Champlain Flyer

Champlain Flyer
Locale	Burlington, VT
Dates of operation	2000–2003
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters	Burlington, VT

The Champlain Flyer was a commuter train that operated between Burlington, Vermont south to the towns of Shelburne, Vermont and Charlotte, Vermont from 2000-2003.

The service was started up as a way for motorists to avoid traveling on US 7 during construction, and to take advantage of public funds earmarked for public transportation.

The train began its operation on December 4, 2000. The train's rolling stock consisted of a rebuilt Vermont Railway GP38-2, 10 ex-Virginia Railway Express de-motored RDC coaches, and, when needed, a baggage car with an HEP unit. The trains, though, never ran above three or four cars. The train never attracted the ridership it had hoped for and in 2002 was threatened to be cut from the state budget. The newly elected Gov. Jim Douglas (who succeeded Gov. Howard Dean of Shelburne, Vermont) decided that the train was not viable, and the last train ran on February 28, 2003.

Funding controversy

At the time that a commuter rail servicing two of the most affluent towns in Chittenden County, Vermont was touted, there were some voices calling for the public funding to instead be used to extend existing Burlington City bus routes to outlying low income areas within a fifteen-mile radius where several mobile home communities are located. The theory was that public transportation to those locations would have a much stronger impact on the local economy by granting unemployed residents access to the City of Burlington, Vermont, and its employment market, elevating them out of the poverty level, adding to State tax rolls, and reducing state welfare expenditures. It was reasoned that ridership would be substantial. It would, it was argued, also have created a larger, more permanent, public transportation network at a time of rising energy costs.

External links

• Champlain Flyer (Rutland-Vermont Railroading)
• Champlain Valley Flyer - a tourist railroad operated by the Green Mountain Railroad along the same route.