A plan to extend the Amtrak Downeaster train from Portland to Brunswick is receiving a $35 million boost from the federal government.

President Obama later today will formally announce the funding, which is part of $8 billion in federal stimulus money allocated to improving the nation's high-speed passenger rail service, according to the Portland Press Herald. The money will improve the existing track on the 30-mile route and lay additional track, work that will create 200 jobs, according to a press release from Rep. Chellie Pingree's office. The work will begin immediately and is expected to wrap up by 2012. The train will stop in Freeport before arriving in Brunswick, where a train station has already been built as part of the Maine Street Station multi-use development. The train will also allow passengers from Boston and other points south to connect to the Midcoast by taking the Maine Eastern Railroad seasonal train from Brunswick to Rockland.

The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which operates the Downeaster, applied for the federal funding last June.

Go to the article from the Portland Press Herald >>