BURLINGTON — State and railroad officials announced Thursday that Vermont will receive an $8.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to rehabilitate railroad tracks in the western corridor of the state.
The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant will be used to rebuild 20 miles of state-owned Vermont Railway track between Rutland and Leicester. It is a piece of an $18.5 million project designed to connect Rutland and Burlington by rail.
At a news conference held at Burlington’s Union Station on Thursday, Gov. Peter Shumlin said connecting the western corridor with rail is key to the state’s economic success.
“The western part of the state is economically challenged because they have a transportation challenge,” Shumlin said.
Joe Szabo, administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration, said the project will strengthen the transportation system and enhance economic opportunity in Vermont by improving both freight and passenger rail traffic between two of the state’s critical cities, Burlington and Rutland.
Szabo said the improvements will allow freight trains to move larger loads faster and safer. The project will also enhance the passenger capacity of the rail system by extending Amtrak’s Ethan Allen service along the western corridor, he said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the grant is necessary to improve the state’s decaying infrastructure and to create jobs. He also said new rail infrastructure will help the state’s goal of reducing carbon emissions.
“The fact of the matter is that improving our rail system moves us in a very substantial way forward in getting trucks off the road, cutting back on congestion and cutting back on greenhouse gas emission,” Sanders said.
About $3.2 million for the project will come from the state’s Transportation Fund, $6 million will come from already-allocated federal funds, and $200,000 will come from the rail operators, a news release stated.
The infrastructure improvements should be completed in about two years, railroad officials said.
“Two years, but we’re going to do it in two months,” Shumlin joked. “Irene style.”
