BETHEL — Community leaders hope to lay the right tracks for a passenger rail service by hosting a Northern New England Rally for Rail conference next month.

A feasibility study began in August 2010 to help prepare for a purposed passenger rail service from Portland to Montreal with stops in Auburn, Paris and Bethel. Robin Zinchuk, executive director of the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce, started to lay the groundwork for the project after attending a presentation on the study. Zinchuk wanted to show that the area and all of Western Maine needs a passenger rail service.

“This project is so much more than getting riders in and out of Bethel. It’s about economic development for all the communities involved,” she said.

Public transportation is a $55 billion industry and employs 400,000 people. Zinchuk said a passenger rail service would help create jobs and opportunities not just for Bethel but for other surrounding communities.

Mark Latti with the Maine Department of Transportation said the study showed the numbers of riders would not support the cost of the project and operation. The study showed 30,000 to 40,000 riders per year between Portland and Auburn. When Bethel was added as a destination, those numbers jumped to between 66,000 and 71,000. However with an estimated cost of $139 million to $361 million to build the rail, the jump in ridership would still be inadequate to cover the cost for a passenger rail project, he said.

Latti did say though that with future efforts, including the Rally for Rail, the possibility of a passenger rail service can exist. He said the Amtrak Downeaster, which travels from Boston to Portland with various stops in southern Maine, had its start much like the purposed rail service from Portland to Montreal. He said the real proof communities need to show is a larger ridership along the entire route.

Gov. Paul Lepage said at a town hall meeting in Newcastle earlier this year about passenger rail service: “In Maine we’re a sparsely populated state. We’re a large state and passenger rail is coming back slowly. So it’s going to take awhile to take hold, if it ever does. … Whether it works or not in Maine, well the jury is still out, but it is a growing industry.”

That is what Bethel and Zinchuk are riding on with their conference. Zinchuk said she knows this project is quite a few years off but hopes the area can create the right environment to support the rail when the time comes.

The Northern New England Rally for Rail is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sept. 14 at the Bethel Inn Resort. Tickets are $25 per person and may be purchased either online at www.rallyforrail.com or through the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce.

Keynote speaker will be Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and former commissioner of the Maine Department of Transportation. A lunch and cocktail hour will also be part of the conference.