Amtrak and the Vermont Transportation Agency announced Thursday that train service to Burlington, Vermont, will resume on July 29, for the first time since 1953.
The approximately 7.5-hour trip aboard the Ethan Allen Express between New York City and Burlington will offer fares starting at $75.
“Very soon, we will be able to board a train in downtown Burlington and arrive in New York City in time for dinner,” Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said in a statement.
“This long-desired service will jump-start our economic recovery at a critical time and provide travelers with a new, lower-carbon connection to New York and the rest of the Amtrak system.”
The new Ethan Allen Express route extension from New York City will include daily northbound service departing from Penn Station at 2:21 p.m. and arriving in Burlington at 9:55 p.m., according to a news release from the state department of transportation. Southbound service will depart Burlington at 10:10 am and arrive in New York City at 5:45 pm Tickets are not yet available for reservation on the Amtrak website.
The route concludes at the recently restored and updated Burlington Union Station, located on Main Street along Burlington’s picturesque Lake Champlain waterfront. The station is part of the National Register of Historic Places and is located within Burlington’s Battery Street Historic District, so passengers can enjoy a bit of history during their visit. The station was last used as a hub by The Rutland Railroad in 1953. The Vermont Rail System operates passenger excursion trains from Burlington’s Union Station, so visitors can extend their exploration of Vermont by rail.
Amtrak’s new route and station expansion has been in the works since 2019. It has required long-term construction on tracks, stations and platforms at some Vermont locations, including Burlington, Middlebury and Vergennes. The train will introduce new stops at Vergennes and Middlebury stations. “Local, state and federal officials have been working to restore this vital transportation link for decades,” according to the Burlington mayor’s statement.
Previously, Amtrak service on the Ethan Allen Express ran as far as the station in Rutland, Vermont, about 70 miles south of Burlington. Amtrak currently offers access as far as Essex Junction (about 8 miles from downtown Burlington), though on the Vermonter local train route, which takes nearly 9 hours, due to many more stops on a route that winds through Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.
The Ethan Allen Express route runs through upstate New York through Albany, with stops in Saratoga Springs and Schenectady. The route offers great views of the picturesque Hudson River Valley, which is a great place to stop for a summer excursion. During the fall, this route will give riders a chance to sit back and enjoy a nice leaf-gazing ride.
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