The state of Maine is getting almost $8 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help pay for improving or replacing 22 state-owned rail bridges in northeastern Maine. The service is operated by Maine Northern Railway.
Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner David Bernhardt says the plan is to get the bridges up to the 286,000-pound limit. He says that's an important factor for a railroad company and anybody shipping.
"It cuts costs for the shipper, for the railroad company, gets product quicker to wherever its destination, allows more trucks to get off the road," Bernhardt says.
The commissioner says the bridge improvement project is a public/private partnership with a total cost of $15.8 million. That sum includes $2 million from Maine Northern Railway and $5.6 million from Maine DOT.
Bernhardt says the state also got a $37.5 million federal grant a couple of years ago to repair the track between the bridges.
