paper. A rail revival would breathe new life and energy into their part of the White Mountains.

Interested in taking a different route out of Lewiston-Auburn? Why not hop on the Maine Central line near Central Maine Medical Center and head towards a new rail depot in Greene. Commuters from surrounding communities would find the short commuter trip on this line is much more attractive than the drive, and cheaper too.

If you are not stopping in Greene, continue towards Livermore Falls, Jay, Canton and Rumford. The scenic view along the Androscoggin River, access to these traditional New England villages and passenger access to each other and Lewiston-Auburn provides openings in more job markets for residents of the region, while boosting interest in their historic downtowns.

This vision is possible, and is far from the picture painted by coastal communities in successfully lobbying for the state to subsidize rail service there.While it would have been nice for those in the Androscoggin River valley to be more organized, with more political capital on the table, the window open at to state that we want investment and access on equitable footing with the rest of Maine.

Those we send to Augusta have difficult financial and policy decisions to make every day, and we should thank them for their service. Now we should ask for them to make the difficult decisions on rail and not simply feed the squeaky wheel or douse the latest fire.

Our economic future depends on it.

 Jonathan LaBonte, of New Auburn, is a columnist for the Sun Journal and an Androscoggin County Commissioner. E-mail: [email protected].