Vermont Rail Action Network

As someone who is a huge supporter of passenger rail (and usually freight rail too), it pains me to oppose the Middlebury Rail spur. There are so many controversial elements and much misleading information surrounding the spur that need to be scrutinized prior to approval. The first and perhaps most important is the cost. Estimates vary but usually range from - million. That would use up most of the Federal and state rail money available for Vermont, crowding out any funding that might be used for passenger rail. Additionally, since OMYA has refused to commit to taking their trucks off the road should the spur get built, the traffic argument is not necessarily justified. Also, OMYA's agreement to pay back the state is absurd given that they would pay pennies for every ton moved in which case it would take decades for OMYA to pay their agreed -to share and as we all know a lot will change in decades including the state of the quarry and the market for their products. The environmental and aesthetic impacts are significant since some of the land used for the spur will be seized from land trusts, trestles will rise nearly 20 feet and berms will reach 40 feet high. I think its important for all affected parties to look long and hard at this project and don't take OMYA or Vermont Railway's "word for it" that this is a solid investment of rail dollars... there are worrisome agendas at play here.

I do not believe the cost should be as high as you think, though at present it's hard for me to prove that specifically. A lot depends on weather the construction is managed by the state or frugal private companies.

Of course Omya won't commit to remove it's trucks. NO shipper would ever make that kind of commitment. If for some reason the Vermont Railroad gives awful and unresponsive service, they would take there business elsewhere. That said, it is pretty clear that the trucks will be gone, given today's conditions. If Omya didn't plan to use it, they wouldn't be involved and Vermont Railway wouldn't find it worthwhile to participate either.

I have to say, I think the impact of the spur will be pretty minimal and pretty localized. It's true it's beautiful land now, but I don't think that a track with berms of 40 feet and bridges of 20 feet high will be that big of an impact. I would also say that improving the impact of route 7 will make more of a difference, since more people interact with route 7 than the several farms involved with the route of the spur.

There is a lot of opposition to the spur that is really opposition to Omya, and perhaps opposition to industry in general. My feeling is that the traffic is moving, the state is already providing infrastructure . . . we should be doing it by rail. I'd also point out that we have a conflict here between aesthetic impacts the spur will cause and the environmental benefits of rail shipment instead of truck. In my mind, aesthetic impacts should not be considered as important as environmental benefits (that's why I'm in favor of as many windmills as possible.) There's also a class issue here - aesthetics, an upper class value, vs. jobs

The Omya issue is large and we may just have to agree to disagree. I've heard you, and thank you for your comments, but feel otherwise.

Nice. Thank you for this info.

you're welcome

As someone who spent a lot of time cycling on the roads around the Omya quarry (when I should probably have been studying), this in principal sounds like an excellent idea - Holly's sensible concerns notwithstanding. Has there been any movement on this issue since the spring? I just hate the idea of all of those trucks thumping up and down Rt 7 unnecessarily.

Thanks for a most interesting discussion.