LEWISTON — Making a pitch for commuter train service in the Twin Cities, members of the Maine Rail Transit Coalition said it’s time to start developing rail aggressively.

“In the past, rail development in the state has been about slow, incremental development to trying to rebuild sections of rail at at time,” said Paul Weiss, a board member of the coalition. “We got the Downeaster to Portland and now, 10 years later, we’ve expanded to Brunswick.”

About 36 people gathered Tuesday night in the Royal Oak Room, the revamped event space in the former Maine Central Rail Station, to talk about expanding rail into Lewiston-Auburn.

“We think it needs to be rethought,” Weiss said. “We want to develop rail in Maine rapidly, simultaneously, really expanding multiple sections at a time.”

The group was focused on the state-owned rail branch between Danville Junction and Lewiston-Auburn. It could someday connect the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport to downtown Portland.

With that under its belt, the group would hope to develop connections downtown, possibly between Danville and the former Maine Central Rail Station in downtown Lewiston.

Bob Thompson, executive director for the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, said his group has applied for a $1.35 million federal grant to study environmental impacts of improving the route between Danville and the airport.

That would be the first of many steps aimed at bringing the trains here.

Weiss said the group would like to see commuter service bringing 22 trips per day on electric-diesel trains carrying up to 110 passengers per trip.

“It would open up Lewiston-Auburn and Portland so people could live and work in either one,” he said. “It really opens up the biggest economy in Maine, connecting the two biggest economies in Maine.”

staylor@sunjournal.com

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