Here my thoughts about electrification: – overhead wire and substations are expensive. The capital cost for electrification is about double an ordinary track. The benefits are large enough to make up for that (though not to Wall Street), however it works best when the electrification cost is spread out over Read more…
On the snowy Tuesday before Thanksgiving, during my long drive home marked by cautious breaking and downshifting, I finally understood what rail could do for people like me. I’m a college student who’s lucky enough to own a car to get back and forth from school. It’s not convenient or Read more…
Rail is to community as roads are to solitude. On a rainy day, inside the massive warehouse where the Budd Cars are maintained, Greg Morgan, Chair of the Essex Economic Development Commission, expressed how rail is important to the future in a time of evolution and change. For Morgan, rail Read more…
On a brisk fall day in Barre, former Vermont legislator Chuck Bohi of Hartford took a ride on the Budd RDC train cars, and recalled his past experiences riding in Canada. Traffic congestion across the nation is much worse since Bohi last rode these RDCs in the 1960s, and he Read more…
INSERT VIDEO Vermont’s US Senator Patrick Leahy has a passion for rail. For a state that that is hungry for improved public transportation, this is very good news. On Sept. 12, Leahy’s Field Office Representative, Chris Saunders, visited the Budd cars in Barre to ride them first-hand. Like everyone who’s Read more…
Maybe it was the Kansas City air, the smell of oil or the sounds of trains coupling up, but it was sometime in early childhood when Charlie Moore of St. Albans caught the train ‘bug.’ And It hasn’t left him since. It began when Moore’s uncle took him for a ride on Read more…
Lift off! The Budd Cars are running and ready to serve VT for good. The RDCs were just tested on the railroad lines between Barre and Montpelier where they ran perfectly. This was the first time they’ve run outside of the rail yard. Vermont Rail Systems worked with AllEarth Rail to create this opportunity, lending Read more…
Vermont’s mayors are getting serious about rail and it’s easy to see why. Dave Allaire, mayor of Rutland, and Tim Smith, mayor of St. Albans, took a short ride on the newly refurbished Budd RDC cars on August 27, in Barre. They experienced the sights and smells of the Budd Read more…
For two motivated students cutting their teeth as diesel mechanics, working on equipment 40 years older than they are has provided a remarkable learning experience. Ricky Kulawitz and Cody Bryan are students at Vermont Technical College (VTC). They interned with AllEarth Rail this summer to rehab 12 sturdy Budd rail cars that Read more…
When was the last time you took a trip by train? If you can’t remember, maybe it’s time to reconsider your travel options. Yes, trains take longer than some other options. Your time is valuable and you’d like to get from here to there as quickly as possible. But when Read more…