Downeaster passenger trains carried more than 511,000 passengers in the year ending June 30. That makes for the highest 12-month ridership figures since 2014.
Maine Passenger Rail Authority chief Patricia Quinn says ridership on the Amtrak service was up nearly 9 percent from the year before, despite track work last fall that caused some trains to be canceled.
"We still - even though we had a lot of service interruptions - still saw ridership exceed our best ever in six of the 12 months of last year," Quinn says. "So we're really excited about that."
Quinn says work will begin this fall on a new, second track north of Portland. When that work is completed, all five Downeaster trains will be able to make the run all the way from Boston to Brunswick.
