Rockland advised to test noise, air around train station

By Stephen Betts

The Herald Gazette Associate Editor

ROCKLAND (Aug 13): Rockland should conduct monitoring of noise from Maine Eastern Railroad's operations and consider the value of having air testing done in the neighborhood surrounding the train station.

Those are among the recommendations included in a draft rail impact assessment report issued Aug. 7 by GEI Consultants Inc. of Falmouth. The Rockland City Council voted in April to spend up to $35,000 for a study. GEI was the only company to offer a proposal.

The report was prompted by complaints from some neighbors along the train tracks and near the station about noise and diesel emissions.

GEI recommended the following:

• The city should request that residents immediately contact the city with concerns about air quality, noise or other nuisances associated with the passenger train.

"The city will then have the opportunity to respond directly to such events, document conditions, and verify or refute allegations about noise and emissions," the report states.

• The city should contract for independent noise monitoring to evaluate Maine Eastern Railroad's compliance with federal noise standards. This monitoring should include background noise levels and monitoring during train operations at a number of locations.
• The city should consider the benefits and limitations of air testing in the neighborhood of the train station. Testing could be conducted that targets key indicators of diesel exhaust, such as formaldehyde and diesel particulate matter. Benefits of testing include developing an independent data set for comparison with health guidelines. The limitations include challenges of interpreting the data given variable weather conditions and interfering sources of emissions (such as passing vehicles and operating lawn equipment).

GEI noted the railroad's locomotives are exempt from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's emissions regulations because they were built earlier than 1973.

Air quality and noise regulations for railroads generally preempt state and local regulations or ordinances, GEI said. The company said a few parties have been successful imposing local controls, such as idling restrictions, using expert legal assistance and considerable time and expense.

• The city and Maine Department of Transportation should review herbicide spray notification procedures and the concerns expressed by residents, and determine whether reasonable modifications are necessary.

Maine Eastern Railroad Vice President Gordon Page, director of passenger operations, said the report was very objective.

At the council's Aug. 10 meeting, Debbie Atwell, who lives on Pleasant Street, voiced concern about the condition of trees near the station. She said the city appears to have a big problem with trees dying near the station where the trains operate.

Herbicides are used to keep the tracks clear, but the railroad itself does not handle that work. The Maine Department of Transportation, which owns the tracks, contracts licensed personnel to do that work.

Page said the herbicides used in the railroad right of way are designed to avoid drifting onto other properties and to stay only on targeted areas.

He said the railroad and the herbicides used are not killing trees or plants on neighboring properties. He said the issue was already studied two years ago when someone made a complaint on Broad Street that herbicides contaminated a garden. He said that when it was studied, it was found the railroad had not caused problems with the garden and one could clearly see a line where the herbicides ended and the growth began on neighboring properties.

City Manager Rosemary Kulow said she planned to schedule a meeting with the consultant and the council for next month. The work done thus far by GEI is the first phase of the study. The council will decide whether to spend the remainder of the $35,000 by having the consultant conduct two days of air and noise monitoring at three different locations, spend one day monitoring the operations, and then present an updated summary.

Passenger service returned to the train station at Union and Pleasant streets in 2005 after a year of stopping at a temporary drop-off point on the waterfront near Sandy Beach. The service provided by Maine Eastern Railroad operates from May through October and has seen ridership increase each year.

In the first year of having the service back at the train station, some neighbors began complaining, first about noise from the whistles and then about light and air pollution.

The issue has reached the City Council level on several occasions. The city considered forcing Maine Eastern Railroad to relocate its drop-off and pickup location to the roundhouse on New County Road but rejected the proposal. The council also declined in March 2008 to contribute $21,000 for an upgrade to the train engine.

In November, the council gave the go-ahead to seek consulting advice on the complaints.

The train station was built in 1917 and was used for that purpose through 1959 when regular passenger rail service ended. The building was used as city hall for decades, ending in March 1996 when Rockland city government relocated to its current property, which had been owned by the water company.