The state of Vermont has negotiated a deal with Amtrak to continue to fund the Vermonter train for a second year, despite Amtrak's predicted maintenance cost increases.
"We have reached an agreement in principle with Amtrak to continue service of the Vermonter for another 12 months," Vermont's Deputy Transportation Secretary Jeff Squires said.
The Vermonter train, which runs from Washington, D.C. to St. Albans, Vt. ended its first year of service April 1. It is partially sponsored by a $580,000 Vermont subsidy, according the Valley News.
The train's future was in doubt when Amtrak requested a $980,000 subsidy for the second year.
But by making changes in staffing along the train's route Vermont was able to reduce costs to roughly what they were in the train's first year, Squires said.
Squires said the train "will run on the same schedule seven days a week."
Although changes will occur along the line, a ticket agent will still be employed in White River Junction, Vt., he said.
But the train's long-term future is still uncertain. "It will be difficult to sustain unless we get some ridership improvement," Squires said.
The Vermonter is currently a day train, which, Dartmouth Travel President Jim Mitchell said, is inconvenient for students and business travelers.
But the state legislature of Vermont prefers to attract additional riders such as families and senior citizens, who are unlikely to take a night train, Mitchell said.
He said ticket sales would increase with a return to overnight service. "The previous train, which was a night train, was great," Mitchell said.
Although the day train was meeting Vermont's expectations, Mitchell said, "it's not meeting the same sales numbers that it used to have."
But he said the Vermont state legislature is not concerned with consumer demands and because it subsidizes the train, it dictates the train schedule.
"As long as Montpelier keeps subsidizing the train, the marketplace will not dictate the schedule," Mitchell said.
Last June, Amtrak's marketing vice president Richard Donnely told the Valley News the train averages about 80 passengers a day, and that 125 daily passengers would be necessary to eliminate the state's subsidy for the train.
Squires said he hopes to improve the way the train is currently advertised.
"We're going to work with Amtrak to design a marketing program for the coming year," Squires said.
"The train has a long history with serving the Dartmouth community," Mitchell said, but even if the number of riders increases, the train could face other problems.
In three to five years, Mitchell said, rail service could be extended to western Vermont could be, which might cause problems for Vermonter funding.
Train service to the western parts of Vermont might be a higher priority for the state's taxpayers than the current Vermonter subsidy, Mitchell said.
Catherine Johnson, president and owner of Carson-Wagonlit Travel in Hanover, said many students would have much more trouble getting home if the western Vermont train service supplanted those that head south.
"We do a tremendous amount of rail travel, especially with the College community, and loss of that would make it very difficult for a lot of students to go home for the holidays."
