Platforms 1 side platform Parking 55 spaces | Tracks 1 | |
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Owned by Dietz Associates (station building) Line(s) B & M (Pan Am Railways) | ||
Kennebunk station to welcome downeaster in 2016
Kennebunk is a planned intercity rail station on the Downeaster route, to be located off Depot Street in Kennebunk, Maine. Station facilities will be located in the extant station building, with a new high-level handicapped accessible platform outside. Seasonal service is planned to begin in 2017 or 2018. The depot was previously used for passenger service from 1873 to 1965.
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Boston & Maine Railroad
From the 1840s until 1873, the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) used the Portsmouth, Saco and Portland Railroad to reach Portland, Maine. That year, after the joint lease of the PS&P by the B&M and the Eastern Railroad ended, the B&M built an extension of its mainline from South Berwick, Maine to Portland. The foundation for a station at Kennebunk on the new line was begun in 1872 and the station opened the next year. The station was built as a single-story clapboard structure, typical of B&M stations on the line.
The Kennebunk and Kennebunkport Railroad opened in 1883 from Kennebunk to Kennebunkport, Maine. The B&M operated service on the branch until 1926. Mainline service ton Kennebunk continued until the final day of service on January 3, 1965. The station building remains, largely unchanged over the past 130 years.
Downeaster
In 2001, Amtrak begun Downeaster service between Boston and Portland, which ran past but did not stop at Kennebunk. Some residents started to call for a stop at Kennebunk to attract tourists to the town, with serious discussions beginning in 2010. In May 2014, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (which governs Downeaster operations) agreed to add a station stop at Kennebunk. Service as soon as 2015 was considered, but will be delayed until at least 2016 due to the timing of state funding.
In June 2014, Kennebunk voters approved a $300,000 tax increment financing (TIF) plan, which along with $60,000 from current Maine Department of Transportation Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funds and another $800,000 in CMAQ funds in 2016 will supply the $1.16 million needed to build the station. In October 2014, $183,000 of the TIF money was dedicated to build a 55-space parking lot near the station. In October 2015, the town signed a grant agreement for the station, though the remaining state funds are not yet guaranteed. The town will also pay the $45,000 in annual maintenance costs from the TIF funds.
A small section of the former Boston & Maine depot building will be leased for use as a waiting area, as required by a deed restriction placed when the property was purchased from the B&M in the 1960s. A 300-foot platform with a high-level section for handicapped access will be built behind the station building. The platform will not be complete until 2017 or 2018 due to the timing of the CMAQ funds; a temporary platform was intended to open in 2016 but was not completed. Like Old Orchard Beach, it will be a seasonal stop only open from April to October, though town officials hope it may eventually be a year-round stop.