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suzi-r t1_j6la59a wrote

Hey folks, KITTYONFYRE is absolutely right—this scheme is well intended but utterly delusional! Do you know the north-south glacial terrain in this region? Have you been around here long enuf to remember the impact on this area and the Keene Valley of New York by Tropical Storm Irene (late Aug 2011)? Do you know what happens during heavy rains along rtes 302, 25, & 2–Barre to St Jay)? RR lines along what you propose would need to be rebuilt every few years, and serviced every year, just to stay functional! It would cost the state billions to launch, and trillions over time! You are incredibly sweet & well meant to put forth a document like this, but perhaps you ought to live here for a handful of tough decades (long enuf to study VT’s history, geology, terrain, climate, weather patterns, etc., and re-think the entire plan. Did you know that VT is the only state with no billionaire residents? I love your altruistic vision. But live here for a few decades and then revise, or develop a more realistic plan. Do we have anything even close to the engineering capacity of Switzerland, Germany, Japan, or China? Probably, but they’re onto more chic & lucrative projects, not wrestling with Vermont’s issues. Do we have the workforce, and the funding to compensate them? Not now…(my dh disagrees with me adamantly, and we’re having a great debate over this tonite.) C’mon, guys…tell me that Kittyfyre & I are wrong! But only after you have tons of study & investigation on your resume.

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DrToadley OP t1_j6lb1da wrote

I in fact have lived here for a few decades. I admit that I am dreaming big, but I believe starting with a big idea and then whittling it down to what's most realistic is the best approach. We already have to rebuild our roads every few years and seem to have the budget for that...

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suzi-r t1_j6ldeaq wrote

Guess I think that starting simple, correcting small mistakes, & then building out from there is a better approach for our region with its many issues and low budget. Small scale, imho, works better for VT because of the gnarly features I pointed out in my long first post. Thanks for being civil. Are you a civil engineer? 🌝

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Corey307 t1_j6o0whg wrote

That’s because the vast majority of people would still use the roads. Let’s say I live in Saint Albans, I don’t but I think it’s a good example. It’s about 35 minutes from Saint Albans to the airport, it’s a similar amount of time to most of Burlington and South Burlington. If I hop in my car 40 to 45 minutes before I start work I’ll generally be fine. Now if I’m commuting by rail I have to get to the rail station whenever there’s a train that will get me to work on time and it’s unlikely for most people but that time will be convenient. I will then need to transfer onto a bus or more likely more than one bus to get where I’m going. So not only am I at the mercy of whenever the train is running I have to assume that the buses will be on time plus I will still have to walk since my job being on the bus route is no guarantee. Then all of this Hass to be done in reverse and again the buses and trains will likely not sync up with a lot of peoples start and end times. I don’t know about you but the last thing I want to do when I’m done working is spend an hour or two trying to get home when I could’ve done so in 35 minutes. I’m tired, my feet are tired and having to walk to a bus stop then stand outside in the cold hoping the bus comes by is not something I want to do.

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suzi-r t1_j6lc1ya wrote

Now you are making sense, Dr T! A rail service to Boston would be helpful; it would take much daytripping traffic off the ‘pikes. We used to have that. NH geology is quite different and much easier than VT. A line from WRJ to Boston might work.

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AKBigDaddy t1_j6lk5ox wrote

I would love this. I live in NH not far from WRJ, I would 1000% take a train to boston far more often than I drive. Bonus points if it goes right to south station. Trips to fenway, Microcenter, dinner, etc would be far more doable if we could ride down, do our shopping, catch a ball game, and then ride home without having to drive.

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Corey307 t1_j6o17ax wrote

Rail service to Boston has a lot more utility than rail service in Vermont. BTV doesn’t have a direct flight to Boston anymore and the last time they did it was a nine seat prop plane that canceled more often than it flew, could not fly in bad weather or cold weather plus it wasn’t even cheap. Between the hassle of getting through an airport and wondering if your flight is going to leave on time or be canceled the train starts to make sense for shorter trips.

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