Train news for New England in 2025 and the Downeaster from Boston to Maine

By Max Hartshorne
GoNOMAD Editor

We had a grand plan, it involved heading into Boston and taking the 11:25 am Downeaster Train up to Old Orchard Beach, Maine.  It was a great idea, and all the times worked until track improvements meant that the 11:25 am train from Boston was canceled, with the next train not arriving until 5:40 pm. Nope, couldn’t do it.  

We decided to do the sensible yet less sexy thing–drive. Sadly, it seems it’s just not that easy to take the train instead of driving up to Maine. These disruptions were part of a massive tie replacement project—over 130,000 railroad ties along 124 miles of track are being swapped out to keep the Downeaster running for many more decades.

Our cheap hotel, the Beach Motel and Suites,  was a seven-minute walk from the Amtrak station. We could have walked there ready for a beach day, we even brought our big beach chairs.  The location is the only thing we’d recommend about this small hotel. Small rooms, and no side tables, but an inexpensive way to enjoy the town of Old Orchard Beach which is always a hoot.

Train News for New England

Train service in New England is increasing, even in the Trump era—so far, anyway. Plans are underway for an overnight train with sleeping cars from Boston to New York, similar to the sleepers that are becoming popular in Europe.

In fall 2026, Maine will add a new station building to its proud Downeaster Amtrak train service serving the small coastal village of Wells. Wells is undergoing a $11.8 million transformation at its Amtrak station, part of the broader $31.9 million Wells Area Improvement Project. Here’s what’s on the blueprint:

• A second high-level boarding platform across the tracks from the existing one
• An elevated pedestrian bridge that connects both platforms.
• Upgrades to track capacity, including a six-mile passing track extension completed last year.
• A temporary platform to keep passengers moving during construction

The goal? To allow simultaneous boarding and deboarding.

This will expand the scope of an already impressive Maine train service, which has served 10 million passengers since its debut in 2005. 
Today, the trains travel 145 miles from Boston’s North Station to Brunswick, Maine. There are now eight daily trains on the route. Wells is the first town in Maine after you cross the border from Dover, New Hampshire. In 2026, they are adding more trains including one that arrives in Portland before 8 am! Now that’s a game changer for the Downeaster. 

Newest Commuter Trains in Massachusetts

In the coastal cities of New Bedford and Fall River, Massachusetts, train fans are thrilled with the new daily commuter rail service to South Station in Boston. It took twenty years and 1.1 billion dollars, but it’s here. The double-decker trains will travel the 37-mile route three times a day, and there are also frequent weekend trains. This extension was planned to open in 1997 but was actually opened on March 24, 2025. It has  been 65 years since these towns were last served by train service.  The trip from Boston down to New Bedford, or Fall River, takes 90 minutes and the fare is $12.25, with seniors riding for just $6. If you are in the military,  a police officer, or  blind, you can ride for free with proper ID.

 A few months ago, the line was forced to use buses for some of the route due to employee issues, but the French operator, Keolis, has been able to staff the trains on weekends so far this summer.

Down south, The Hartford Line’s getting a $25 million boost, and here’s what is expected. . They are adding an extra weekday round-trip between New Haven and Hartford to fill in a pesky three-hour midday gap that currently exists. On weekends, trains 6456, 6457, 6458, and 6459  extend to the Windsor Locks Station, and weekday train 4401 will now stretch from Windsor Locks to Springfield. They are also ramping up customer service hours at Hartford Union Station by a solid 75%.

Finally, they are building on the funding from 2020 by tossing in two extra weekday trains running between New Haven and Springfield. This has been a complete success, with ridership numbers increasing every year. This bodes well for keeping these and the above-mentioned rail travel routes running for decades, as we slowly try to catch up to the rest of the world that has lapped the U.S. in railroad transportation. 

Sleeping Car Trains from Lunatrain

Now let’s take a big, big step forward to consider an audacious idea from Philadelphia’s Mike Avena called the “Lunatrain.”  Mr Avena has some ambitious plans for fancy train travel. He’s starting off by looking at routes between Boston and Washington, where Amtrak’s already up and running. He’s got an eye on building a brand-new fleet of sleeping cars with horizontal full beds in small compartments. According to Mr. Avena, “Dreamstar’s [the sleeping car service in Europe that crosses the Chunnel between England and France] is all about a luxury experience—really top-notch stuff. We want it to have a wide appeal but still be affordable for folks. And it’s gotta be new, no old retrofits.”

He’s also borrowing a page from Europe’s Nightjet mini-cabins, calling them a solid example of a budget-friendly option. He’s keen on these mini-cabins that are perfect for solo travelers at a fair price. Travelers are not stuck paying for two beds like they would be in an Amtrak roomette. It’s a bit like the Budd Slumbercoaches from back in the day. For families or groups, he’s cooking up bigger compartments that will be private, no sharing with strangers like they do in Europe. Until 1991, you could take the Amtrak Executive sleeper trains from New York City and sleep all the way to Boston.

Max Hartshorne publishes his travel stories in his Travel with Max column in the Montague Reporter, a print newspaper serving five towns in Western Massachusetts.