MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • October 8, 2023
A five-month Press Herald investigation reveals poorly maintained lines, unreported accidents and secrecy around the hazardous materials transported through Maine. Eight privately owned freight railroads are responsible for the vast majority of Maine’s train traffic. They own and are expected to maintain 965 of the 1,457 miles of tracks in the state. They are charged with policing themselves, conducting their own inspections and filing their own post-accident reports. The Federal Railroad Administration discovered that in the past six years, railroads failed to report three derailments, two accidents and three employee injuries in Maine. Two of the unreported trains that derailed carried hazardous materials. Maine has no oversight or authority over private freight railroads. It’s only a matter of time before a disastrous derailment in Maine.