http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/050201train.shtml


The Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad has submitted legislation to acquire an abandoned rail easement through Portland's Bayside neighborhood so the train could extend its tracks from the Eastern Promenade to Hadlock Field, home of the Sea Dogs baseball team.

The proposal worries some Portland officials, who are preening the former industrial neighborhood for multimillion-dollar redevelopment projects on or near the easement. These include plans for a supermarket, a parking garage, office buildings, residential condominiums and the extension of Chestnut Street from Somerset Street to Marginal Way.

The situation is complicated further because the city recently bought a large swath of the former railroad land, between Marginal Way and Somerset Street. The state retains ownership of the rail easement, however, while it works out plans to run a northbound Amtrak line along nearby Interstate 295.

The Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation Study Committee has allocated $10,000 to study the idea of extending light rail service to the baseball stadium. City officials are talking about joining the effort.

"The study would allow us to objectively evaluate the idea on its own merits," said City Councilor James Cohen, chairman of the council's transportation committee. "The train has been a valuable asset to the eastern waterfront. We have to look hard at the costs and benefits of extending it to Hadlock Field."

Phineas Sprague Jr., chief proponent of the narrow gauge railroad, says extending the tracks to the stadium would provide a transportation alternative to and from the planned Ocean Gateway cruise-ship terminal on the eastern waterfront. It also would promote greater tourism and development across the Portland peninsula.

"The object is to make this thing magic for the city," said Sprague, a member of the railroad's board.

The legislation would require the Maine Department of Transportation to transfer the rail easement to the Trust for the Preservation of Maine Industrial History and Technology Inc., the nonprofit organization that operates the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. and Museum.

The legislation also calls for the easement to be realigned to preserve a light rail corridor without hindering anticipated economic development in the area.

Some city officials question whether that's possible, given Sprague's history with the city. Sprague's firm, The Portland Co., holds a railroad easement along Fore Street that has been a glitch in the city's plan to develop a parking garage on the eastern waterfront.

"He wants the state to release the easement to him, and then he can hold us hostage on the redevelopment of Bayside, too," said Councilor William Gorham, a transportation committee member. "With the traffic problems we already have, it makes no sense to me to have trains running across Franklin Arterial, Preble Street Extension and Forest Avenue."

Sprague said the trust must acquire the Bayside easement to seek federal funding for the $1.6 million project. House Speaker John Richardson, D-Brunswick, submitted the bill on behalf of the trust. Richardson's law firm, Troubh Heisler, represents the Sea Dogs.

In 2003, Portland bought the 9.25 acres of former railroad land from the MDOT for $1.9 million. The city used a $1 million federal grant, borrowed $400,000 and swapped $500,000 in land and services for future MDOT projects.

The railroad parcel allowed city officials to move ahead with several Bayside projects. Many say they are open to extending the rail line, but only if the rail easement is realigned so it doesn't disrupt Bayside's redevelopment.

"If we're talking about transferring the existing easement where it is, the city would go to almost any length to stop it because it would destroy the Bayside plan," said Councilor James Cloutier, chairman of the council's economic development committee.