Annual meeting adds another clue to Amtrak’s return to Vermont

April 3, 2021 | By Lisa Scagliotti 

Summer moon rise over Waterbury where the train station is quiet since Amtrak service was suspended in March 2020. State and Amtrak officials are in discussions that could see service resume by summer. File photo by Gordon Miller

As the owner of the Waterbury Train Station, the community and economic development group Revitalizing Waterbury has a fair stake in the downtown landmark and its annual meeting this week included a few minutes for an update on when the popular spot might come back to life. 

The station has now been closed for just over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Keurig Dr. Pepper in late January announced that it would not be reopening the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Visitors Center and Cafe that it operated in the station. Staff who used to run the popular destination for locals and visitors alike were to be permanently laid off after being kept on the payroll for more than 10 months while that decision was up in the air. 

That move set Revitalizing Waterbury on a search for a new tenant -- an ongoing effort, reported RW board member Julie Fraley during a presentation for the video conference meeting attended by more than 70 on Wednesday evening. So far, however, there is no news to announce on that front yet, Fraley said.  

In the meantime, however, the station will get a fresh coat of paint this spring, she said. And in the understatement of the evening, she added: “And, really good news is we’re welcoming back Amtrak early summer.”

The passing mention of the return of passenger rail service which disappeared due to the pandemic on March 26, 2020, is another clue to the puzzle of when Vermonters will see the return of both the Ethan Allen Express and the Vermonter routes that connect the state by rail to New York City and Washington, D.C., and points in between. 

Revitalizing Waterbury Executive Director Karen Nevin said there have been discussions so far regarding resuming the Vermonter service which pre-pandemic included daily stops in Waterbury. 

Recently, lone passenger cars have been spotted along the Amtrak route from Essex Junction to Randolph. Since last fall, Waterbury Roundabout has contacted Amtrak’s public affairs office in New York City periodically to inquire about future plans. Reached Thursday after the RW meeting, Jason Abrams at Amtrak directed inquiries to the Vermont Agency of Transportation. 

Amy Tatko, public outreach manager at VTrans confirmed that officials are working on a plan to resume passenger rail service to Vermont. “Restart of Amtrak discussions are underway at the state level and with Amtrak,” she said in an email. “We hope to make an announcement within the next several weeks as to what that timeline will look like.”

These remarks came just as Amtrak and rail service made national headlines this week. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced his American Jobs Plan that includes plans for infrastructure investment, economic recovery, addressing climate change and social equity, and $80 billion designated specifically for rail. 

Amtrak’s recent service map shows existing service on the dark line; enhanced service in yellow; future expansion in bright blue. Source: Amtrak.

Amtrak released its vision to grow rail service across America and bolster existing service in the Northeast. Vermont service is included on Amtrak’s map for the future which shows both the Vermonter and Ethan Allen routes. The map denotes the expansion in the works for the Ethan Allen Express that is to extend service north from Rutland to Burlington by late 2021 or early 2022. That line connects to New York City. Work is underway now in Burlington to prep the area on the Burlington waterfront near the train station that will accommodate the passenger trains overnight. 

Until the pandemic, Amtrak’s Vermonter line served Waterbury with daily trains running between Washington, D.C., and St. Albans. The latest Amtrak map shows future expansion on that line to reach Montreal, a project that's been in the planning phase for years.

Presently service for both Vermont routes ends in New Haven, Connecticut.  

On March 10, Amtrak announced that as part of its COVID-19 recovery efforts, it would fully restore daily service for 12 long-distance routes across the U.S. after pandemic-related schedule reductions in 2020. The list in the announcement did not include either of its Vermont routes. 

Later on March 23, Gov. Phil Scott discussed Amtrak service at his regular COVID-19 response press conference. “We’ve had some preliminary discussions with Amtrak on this and we had said that we’re looking forward to them coming back and being fully operational,” Scott said. 

Amtrak has told the state it would like to have the Vermonter and Ethan Allen lines both back to regular operations within the next couple of months, Scott said, noting that there may be some activity on the rails now for training purposes. “We just don’t know exactly when it’s going to be,” Scott said.

A visit to the Amtrak.com website finds that the first available date to book a trip from Waterbury to Washington, D.C., is Jan. 1, 2022.