Vermonter (train)

Vermonter

The Vermonter at Brattleboro, Vermont, in March 2004
Overview
Service type	Regional rail
Status	Operational
Locale	New England, Mid-Atlantic States
Predecessor	Montrealer
First service	1995
Current operator(s)	Amtrak
Ridership	254 daily (FY2015)[1]
Annual ridership	92,699 total (FY2015)[1]
Route
Start	St. Albans, Vermont
Stops	30
End	Washington, D.C.
Distance travelled	611 miles (983 km)
Average journey time	12 hours 56 minutes
Service frequency	One daily round trip
Train number(s)	54-57
On-board services
Class(es)	Business class Reserved coach
Catering facilities	On-board cafe
Technical
Rolling stock	Amfleet coaches
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Operating speed	max:79 miles per hour (127 km/h)
Track owner(s)	NECR, MassDOT, MNCR, AMTK
Route map Legend Legend Dist. Station Montreal proposed extension Quebec Vermont (Canada–US border) 0 mi 0 km St. Albans 24 mi 39 km Burlington-Essex Junction 47 mi 76 km Waterbury-Stowe 56 mi 90 km Montpelier-Barre 86 mi 138 km Randolph 118 mi 190 km White River Junction 131 mi 211 km Windsor-Mt. Ascutney Connecticut River Vermont New Hampshire 140 mi 225 km Claremont Connecticut River New Hampshire Vermont 157 mi 253 km Bellows Falls 181 mi 291 km Brattleboro Vermont Massachusetts pre-2014 route 205 mi 330 km Greenfield Amherst 224 mi 360 km Northampton 235 mi 378 km Holyoke Palmer reverse move 245 mi 394 km Springfield Massachusetts Connecticut 260 mi 418 km Windsor Locks 271 mi 436 km Hartford 282 mi 454 km Berlin 289 mi 465 km Meriden 295 mi 475 km Wallingford 308 mi 496 km New Haven 321 mi 517 km Bridgeport 344 mi 554 km Stamford Connecticut New York East River Tunnels under East River 379 mi 610 km New York City New York New Jersey North River Tunnels under Hudson River 390 mi 628 km Newark 404 mi 650 km Metropark 437 mi 703 km Trenton New Jersey Pennsylvania 470 mi 756 km Philadelphia Pennsylvania Delaware 496 mi 798 km Wilmington Delaware Maryland 564 mi 908 km Baltimore 575 mi 925 km BWI Airport 596 mi 959 km New Carrollton Maryland District of Columbia 605 mi 974 km Washington

The Vermonter is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between St. Albans (Vermont), New York City, and Washington, D.C. It replaced the overnight Montrealer, which terminated in Montreal until 1995.

History

Montrealer

The Vermonter was preceded by an overnight train between Montreal and Washington that was known as the Montrealer. In the days before Amtrak the Montrealer was a service of the Boston and Maine Railroad. Another train, the Ambassador ran the same route during the daytime, but terminated in New York City. Both services used the Boston and Maine's Connecticut River Line south of Vernon, Vermont, rather than the current route over the New England Central.

Vermonter

The Vermonter at Brattleboro in August 1997

The Vermonter replaced the Montrealer on April 1, 1995, bringing daytime Amtrak service to Vermont.

Business Class was added to replace the sleeping cars that were taken out of service upon the change to the Vermonter. The route was changed to allow travelers from Vermont to once again stop in Springfield and Hartford. This was made possible by the use of cab cars or locomotives on both ends so that the train could travel east from Springfield to Palmer, Massachusetts, and reverse direction to continue north on the Central Vermont. This detour added an hour of running time, but at the time was judged more practical than seeking to use the direct route over the former Boston and Maine Railroad owned by the Guilford Rail System. The train travels from Washington to New Haven on the Northeast Corridor, where electric locomotives are substituted for the diesel locomotives used north of that location.

Vermont declined to pay for continuing the Vermonter to Montreal due to high labor and terminal costs in Montreal. For a time Amtrak offered passengers a connecting Thruway bus service, operated by Vermont Transit, which met the train at St. Albans for connections to and from Montreal. Ridership plunged when the train schedule was moved two hours earlier, requiring a southbound departure before 5:00 a.m. The schedule was returned to its previous position, but the service was dropped by Vermont Transit (which had been running it without a subsidy as part of its regular schedule) on October 30, 2005.

Vermonter at Wallingford, Connecticut

On October 30, 2006, the Vermonter began stopping at the towns of Wallingford and Windsor Locks (near Bradley International Airport) in Connecticut for the first time in its existence.

In the late 2000s Amtrak and the state of Vermont considered the purchase of diesel multiple unit (DMU) trainsets for use on the New Haven–St. Albans stretch of the line,^[2] with Amtrak offering a $2 million grant to help make the switch and market the new service. The new cars would purportedly have saved $4.25 million over three years, being four times more fuel efficient than a locomotive-hauled train.^[3] In 2008 the Vermont state legislature approved the purchase of five cars from Colorado Railcar at the cost of $18.2 million, but the company closed while the decision was awaiting approval of Governor Jim Douglas.^[4] With no other DMU designs available that were capable of operating in mixed traffic with other trains the plan was dropped.

