Vermont has a dream, what is the reality?

Commuter train service will not break even if every seat is occupied for every mile.  The best case would be to get the subsidy as low as possible.  These are not passengers pulled out of a hat -- they're passengers that are redirected onto commuter trains. reducing road and parking congestion by not driving cars or riding buses.  So there is a benefit, but a profit is out of the question.  The commuter rail agency will need somebody with real knowledge to negotiate with the owner railroad for trackage rights.  The railroad will try to gold plate everything on the territory for its own benefit.

In this age, it would be very unwise to attempt to start up a commuter service without Positive Train Control, and especially in view of the well-publicized troubles experienced by other commuter rail lines in New York and New Jersey, as well as the horrible head-on collision in California which got the PTC mandate rolling.

Personally, although I do not pay taxes in Vermont, I think that the proposed commuter service with the ex-Trinity Rail Express RDC's is a good idea, and seems like it might attract a good number of ecology-oriented riders.

I don't know about costs.     I do know that building new trakc for light rail or othes is very very expensive.

On the PTC side, not having would increase risks any more than the risks faced for last 100 years or so.    PTC might help avoid a few problems, but a trained operator would also avoid many.    And accidents do happen, that is why they are called accidents, not "on purposes"

Vermont has 624,000 residents. The Amtrak Vermonter is there because of long term political presence in Washington D.C.   Patrick Leahy (senator) since 1975, Bernie Sanders, (house of rep). 1990 and (senate) 2007.  Peter Welch became the, (one) Vermont representative. 2007.   The three, at this point, would be seated on some pretty important committees, in D.C., and could bring to Vermont just about anything.  The Amtrak Vermonter (Sometimes considered, the snow train, during ski-season) is a good example.  Really has nothing to do with the number of riders.  IMO.  Mike CT. 

Weekly unemployment claims up over 100

Didn't see anything about trains in the link so cannot offer any advice. 

Howard Dean's Charlotte to Burlington corridor was an abject failure.  The problem with Mass Transit in Vermont is that one first needs "mass".  The very same folks in Vermont who complain about "sprawl" also demand two acre zoning... which just encourages sprawl at an exponential rate.

Because passenger rail died in Vermont before the population expansions of the 70's and 80's, towns have not been developed along rail lines, but rather in an unplanned hodge-podge fashion.  Getting folks to/from train stations will take longer than the commute... which averages 18 to 22 minutes now by car.

This guy and his dream of Burlington-Montpelier commuter rail is a hoot.  He's going to "save the planet" using 65 year old RDC's running empty.  There's a bus that runs on the parallel I-89 that also runs empty...

Jon  

Those visiting Vermont would also fined an interesting "Mud season".  Many of the roads are stone/gravel, subject to the  freeze/thaw cycle, often somewhat inconvenient even through late June.  Beautiful state.