Rail Faces Difficult times in Vermont - But there is hope
Ide: Rail use in state faces challenges
September 20, 2008
By Stephanie M. Peters Rutland Herald
Passenger service will never pay for rail in Vermont, according to the new manager of the Agency of Transportation’s Rail Division.
If the state hopes to support its rail infrastructure, he believes it needs to recognize the role shippers, receivers and through traffic play.
In his introduction this week to the Rutland Region Transportation Council, Robert Ide delivered this message as he outlined the challenges his division is facing, and an expansive list of goals.
“I have a hard job right now … we need to think differently about doing things than we ever have before,” Ide said. “We have an awful lot of work in front of us.”
The budget puts the greatest limits on what the department will be able to accomplish and when. The most immediate problem for Ide is Amtrak, he said.
While ridership in the state has increased by 30 percent in the past two years, the service is still considered slow in the state because of the age and condition of the rail beds, some of which are not at industry standards, Ide said.
It is well-known that making the nearly two-hour drive between Rutland and Rensselaer, N.Y., instead of taking the train, saves commuters an hour, as council members pointed out — and that is a problem hindering ridership numbers in Vermont.
However, there are several projects either proposed or in the works that would replace rail ties and allow Amtrak to increase its speed.
Among Ide’s other priorities are enforcing the state’s property rights and pursuing the sale of property, rebuilding a number of crossings and bridges, forming interstate partnerships to secure funding, and creating intermodal facilities.
“A lot of businesses in this country aren’t located on the railroad anymore,” he said. “We need to provide for them.”
Intermodal facilities would connect trains to seaports or roads and centers where railcars of supplies could be loaded and unloaded, goods could be temporarily stored and businesses would have easy access.
More intermodal facilities would mean fewer trucks on the road — which is something everyone talks about wanting, Ide said.
Ide comes to the Rail Division from the Department of Public Service, where he served as the director of energy efficiency, but prior to that and a lengthy Senate stint, Ide worked for a family-owned business — similar to ones he hopes the railroad can attract.
His family’s St. Johnsbury business was dependent on the railroad for shipping, he said, and he’s always expected to see an intermodal facility there by now.
Vermont could soon be competing with the other New England states for business generated by the proposed Halifax Seaport Farmers Market project, although “it feels like there’s going to be enough traffic for everybody,” Ide said.
Several members of the council were more curious about the department’s long-term savings planning, and when the $30 million in federal transportation funds earmarked for a pilot rail project will be used.
“My biggest fear is that if we get more federal money, we won’t have state money to match it,” said Jim Hall, who asked Ide to consider setting some funds aside for that very purpose.
“It’s a very real fear,” Ide acknowledged. “But right now I’m trying to find $5 million in the budget to keep Amtrak running.”
