AUBURN — Reopening a historic rail line gives industries more reason to settle in Maine, according to state and local transportation officials.

“What it does is opens hundreds of acres for huge development, especially the kinds of businesses that could use rail to move their product nationally,” said David Bernhardt, commissioner for the Maine Department of Transportation. “If you are a large business wanting to move to this area, today is a huge step in that direction. Everything comes together here, from a transportation perspective, for better economic opportunity.”

Officials from the state, Lewiston, Auburn, Poland, the Lewiston-Auburn Railroad, the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments and the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad were on hand Monday morning to re-open the new 6,600-foot long Rangeley Branch of the L-A Railroad.

The reopened branch, formerly a part of George Field’s farm, runs east to west just north of the Intermodal Transportation Facility and south of MB Bark’s Auburn operation. Field said Monday he thinks the branch last saw train traffic some time in the 1950s.

It connects the L-A Railroad line — just southwest of the intersection of West Hardscrabble Road and Lewiston Junction Road — to St. Lawrence and Atlantic’s northwestern-bound line in Poland.

Auburn Economic Development Director said one of the biggest benefits for the area is that it opens more than 400 acres of land to new industrial development.

“It helps with storage and capacity for rail in this area,” Miller said. “It’s a great amount of capacity and one more piece of infrastructure that helps us.”

Currently, rail traffic comes down the St. Lawrence and Atlantic line, then bends to the east just before Lewiston Junction Road. It can stop at the Intermodal Facility for storage or transfer to tractor trailer for road hauling or continue up the L-A Rail line.

Now, some SLA rail traffic can turn to the east at Rangeley Branch. The land south of it can be developed by businesses that want to ship directly via rail.

Rick McLellan, acting general manager of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad, said MB Bark has already built their own spur off of the Rangeley Branch to ship out their bark mulch.

“They are not getting cars yet, but we are working out an agreement where they are going to get service on this line,” McLellan said. “We would expect to see cars start moving in their direction in the next four to six weeks, I would say.”

Bernhardt said he’s confident that the Canadian National Railroad’s decision this summer to no longer service the Auburn Intermodal facility beginning in November would have little impact on the area.

“The CN just supplied the cars,” McLellan said. “Are there other companies out there that can supply cars? Of course there are and I can tell you that I’m confident the SL and A will be taking every path to keep this operating.”

The Auburn Intermodal facility opened in 1994 and was expanded in 2000 by the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad. It offers high capacity freight shipping between Canada’s ports and New England and the rest of the U.S. via the Canadian National Railway and St. Lawrence and Atlantic’s U.S. line.

LA Railroad owns the 5.4 miles of track from Lincoln Street in Lewiston to Lewiston Junction in Auburn and leases it to Saint Lawrence and Atlantic and Savage-Safe Handling, as well as other companies.

The St. Lawrence and Atlantic rail line and the Auburn intermodal facility were sold by Pennsylvania-based Emons Transportation Group to the Genesee and Wyoming Railroad in 2002.

staylor@sunjournal.com