The forum Thursday at the Holiday Inn in Rutland Town was one of several being held by the Vermont Transportation Board, which will report to the Legislature in January about what the public has to say. Previous hearings were held in Vergennes and Newport.
“We are charged by the Legislature to go out and gather public opinion,” said John Zicconi, the board’s executive secretary. “We want to hear from you.”
The seven-member board is a quasi-judicial body that reviews legal matters involving the Agency of Transportation and assists in crafting public policy by acting as a liaison between the public and lawmakers. Board members representing Poultney and Middlebury were also present.
Zicconi said ridership on both the Ethan Allen Express, which runs from New York City to Rutland, and the Vermonter has nearly doubled in the last 10 years. In 2015 the lines saw about 107,000 riders, primarily for interstate travel.
The rail forums, designed to better position the state and local communities for such a growth in ridership, are loosely organized around a handful of broad topics: how railroads affect towns and communities; railside development and related zoning issues; the interaction between truck traffic and rail lines; and rail safety.
A key piece to expanding ridership is the resumption of passenger service from Rutland to Burlington, which Zicconi said is slated for 2020 or 2021. The train would make stops in Middlebury and Vergennes. The Transportation Agency is finalizing a plan to upgrade the track and replace two bridges in Middlebury and will make a presentation before the town Selectboard on Nov. 17.
The bridges, which date back to the 1920s, are in poor condition, and sections of track are misaligned. There are also issues with water drainage and the formation of ice on the tracks in winter. In October 2007 an 18-car freight train derailed in Middlebury, spilling gasoline into Otter Creek.
The town was initially responsible for overseeing the construction but as it became increasingly complex turned it back over to the Transportation Agency, according to Jim Gish, who is acting as project liaison for the town. The agency is planning to demolish and replace the bridges over a 10-week period in 2019. In the next couple of years preparations will be made for that work.
However, a number of questions remain, and in an editorial Thursday the Addison Independent criticized the state’s decision to rebuild the bridges to accommodate future freight traffic. This requires a 21-foot clearance, instead of the current height of 19 feet, and is significantly more expensive. According to the editorial, after much back and forth “the state and the town are increasingly at odds.”
Still, Gish said the upgrade has great potential to improve access to Middlebury from other parts of the state and New York City.
“Even though it’s kind of a rail bridge project,” Gish said, “it touches on the whole future of our community.” Gish said having a direct connection to New York City from the college town would be a huge boon.
George Gides, a newly elected member of Rutland’s Board of Aldermen, raised questions about the location of rail stations in Middlebury and Vergennes and whether they would be within walking distance of shops and services. The Rutland station, in the Wal-Mart plaza, is centrally located and leaves riders in the heart of downtown. Gides, who said he’d love to be able to take the train from Rutland to Middlebury, asked if that would be the case in Middlebury and Vergennes or if riders would need to take a bus or taxi from the station.
The former rail station on Seymour Street in Middlebury is now privately owned and lacks adequate parking for a daily Amtrak passenger train.
“I think the town and VTrans are going to have to get together and figure out where do we want it sited, what’s the best place for it,” Gish said.
Brennan Duffy, executive director of the Rutland Redevelopment Authority, raised the possibility of commuter rail service between Rutland and Burlington. According to Zicconi, the state is looking at the feasibility of commuter rail between St. Albans and Montpelier. Duffy asked if a similar study could be carried out in the Rutland area, which has long sought better transportation connections with Chittenden County and other parts of the state.
Zicconi said the state is looking at the most densely populated part of the state first but said that wouldn’t preclude a similar review in Rutland in the future.
“You’ve got to assume success breeds success,” Zicconi said. “One thing feeds off of another.”
There’s long been an interest in reviving Rutland’s freight rail economy. Alderman Dave Allaire, who previously served on the House Transportation Committee, said the city has worked closely with the Agency of Transportation to identify areas that could be used as industrial loading zones.
“Rutland is a railroad town,” Allaire said. “Railroad activity is a good thing, and promoting it is a positive exercise.” Allaire said efforts to relocate the rail yard to Rutland Town a number of years ago in order to free up space for development in the city were unsuccessful. As negotiations dragged on cost estimates increased and Allaire said the proposal “ended up dying on the vine.”
Expanded rail service will not significantly reduce the amount of truck traffic on Vermont’s roads and highways, Zicconi said. According to a projection done in 2007 before the Great Recession, truck traffic in Vermont is expected to grow 43 percent over the next two decades. Currently more than 80 percent of Vermont’s freight is moved by truck.
One person at the forum raised concerns about what a recent purchase agreement between Genesee & Wyoming Inc., which operates more than 200 miles of track in Vermont, and Providence and Worcester Railroad Co. could mean for the state. P&W serves customers in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York and transports everything from chemicals and automobiles to ethanol and steel.
According to Fred Bailey, a former Green Mountain Railroad operating officer, Genesee & Wyoming could use its main line in Vermont — the New England Central — as a gateway for much of that freight, including hazardous materials.
The Transportation Board will hold four more public forums next month in Brattleboro, St. Albans, Burlington and White River Junction. Zicconi said the board will be looking at issues specific to each community and also trend lines that emerge over the course of the hearings. The board is also accepting comments online.
