March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Vermont completes rail line purchase> Summer excursion trips eyed on 41-mile stretch

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. — The return of freight railroad service to the upper Connecticut River Valley is one step closer to reality.

The state of Vermont has reached an agreement with Guilford Transportation Industries to buy a 41-mile stretch of mothballed rail line between White River Junction and Wells River.

The state bought the track from the Boston & Maine Corp., a subsidiary of Guilford Transportation Industries Inc., a North Billerica, Mass., transportation holding company that also owns the largest railroad in New England, Guilford Railway Systems.

Green Mountain Railroad, a subsidiary of Burlington-based Vermont Railway, will provide interim freight service on the short portion of the track that is open between Interstate 89 and the courthouse in White River Junction. The state plans to request proposals this winter for a full-time operator for the line, said Susan Compton, rail programs manager at the Vermont Agency of Transportation.

The line can’t be opened until some repairs are made. Transportation officials say they don’t know how much that will cost.

Newport-based Northern Vermont Railway, which operates the line between St. Johnsbury and Wells River, has expressed interest in the newly purchased track.

Reopening the line would enable summer excursion trains to make the half-day round trip between White River Junction and Wells River. Green Mountain Railroad now runs such a service out of Bellows Falls.

Vermont now owns about 340 miles of railroad track.


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