Rails-Vt

Vermont Rail System's passenger trains run on a lineage that reaches back to the Rutland Railway, once the only north–south line through western Vermont. A 1953 strike ended the Rutland's passenger service and a second strike shut down freight in September 1961, after which the State of Vermont bought the main line south of Burlington plus a Bennington branch. The new Vermont Railway, incorporated on October 25, 1963, began operating on January 6, 1964, under first president Jay Wulfson, and spent its early years replacing the locomotives and rolling stock inherited from the Rutland. The railroad grew steadily — entering intermodal business in 1965, acquiring the Clarendon and Pittsford in 1972, repaying the state for its trackage in 1982 — and in 1997 it purchased the Green Mountain Railroad's Rutland–Bellows Falls line, leading to the formation of the Vermont Rail System umbrella that today owns both roads and several other shortlines in Vermont and New York. Alongside its freight business, the system hosts Amtrak's Ethan Allen Express and operates its own excursion dining service out of Burlington.