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The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Inc. (MMA) recently filed a “notice of intent” with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to abandon 233 miles of track in Maine’s Aroostook and Penobscot counties.

The 754-mile regional — which operates lines in Maine, Vermont and New Brunswick, Quebec — previously announced plans to abandon the lines in August 2009. MMA plans to file an abandonment application with the STB in late February; board proceedings will take about three months to complete, the railroad said.

The regional has “suffered substantial operating losses on these lines in the last three years due to low shipping volume and high operating costs,” MMA officials said in a prepared statement. Railroad officials continue to meet with state representatives to find ways to preserve rail service in the area and consider abandonment a “last resort,” said MMA President Robert Grindrod.

“We will continue to seek solutions, but we must stop the cash drain that has already and continues to undermine the financial health of the entire company,” he said.