On November 9, 2010, the State of Vermont, Amtrak, and New England Central began a $70 million project to increase train speeds along the route in Vermont to 59 miles per hour (95 km/h) between St. Albans and White River Junction, Vermont, and to 79 miles per hour (127 km/h) between White River Junction and Vernon, Vermont.^[5]

On October 5, 2012, the Federal Railroad Administration announced the completion of track work within the states of Vermont and New Hampshire for the above-mentioned stimulus plan. 190 miles (310 km) of track within the states of Vermont and New Hampshire were refurbished. The track work included installation of continuous welded rail, road-crossing improvements, ballast replacement, tie replacement, bridge repair and renovation, and embankment improvements. The top speed of the line within Vermont was increased to 79 miles per hour (127 km/h).^[6][7] The Massachusetts portion of the track work was ongoing as of 2015.

On October 5, 2015, the southbound Vermonter derailed in Northfield, Vermont after striking a rock slide. Five cars and the engine derailed; the engine and an empty car slid down an embankment. Five passengers and two crew members were injured, one seriously.^[8]

2014 route change

A Vermonter backing up at Palmer in 2007. Visible are two GE P42DCs and six Amfleet cars.

Until 1987, the Montrealer traveled on the Connecticut River Line between Springfield and Brattleboro with a stop in Northampton. Due to the deteriorating condition of the tracks in that section Amtrak ceased service of the train.

When the Vermonter service restored train service between Springfield, Brattleboro and points north in 1995, the Vermonter traveled a somewhat indirect route east to Palmer, Massachusetts, and then up the east side of the Connecticut River via Amherst, Massachusetts. It used CSX Transportation's Boston Subdivision between Springfield and Palmer. At Palmer, it made a backup move on to the New England Central Railroad (NECR), as no direct track connection existed. Massachusetts rehabilitated the more direct Connecticut River Line route with $10 million in state and $73 million in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.^[9][10]

During rehabilitation of the Connecticut River Line, Vermonter service was restored to it on December 29, 2014. With the re-route, the train ceased stopping at Amherst but a stop was restored to Northampton and, for the first time for Amtrak, a stop at Greenfield was added. The re-route and consequent elimination of the backup move is expected to eliminate about 25 minutes of travel time between Springfield and Brattleboro when the line rehabilitation is complete sometime in 2016.^[11][12][13]

In January 2015, the number of Vermonter riders using the two new stations (in Northampton and Greenfield) was up 84 percent compared to the equivalent station in Amherst the previous year.^[14]

A stop in Holyoke was added in August 2015.^[15]

Planned extension of the Vermonter to Montreal

Efforts have been underway for many years to extend the Vermonter to Montreal. In 2012 the Federal Railroad Administration awarded $7.9 million to allow for the upgrade of the existing freight rail line between St. Albans and the Canada–US border.^[16] Work on this project was completed in late 2014.

On March 16, 2015, the United States and Canada signed the "Agreement on Land, Rail, Marine, and Air Transport Preclearance Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Canada". The agreement would allow for the establishment of a preclearance customs and immigration facility within Central Station in Montreal that could be used by the Vermonter and Amtrak's Adirondack train.^[17]

Before the Vermonter can be extended to Montreal the Congress must pass enabling legislation for the preclearance agreement and the Parliament of Canada must ratify the agreement. Construction of a preclearance facility in Central Station is expected to take about three years; one year for planning and permitting and two years for construction. Construction of the preclearance facility is not expected to start until after the preclearance agreement has been approved by both governments.^[18][19]

Possible increased service

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Vermont Agency of Transportation are conducting a major study to "examine the opportunities and impacts of more frequent and higher speed intercity passenger rail service on two major rail corridors known as the Inland Route [the New Haven to Springfield route] and the Boston to Montreal Route."^[20]

The Boston to Montreal corridor being studied runs west from Boston to Springfield Union Station. From Springfield the rail corridor follows the route of the Vermonter northerly to St. Albans. From St. Albans the corridor continues to the Canada–US border and onward to Montreal Central Station in Quebec. The study is the precursor for possible increased passenger rail service on the route of the Vermonter north of Springfield.^[20]

Route

Map of the Vermonter route (interactive map)

The Vermonter uses Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and New Haven–Springfield Line between Washington, D.C., and Springfield, Massachusetts. It then uses the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)-owned Connecticut River Line between Springfield and Northfield, Massachusetts. North of Northfield it uses the New England Central Railroad.

Equipment

A typical Vermonter currently consists of four Amfleet passenger cars and an Amfleet cafe car. Between New Haven and Washington the train is pulled by an Siemens ACS-64 electric locomotive (Amtrak used to pull the train with a EMD AEM-7 until Amtrak retired them in 2016). North of New Haven diesel GE P42DCs handles the train. Prior to the 2014 reroute the Vermonter operated with an Ex-Budd Metroliner cab-car, three Amfleet coaches, a Business Class/Cafe, and usually a P42 on the rear south of Springfield. (North of Springfield this consist was reversed.) During winter periods the Cab-car would be swapped for an Amfleet coach, and a P42 would be on either end regardless of their position north of New Haven.^[21]

See also

• Adirondack (train)
• Ethan Allen Express
• Maple Leaf (train)

References

Further reading

• Solomon, Brian (2004). Amtrak. Saint Paul, MN: MBI. ISBN 0-760-31765-8. OCLC 56490949. 

External links

Route map: Bing / Google

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vermonter (train).

• Amtrak - Vermonter
• Vermont Rail Action Network, an advocacy group for passenger and freight rail in Vermont