Amtrak suspends Vermont lines

Gov. Phil Scott says the Vermonter may "return in a few months".

https://www.samessenger.com/news/gov-ph ... 35c18.html

I applaud VT for not blowing money to haul empty coaches over the past year. "A few months" sounds about right; dovetails with Memorial Day or 4th of July and by then we might be close to general availability of the vaccines against Coronavirus and the ICUs should be a lot emptier. Oh and Massachusetts interim-extending trips to Greenfield makes even less sense.

On the other hand, Cape Cod is reportedly almost "sold out" for the summer, so folks will be looking for alternatives.

https://vermontbiz.com/news/2021/april/ ... it-service

Looks like 7/19 is the date for return to service.

Anyone know whats the deal is Vermont DOT's statement that , "Amtrak requires at least 90-day notice from the State to resume its passenger rail service."

The Downeaster was suspended in April 2020 and was running again by mid-June 2020, without 90-days notice.

Well, the state contracts are likely different. And in order to have it down for such a long time means train crews may have lost qualifications. Having such short downtime on the Downeaster allowed them to cycle their crews back on quickly - basically that was a hot-standby. Vermont shut down hard and everything went cold, so Amtrak needs time to put everything back in place to resume the service. Is 90 days probably a little long? Perhaps, but it's not unreasonable at all.

MassLive reports that Vermonter service will resume on July 19.

Fair use:

BARRE, Vt. — Amtrak’s Vermonter, which has Massachusetts stops in Springfield, Holyoke, Northampton and Greenfield, returns to service with its old frequency and daily schedule July 19.

Full article: Amtrak Vermonter train returning with stops in Springfield, Holyoke, Northampton, Greenfield

Requalification run through Greenfield at 13:30.

article in the brattleboro reformer;

https://www.reformer.com/local-news/amt ... 45176.html

This will be good news for Saratoga Springs travelers to/from NYC.

I tried to check service last month on the NY leg of the Ethan Allen, and Amtrak's website didn't tell me that the train had been suspended, it just kept telling me the trip wasn't available, leaving me very confused for an hour or so. You could even pull up the schedule from last year, which I assumed was current. Finally I figured it out and stumbled onto a page that had a service alert, but it's really, really bad for a website to give out bad information like that!

From the Associated Press:

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Officials are planning a celebration to mark the return of Amtrak passenger trains to Vermont later this month.

The July 19 event at the Montpelier Amtrak station will also include officials from the town of Berlin and the Vermont Agency of Transportation.

The party is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and last until the train departs the station, scheduled for 10:25.

The particulars from Amtrak: Vermont Welcomes Back its Amtrak Trains on July 19 with $1 Fares and Celebratory Events

Here's the press release from the Agency of Transportation with details of the station events, $1 fare and shuttles buses.

https://vtrans.vermont.gov/sites/aot/fi ... Trains.pdf

There is a major washout on the NECR at Putney VT. Difficult area to access for repairs. Hopefully, repairs will be completed by Sunday, so a deadhead move of a Vermonter trainset can make it up to St. Albans to be ready for the reopening festivities planned for Monday.

From Vermont Biz: Amtrak resumes Vermont service tomorrow, 7/19

https://vermontbiz.com/news/2021/july/1 ... dant-hopes