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Maine Gov. John Baldacci recently signed a bill that will require the state to conduct an engineering study to determine the cost of extending freight- and passenger-rail service from Portland to Fryeburg.

The Maine Department of Transportation will complete the study with the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority. Following the study’s completion later this year, state officials might propose legislation to fund a rail line extension.

“I’ve long been an advocate of extending our rail system for both passengers and freight in Maine,” said Baldacci in a prepared statement. “Local companies currently shipping stone and gravel by truck in the Mountain Division Corridor could shift more than 25,000 truck trips a year onto freight rail.”