BRUNSWICK — Neighbors of a planned train maintenance facility between Church Road and Stanwood Street remain concerned about noise and vibration impacts on their homes after two meetings with Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA) officials.

A letter from the Brunswick West Neighborhood Coalition, issued after a Jan. 12 meeting of an advisory group NNEPRA created to guide plans for the depot, expresses concern over the noise and vibration measurement standards NNEPRA will use in assessing the proposed 60,000-square-foot train maintenance facility’s impact on the neighborhood.

According to the letter, neighborhood representatives Dan Sullivan, Anna Nelson and Robert McEvoy made two demands of NNEPRA at the Jan. 12 meeting:

— That the authority use Maine Department of Environmental Protection standards for building the facility.

— That an Amtrak Downeaster train be brought to Brunswick to measure noise and vibration impacts on site.

The letter indicates dissatisfaction with NNEPRA’s response to those demands, but NNEPRA executive director Patricia Quinn said the neighborhood group’s summary of the authority’s stance is inaccurate.

According to the neighbor’s group, NNEPRA’s response to the first demand was that the authority would not be able to adequately mitigate train noise outside the maintenance facility between the hours of 2:30 a.m. and 6 a.m.

The neighborhood group’s letter states that sound from trains could include train horns at 120 decibels, bells at 80 decibels, and 90- decibel engine noise, all of which would exceed a maximum municipal restriction of 45 decibels from businesses in Brunswick.

In an email to The Times Record, Quinn wrote that NNEPRA could not commit to a measurement standard at the Jan. 12 meeting because “without having the specifics of those requirements at hand, it was not possible to commit at that time.”

Quinn wrote that the requirements of those standards would be reviewed and evaluated, and that a response to the request would be issued.

According to the neighborhood group, NNEPRA officials said they would not be able to bring a Downeaster train on site to accurately evaluate noise levels until the summer, after the planned start of construction of the layover facility, but Quinn wrote that estimates based on the Portland layover facility would provide the same level of accuracy as bringing a train to Brunswick.

“Consultants noted that a visit to the Portland layover would provide the same level of accuracy,” Quinn wrote. “As a follow-up, a site tour of the Portland layover is being considered by NNEPRA for the next meeting.”

Meetings of the advisory group — which includes NNEPRA staff and consultants, Brunswick Town Council chairwoman Joanne King and District 4 Councilor John Perreault, and three representatives from the neighborhood group — are not open to the public.

In response to an inquiry from The Times Record, Maine Chief Deputy Attorney General Linda Pistner wrote in an email that advisory group meetings do not meet the legal definition of a public proceeding.

On Wednesday, the authority began accepting qualification statements from potential construction firms for the project to determine which companies will be asked to submit proposals to build the project.

According to a NNEPRA report issued this month, more than $ 32 million of work has been completed on the Amtrak Downeaster expansion to Freeport and Brunswick, and service is expected to begin with two trains by this fall.

dfishell@timesrecord.com