Boston-Portland Passenger Project
On December 4, 1998 Guilford Rail System received the formal
notice to proceed from the Northern New England Passenger Rail
Authority (NNEPRA) for the upgrading of the freight main line
from Plaistow, New Hampshire to Portland, Maine.
This project has been in negotiations for eight years and
has been held up due to disagreements on fundamental issues of
insurance and maintenance of the railroad. In May of 1998 the
Surface Transportation Board (STB) ruled in Guilford’s favor on
the insurance and maintenance issue and a contract was signed in
July of 1998.
Subsequent to the contract signing, the State decided to
run the trains at 79 miles per hour instead of the agreed upon
59 miles per hour. The issue of speed will now be decided by
the STB.
The engineering of the upgrade was started in January of
1999 and construction will begin in the Spring. The project
will include the installation of 75,000 main line crossties,
20,000 siding ties, and approximately seventy miles of
continuously welded rail.
The upgrade will take two full construction seasons to
complete. Freight traffic on the line will be scheduled
around the construction so our customers will not encounter any
service difficulties.