Railroad gets approval to cut B&M plant service
Federal regulators have approved the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad’s request to stop service on its 24-mile rail from Auburn to Portland, which serves only Portland’s B&M baked bean factory.
The Portland Press Herald reported the approval from the U.S. Surface Transportation Board leaves B&M with the choice of subsidizing the rail line or finding another way to ship beans to its East Deering factory. The company, which has operated its Portland factory since 1913, gets all of its small pea beans by rail from the Midwest and Manitoba, Canada, the newspaper reported.
The bean maker had opposed the closure request, saying that the railroad had understated the level of shipments to the bean factory and the factory’s dependence on the rail service. The railroad said in its request that B&M had been the 24-mile line’s sole customer and that the line was losing money.
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