The Train Was an Immediate Hit

Tony Dutzik at the Huffington Post:

Maine’s Downeaster rail line got its start as the improbable dream of a group of plucky citizen activists who envisioned running trains on a section of track between Boston and Portland, Maine, that last saw passenger traffic in 1965. After more than a decade of determined work, capped by passage of a citizen ballot initiative, the Downeaster made its initial run in December 2001.

The train was an immediate hit — a 1990 study projected that the line would ultimately attract about 167,000 passengers each year, a figure that it quickly surpassed. Last year, the train carried more than half a million passengers — twice as many as in 2005.