The short branch line from North Bennington to Bennington has been out of service for a few years, ever since former customers Ben-Mont paper, Johnson Controls and Morse Block packed up shop and left town. Access to rail makes future industrial development in Bennington possible, but others want to use the tracks as a bike path. In the middle of a branch is an old bridge over route 7a at the bottom of Harwood Hill under which many tractor-trailers find themselves stuck. The Agency of Transportation planned to remove the bridge, but this has turned out to be a more complicated job than first thought, owing to the poor shape of the concrete abutments which would not stay upright if the span on top is removed, as was the original plan. It's back to the drawing board and a postponnment of the work to next summer.
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Rutland to Hoosick Jct Excursion
20.05.2012; Special Train!
via Manchester & N Bennington . . .
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Glory Days of the Railroad
08.09.2012; Festival
www.vtglorydaysfestival.com . . . White River Junction
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Rutland Train Show
22.09.2012; Exhibition
Rutland Railway Association Train Show -- at the Howe Center Read More...
VRAN Annual Meeting-Middlebury
23.10.2012 - 31.12.1969; Meeting with Dinner
Details TBA Read More...
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High Speed Rail News
- Turtle Crossings Installed By New England Central Railroad and ECI for Endangered Species
- How Train Service Sparks Development
- Welch Supports Passenger Rail Funding
- New York Times Calls Cuts in High Speed Rail Program, "Hairbrained"
- Groundbreaking Ceremony for NECR High-Speed Rail Project
- NECR Gets Started on High-Speed Rail Work
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Burlington - Middlebury to New York
Vermonter to Montreal
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"Knowlege Corridor:" faster, more frequent service to New York from White River Jc, Bellows Falls & Brattleboro
Boston - Burlington - Montreal high speed rail
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Environmental Benefits of Rail
44% of greenhouse gasses in Vermont are produced by transportation (nationally, it's 28%). If we are serious about the environment we have to change transportation.
Shipping by rail instead of truck reduces pollution (on average) by two-thirds, noise by one half, uses only 29% of the fuel and produces only 23% as much greenhouse gasses. Freight Rail Carbon Calculator
The U.S. transportation system is 96% petroleum dependent, accounts for 71% of the country’s oil use, and consumes 25% of the world’s net output.
Passenger trains are 20-40% more efficient. But consider: if the train is already going there, the carbon footprint of you riding it is *zero* !
Rail facilitates better land use, which may make the biggest difference.
