WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate passed legislation Wednesday that preserves a key federal funding source for the Downeaster train service between Portland and Boston.

A two-year transportation bill, approved 74-22, allows Maine to keep relying on money from a federal program that supplies the Downeaster with as much as $6 million a year, in its annual operating budget of about $15.1 million.

An initial version of the bill would have eliminated Maine’s ability to use money from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program to help run the Downeaster, which serves about a half-million riders a year.

But Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, got a provision into the bill to keep the funding source. Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who backed the Downeaster funding provision, both voted yes on the overall bill.

The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which manages the Downeaster on behalf of Maine, brings in about $8 million a year from sources such as ticket sales and food concessions, leaving about a $7.1 million shortfall. The rail authority pays about $12 million a year to Amtrak to operate the Downeaster.

Depending on the year, the federal money is used to cover $5 million to $6 million of the shortfall. The rest comes from revenue raised by a state tax on car rentals.

In a five-year transportation bill passed in 2005, Maine won an exemption that allowed it to keep using the money for the life of the transportation bill. Congress had not passed a new transportation bill since then, and the exemption was retained in a series of temporary measures.

When the Downeaster service began in 2001, it was allowed to use the air quality program money temporarily, on the theory that the train was keeping cars off the road and improving air quality.

A pending transportation bill in the House still does not contain the Downeaster funding exemption, but the Senate bill is considered more likely to get bipartisan support.

It’s possible that the House won’t approve any bill before the temporary transportation measure expires March 31. That likely would mean another temporary transportation bill — which would keep the Downeaster funding source at least for the time being.

Maine’s entire congressional delegation backed preserving the Downeaster’s federal funding source. Maine lawmakers have noted that Congress recently approved spending $38 million to extend Downeaster service north to Brunswick, and millions of dollars more to improve rail lines in Massachusetts.

MaineToday Media Washington Bureau Chief Jonathan Riskind can be contacted at 791-6280 or at:

jriskind@mainetoday.com

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