LEWISTON — Frustrated that local efforts to build rail connections to Portland, Montreal and beyond are being ignored, residents gave state transportation planners an earful Monday night.

“I frankly feel abandoned by my state government,” said Chip Morrison, president of the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce. “We are talking about connecting us, from Lewiston-Auburn, through Bethel and the mountains to Montreal and that’s just huge. But it’s just being ignored, and I don’t know why.”

More than 60 residents, elected officials and business and commerce leaders came to the Museum LA in the Bates Mill Enterprise Complex to discuss a 10-year plan for passenger and rail growth and investment in Maine. Representatives from the Maine Department of Transportation and HNTB Corp. have been writing the plan over the summer, and presented preliminary findings.

The plan calls for significant investment in Maine rail, improving lines for speed and to allowing them to carry heavier loads. Investment will center on rail lines that can connect to lines outside of Maine, ones that have private investment and ones that will show significant returns for state money.

“I thought we were sure to be included when you said all that,” said Lincoln Jeffers, assistant to the Lewiston city administrator. “That describes exactly what we’ve been trying to do.”

But residents said the plan and the state’s actions don’t show any regard for Western Maine. Androscoggin County Commissioner Jonathan LaBonte pointed to decisions to seek federal aid for improvements to two lines that avoid Lewiston-Auburn. The state applied for a $39 million American Reinvestment and Recovery Act grant to extend Amtrak’s Downeaster service to Brunswick and another $28 million in federal Transportation Investment to Generate Economic Recovery money to resurrect the old Mountain Division rail line connecting Portland to Fryeburg. That line could eventually link Portland directly to Montreal.

A Montreal link has long been the goal of local transit officials.

“This looks just like another way to bypass us,” said Lewiston resident Peter Robinson.

State Transportation Commissioner David Cole said there were no plans to bypass Lewiston-Auburn. Both projects are competing with hundreds of other projects for federal money and the state had to present projects that had a good chance of winning.

“There are reams and reams of papers on the Brunswick project alone,” Cole said. “It’s been in the planning stages for a number of years and it’s as close to being shovel ready as is possible.”

If built, a Brunswick spur for Amtrak would go north out of Portland and through Yarmouth Junction, before turning east to Brunswick. A Yarmouth Junction spur also continues west to Auburn.

“So, I’d like to point out that the Brunswick project gets us halfway closer to Auburn,” Cole said. “It’s a double win.”

The 10-year rail plan does mention the local projects, including freight and passenger rail expansions north to Canada. Nathan Moulton of the Maine DOT said local rail won’t be forgotten.

“This has to be a very flexible plan,” he said. “When it comes to federal funding, you really need to have the right widget handy to fit the proper box. So we want to make sure we have as many different kinds of widgets available for as many different situations as possible.”

Currently, a multiple-state, high-speed rail investment effort calls for expanding passenger rail north of Portland east, to the coastal communities of Brunswick, Bath and Rockland.

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