Amtrak is asking Congress for funds as a part of the president’s infrastructure bill to extend passenger rail service up the coast to Rockland, but cities in central Maine, including the state capital, would be left out.

Amtrak has proposed extending its Downeaster passenger rail service to Rockland. The train currently carries riders from Brunswick to Boston.

The New England Passenger Rail Authority operates the Downeaster rail service under a contract with Amtrak.

Its executive director Patricia Quinn told the Kennebec Journal on Sunday that there have not been substantial talks to extend rail service to central Maine cities like Lewiston, Waterville, Augusta or Bangor.