VERMONTER

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Amtrak's '''Vermonter''' is a 606-mile (975 km) passenger train service between St. Albans, Vermont and Washington, D.C. One trip runs in each direction per day. The train was originally called the '''Montrealer''' and terminated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.. When the ''Montrealer'' route was threatened with cancellation due to declining ridership, the State of Vermont stepped in to subsidize service as far north as St. Albans, on the Canadian border.
The tracks currently used were originally part of the Canadian National Railway, Central Vermont Railway, Boston and Maine Railroad, New Haven Railroad, New York Central Railroad, and Pennsylvania Railroad systems. The tracks currently used are owned by the New England Central Railroad (St. Albans, Vt. - Palmer, MA), CSX (Palmer, MA - Springfield, MA), Amtrak (Springfield, MA - New Haven, CT and New Rochelle, NY - Washington, DC), and Metro-North Railroad (New Haven, CT - New Rochelle, NY).

Contents

History

Montrealer

Vermonter

Palmer-Springfield backup move

Trivia

Other meanings of 'Vermonter'

External links

History

Montrealer

The ''Montrealer'' was originally a service of the Boston and Maine Railroad (BM), running between Montreal and Washington. The southbound line from 1972-1974 was called the ''Washingtonian'', and the northbound was called the ''Montrealer''. The ''Ambassador'' ran the same route but terminated in New York. Both services used the Boston and Maine's Connecticut River Railroad south of Vernon, Vermont, rather than the current route over the New England Central.
The ''Montrealer'' was suspended from early April, 1987 to Mid-July, 1989, because of poor track conditions after severe flooding in New Hampshire and Vermont. During the suspension, Amtrak offered "Ambus" service (operated by Vermont Transit) to Springfield, Mass., where passengers would board an Amtrak train for points south to Washington. The train was reinstated in July 1989, this time running over the Central Vermont Railway (CV) from Vernon to New London, Connecticut, rather than travelling over Guilford Rail System (formerly BM) track.
In 1989, when the train returned to service, the stop in Northampton, Massachusetts. was discontinued, replaced by "Ambus" service via Vermont Transit, and a new stop in Amherst, Massachusetts, was added. The crew change was shifted from Springfield to Palmer at the same time. In 1992 a stop was added at Willimantic, Connecticut, but service there was discontinued in 1995 upon inception of the Vermonter.

Vermonter

The ''Vermonter'' replaced the ''Montrealer'' on 1 April 1995, bringing daytime service to Vermont, and wooing many customers to travel by train in Vermont. Business Class was added to replace the sleepers that were taken out of service upon the change to the ''Vermonter''. The train once again allowed travellers from Vermont back to stop in Springfield and Hartford. The train travels from Washington to New Haven on the Northeast Corridor, where diesel locomotives are substituted for the electric locomotive used south of that location.
Amtrak previously offered passengers a free Thruway bus service, operated by Vermont Transit, which met the train at St. Albans for connections to and from Montreal. However, due to low ridership, an inconvenient layover in Montreal for the Vermont Transit crew, and Amtrak schedule changes that would have required a southbound departure from Montreal before 05:00 a.m., this service was finally suspended on October 30, 2005.
On August 8, 2006, it was announced [1] that Amtrak is urging the state of Vermont to buy smaller, more efficient diesel multiple unit (DMU) trainsets for use between New Haven and St. Albans, instead of the current locomotive-pulled trainset. Instead of remaining in the same passenger coaches while the crew switched locomotives at New Haven, passengers would change to an entirely different train. Amtrak is reportedly offering $2.5 million in subsidies to Vermont to make the switch. The new cars would purportedly save $4.25 million over three years.
Due to a schedule change effective October 30, 2006, the ''Vermonter'' began stopping at the towns of Wallingford and Windsor Locks (Bradley International Airport) in Connecticut for first time in its eleven years of existence.

Palmer-Springfield backup move

At Palmer, Massachusetts, no direct connection exists to allow eastbound trains to head north, or southbound trains to head west. Therefore the ''Vermonter'' must operate with either a locomotive on both ends or a cab car on the end opposite the locomotive. There is no station stop in Palmer, which is a small town.
On the southbound ''Vermonter,'' the train enters the CSX tracks heading east and moves clear of the crossing. The crew then switches to the cab car, and the train is pushed west to Springfield. Here the crew stops the train on the west side of the crossing, switches cabs again, and the train continues south with the engine at the front. On the northbound ''Vermonter,'' the procedure is reversed, with the train being pushed east from Springfield to Palmer.
With the start of the all electric Keystone Service freeing equipment, it is now common to see two P42 locomotives on the ''Vermonter'', instead of one engine and a cab car. In this configuration the train is not pushed per sea as both engines are powered. However, using the computer systems in the locomotives, which communicate with each other, the engines are able to balance the momentum, preventing full waste. It's roughly tantamount to having both engines working at half capacity.

Trivia

The train featured a colorful baggage car from its inception in 1995 until August 7, 2002. The baggage cars now reside at Amtrak's Beech Grove, Indiana, shops in storage. Occasionally they are found roaming the Amtrak system.

Other meanings of 'Vermonter'

See: in Wiktionary
- A resident of Vermont.

External links

★ Amtrak - ''Vermonter''

★ Trains Magazine - ''Hot spot: Palmer, MA''