When the Amtrak Downeaster train #685 departs Boston's North Station at 8:30AM towards Brunswick, ME it is essentially a tourist train for the majority of its passengers. Some will be taking a day trip to Old Orchard Beach, or L.L.Bean in Freeport while others might even be traveling as far north as Rockland by transferring to the Maine Eastern Railroad's "Midcoast Limited" in Brunswick. However, when the same train makes its way towards Boston through Exeter NH the next morning, it becomes a commuter train... Before transforming to a campus shuttle for the faculty, staff and students of UNH in Durham NH, UNE in Biddeford and Bowdoin in Brunswick. By evening it becomes part of the pregame ritual for thousands of Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics fans where they can safely get an early start partying down in the cafe car without putting themselves and others at risk behind the wheel...
Yet none of the above figures into the way the service is actually structured. As far as Amtrak, or the federal funding sources are concerned, the Amtrak Downeaster is narrowly defined as an "Intercity" service.
ngers In most metro regions of the U.S, transit operations are often structured around a single service type. So for example,"Commuter Rail" services are designed to move masses of 9-5 professionals one way in the morning and another in the afternoon, while "Intercity" rail is meant to connect from one dense urban center to another (see table of transit service design for a detailed outline of service types and their relevant data sets). A third category could include the wide variety of privately-owned railroads that either operate on a seasonal basis or cater exclusively to tourists and enthusiasts. These "excursion" trains might even provide a valid transportation alternative in some regions where they connect to commuter or intercity lines.
Commuter rail is almost always confined to a specific metro region and operated by a regional transit authrority like Boston's MBTA whereas Intercity Rail in the U.S. has been exclusively operated by Amtrak. With service connecting Boston's North Station to the small town of Brunswick, Maine the Amtrak Downeaster is officially designated an "Intercity Train". Yet, with a population of barely over 20,000, the town of Brunswick hardly qualifies