PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 15, 2020
Dec. 15, 2001: At 6:05 a.m., Amtrak’s Downeaster passenger train begins its first run between Portland and Boston, reviving passenger service along that route for the first time in nearly 37 years. The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority estimates that 320,000 passengers would use the train during its first year of operation. The annual ridership proves to be far short of that figure during the train’s first seven years of operation, but in 2008 it jumps to 388,352. In 2019, the train achieves an all-time high number of riders 574,404. Regular train service is expanded in November 2012 up the coast to Freeport and Brunswick.