By SARA WIDNESS

Vermont is awaiting word on its application for $125 million in federal stimulus grant funds to rebuild its eastern and western corridor railroad network.

A decision is expected this fall, said Christopher Parker, executive director of the Vermont Rail Action Network (VRAN), a citizen advocacy group for enhancing and expanding the state’s freight and passenger rail transit systems.

“It’s interesting to note,” he said, “that the cost for doing the whole network is $125 million, which is just about half the cost for a proposed beltway highway east of Essex Junction in a fairly sparsely populated area.

“Today, rail is pretty popular,” said Parker. “There’s broad-based public support for trains for environmental and economic benefits. It’s a matter of taking that support and translating it into dollars.”

The main goal is to accomplish rail service for Vermont’s entire western corridor by bringing the Ethan Allen Express from Albany, NY, which currently provides service as far north as Rutland, up to Burlington.

Extending the service would be accomplished by improving the track from Rutland through Middlebury and into Burlington. Service would be further enhanced through additional track upgrades from Rutland into Manchester and through North Bennington and back into New York.

The proposed $75 million in western corridor renovations and extensions to Burlington and Bennington represent a significant improvement in Amtrak service, making the overall system more sustainable by providing a bigger on-board population, said Parker.

And, while this is a passenger project, there are expected to be gains for freight customers as well.

“Rebuilding the rail network benefits everything that uses it,” said Parker.

There are also plans to use $50 million of the stimulus funds being sought to upgrade the Vermonter route, which is said to currently suffer from under-efficient mile-per-hour standards. This project would include upgrades from St. Albans and through Essex, Montpelier, White River Junction and down through the Connecticut River Valley toward Washington, D.C.

Stimulus funds stimulate jobs growth

John Zicconi, spokesman for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, noted that while the grant application targeting the western corridor is almost $75 million, it’s uncertain how much grant money will be received.

“If we only get partial grant monies, our number- one goal is to establish service to Burlington, and from there to Middlebury and back to Rutland and Albany,” he said. “If all of the money comes in, it will allow development of track into Manchester and Bennington and on to Albany.”

“We didn’t want to be left with half a pie and be able to do nothing,” Zicconi said.

“It’s very important to the Obama administration that passenger rail service be expanded throughout the entire country. He has made this a large priority by earmarking $8 billion in stimulus funds and at least $1 billion annually after that,” Zicconi said. “We are working with all of our neighboring states including New York to coordinate high-speed and passenger rail improvements throughout the entire region.

“Our goal is to establish train service as far and as best we can. This is the first time in a long time that the government has a dedicated rail fund out there for states to acquire. Normally in the past, any money we spent on rail had to compete with roads and bridges. Dedicated funding helps the conversation greatly. Now, the monies aren’t competing.”

The expansion projects would create jobs and boost the economy, Zicconi added. Approximately $1 million in transportation construction creates 30 to 40 jobs, he said. These figures include the increased traffic and demands on shops and stores surrounding the rail activity.

Rutland’s freight rail project

The Rutland Redevelopment Authority (RRA) has also been involved with administering another freight rail-related project, the railroad yard relocation, according to executive director Tom Macaulay. He said the state has committed dollars to environmental studies and to examine how the Rutland rail yard can operate more efficiently and at greater capacity.

“The best numbers we have are that 80 percent of the rail freight traffic that either originates or terminates in Vermont goes through the Rutland yard,” said Macaulay. “The thinking is that this particular rail yard is at or near capacity, and it operates very inefficiently.

“If we could get more truck traffic onto trains, there would be less wear and tear on highways, and it would be cheaper for people to do business here in Vermont by reducing petroleum and fuel-per-ton-mile of freight movement,” he said.

Citing social and environmental issues, he said, “We have to look at environmental impacts. The state has agreed to put money into an environmental assessment.” This is expected to be published this fall.

Ameliorating Vermont’s rail program goes back to 2004-2005, said Macaulay, when Sen. James Jeffords earmarked a transportation bill that would bring railroad stimulus funds into Vermont to accomplish projects in what is called the Western Corridor Pilot Project for both passenger and freight rail.

“This concept,” said Macaulay, “allows us to look at the entire western corridor as a single project rather than separate projects, and it gives us flexibility with financing.” The financing has been folded into the stimulus fund grant applications.

The project involves applying for a series of upgrades on tracks that freight and passenger trains share from Bennington to Burlington.

“Any upgrades that we do for one positively affect the other,” Macaulay said, adding there are different concerns as passenger trains seek speed, while freight trains are concerned with weight loads, volume and capacity issues.

“Freight asks, ‘Can we completely fill our tank cars, because bridges only carry such and such a weight?’ ” Macaulay said. The project would improve levels of service by increasing not only speed, but the capacity of bridges to meet weight requirements.

How critical is the rail issue to the region? “Very critical,” according to Macauley.

“We actually have a competitive advantage by having a robust rail system compared to other places,” he said. “We use the fact that we have rail in Rutland that goes in four directions as a recruiting tool.”

Freight rail improvements come out of a different pot of stimulus money, said Zicconi.

“We are putting together applications for a fall deadline targeted to four different freight improvements,” Zicconi said.

For more information about the Vermont Rail Action Network, visit www.railvermont.org.