[B]URLINGTON – A report is recommending Union Station as the best place in the city to park trains overnight.
A local developer is concerned about the impact on Burlington’s waterfront — a popular tourist destination.
Union Station placed highest among five potential sites for storage once Amtrak resumes service to the Queen City, in a report released by the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission. Factors considered included noise, cost, visual impacts and air quality.
Passenger rail is expected to return with the Ethan Allen Express in 2021 or 2022. The line, which currently runs from Rutland to New York City, will expand north with stops in Middlebury and Vergennes before reaching the new northern terminus at Burlington’s Union Station.
The 680-foot Amtrak train consists of two locomotives and five passenger cars.
Melinda Moulton, CEO of Main Street Landing, has incrementally redeveloped parts of the formerly industrial waterfront since the 1980s.
Moulton said the report is “deeply flawed.” She believes noise and air pollution from the trains will make the area less attractive.
“By allowing the railroad to basically expand the railroad onto the waterfront, it’s not just about expanding an Amtrak,” said Moulton, who supports the return of rail. “It’s about changing the character of the community.”
Eleni Churchill, the regional planning commission’s transportation director, said the study conducted additional evaluation of air quality and noise in response to input last year.
“We actually had a very colorful public meeting, I would say,” Churchill said. “A lot of people came out to give us their comments, and that was good. We needed to hear all that.”
The planning commission held two public meetings and collected feedback through a page on its website. The report was sent to the Vermont Agency of Transportation. which will make the final decision on train storage.
A second siding, or additional railroad track, is coming to the waterfront regardless of the train storage decision due to existing need for freight operations, according to Churchill.
Nick Cartularo, a VTrans spokesperson, said the report is currently being considered among other options for the train storage and the agency is not bound to the recommendations. He said there is no set timeline for making a decision.
Some residents have expressed concerns about the trains idling overnight, according to the report. But Cartularo said the trains will have hot start equipment and would only require 20 to 40 minutes to warm up or cool down, except for when temperatures reach -20 degrees or colder.
“So it only idles for that amount of time, so there wouldn’t be that overnight idle,” he said.
Once passengers disembark in Burlington, the train will need servicing and storage before returning south. This includes emptying food and wastewater, cleaning the trains, restocking supplies, food and beverages and refueling.
The commission also studied two sections of the Urban Reserve, land north of the waterfront near the bike path; Flynn Avenue, next to the new City Market store; and the existing railroad near Perkins Pier.
Union Station scored highest for having a low impact on current train operations, cost, infrastructure, horn noise and travel distance for crew hours. But it was rated the closest site in proximity to residences and the worst score for air quality and emissions.
The cost for that site was approximately $300,000 for a three-phase power connection for the rail cars, but no additional infrastructure would be needed. The Flynn Avenue site would cost around $1.5 million, while the Urban Reserve sites would costs around $2.2 million each.
Storing the trains at the Vermont Rail Services existing railyard was estimated at $50 million. The report said the site is currently often used for loading, unloading and building trains and having an Amtrak train present would likely disrupt operations by taking up a rail line required for moving trains around.
The $50 million estimate is based on entirely relocating the existing railyard to make room for the Ethan Allen Express storage.
Tom Torti, president of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, said cost is a huge factor since taxpayers are subsidizing the service.
“What is first and foremost, in my mind and people who have been advocating for the renewal of this service is that we don’t want anything to delay it,” he said. “And this is very much shaping up as a process that could take on a life of its own as it goes back and forth.”
The timeline for the return of passenger rail is tied to a large-scale project in Middlebury, where two bridges are being replaced with a tunnel.
Torti said interest in rail is growing and will be a greener, more comfortable and cheaper way to travel from New York City to Vermont than flying.
“As we go around the country, more and more people are asking for passenger rail, whether it’s in Colorado or Texas or even some of the discussions that are in Vermont around commuter rail,” he said. “People see that is a very efficient, effective, environmentally sustainable way to travel.”
Moulton has long supported the return of Amtrak to the city. But she takes issue with the suggestion that the trains should be stored on the waterfront. The Vermont Rail Services railyard is just over a block away behind Maple Street.
She said if the additional tracks are allowed to expand into the historically industrial waterfront, it will lead to more than passenger train storage and essentially the creation of a second railyard.
“We don’t need to be bringing rail lines back on the waterfront where we fought for many years to remove them,” Moulton said.
Larry Sudbay owns a condo in the Wing building next to Union Station. His son currently lives in the unit, but Sudbay plans to retire there. He supports the return of Amtrak service but is alarmed at the impact train storage could have on his quality of life.
“We think Union Station is a place to stop for passengers to embark and disembark, not a place for trains to stop and be stored and serviced,” he said.
The second rail line for storing trains would run by the bike path and be just feet away from the condo building, which also includes office spaces.
“That’s my son’s bedroom window where the engine is going to be – 15 feet away. It really doesn’t make any sense,” Sudbay said. “No other location has people living this close, it’s insane.”
