By Mike Duprey
AmtrakDowneasterPhotos.com and a TrainRiders/Northeast Host

The push for passenger train service to return in Northern New England began in 1989. Started by a grass roots efforts of one man, Wayne Davis, with the vision of what passenger service could be again. He started TrainRiders/Northeast. The end result of many years of hard work  is what is now in place.

Amtrak Downeaster service began on December 15, 2001, and it offers a welcome relief to traffic congestion, high gasoline prices, parking woes and the like. It serves the communities of: Old Orchard Beach, Saco/Biddeford, and Wells in  Maine, Dover, Durham and Exeter in New Hampshire and Haverhill and Woburn in Massachusetts. With four roundtrips a day (in 2007 a fifth trip will be added) originating in Portland, Maine and terminating at North Station in Boston, Mass. The service regularly rates No. 1 for on-time service and customer satisfaction for the entire Amtrak system.

This is from an article published on April 11, 2007 in  Foster's Daily Democrat.  Alex Kummant is President and CEO of Amtrak and was the guest speaker at TrainRiders/Northeast 19th Annual Meeting on April 10.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) _ The Downeaster is a model for other states looking to expand passenger rail service, according to Amtrak's chief.

Alex Kummant, Amtrak's president and chief executive officer, said Maine's subsidy for the Portland-to-Boston service is critical to the continued operation of what has proven to be one of the most successful Amtrak routes. The Downeaster makes stops in Dover, Durham and Exeter, N.H.

The above article says it all. The trains, the stations, and most of all, the people involved with the service are what make the Downeaster the model of what Amtrak service should be.