State nets $50 million to rail system
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By Peter Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau - Published: January 28, 2010
MONTPELIER – Vermont's annual rail budget more than doubled Wednesday when the Obama Administration announced the state has won two high-speed rail grants totaling more than $50 million.
While transportation officials greeted the announcement enthusiastically, the news won't please everyone in Vermont. A third grant application, which sought $73 million for track improvements along the western rail corridor, was rejected. The money would have funded the upgrades necessary to extend passenger rail service from Rutland to Burlington.
Still, John Zicconi, director of planning and operations for the Agency of Transportation, said the $50 million grant for Amtrak's Vermonter line will improve traveling times, create more than 400 jobs and likely boost ridership.
"We do not consider getting $50 million a bad news story, but we did have an application that was not funded and that's the western corridor," Zicconi said late Wednesday. "Could we have put it all to work? Absolutely. But it was extremely competitive and lots of applications didn't get funded, and the fact that we got two out of three is extremely good news."
The money will fund the construction of track, roadbed and bridge improvements along a 190-mile rail line that extends from St. Albans to Springfield, Mass., increasing speeds on some stretches by up to 20 mph and improving traveling times by about 30 minutes in the process.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will announce the grants today in Orlando, Fla. They are part of $8 billion in high-speed rail awards made nationwide under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. More than $55 billion in applications were submitted.
"This is very significant to have an infusion of this kind of money to help us rebuild our rail corridor," Rep. Peter Welch said by phone late Wednesday. "It helps commerce, it helps us in our efforts to build livable communities, and to make access to Vermont much easier for visitors."
While the western corridor – on which Amtrak operates its Ethan Allen line to Rutland – won't see any immediate federal infusions, the state did win a $500,000 planning grant that Zicconi said bodes well for the future. That grant, which requires a 50 percent match from both Vermont and New York, will fund a study looking at New York City to Burlington passenger-rail service.
Zicconi noted that Obama has signaled his intentions to hold a second round of high-speed rail grants in the near future.
"The fact that we got a planning grant for the western corridor bodes very well for our chances in the future," he said. "We don't believe they'd be funding the grant if they thought our idea of a western corridor upgrade was a bad idea, so we do think that's a harbinger of good things to come."
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