Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 26 sepTember 2017
Energy entrepreneur hopes to bring commuter rail to Vermont

By WILSON RING Shortly after graduation
Associated Press from the University of Ver-
BARRE, Vt. (AP) — An en- mont with an engineering
ergy entrepreneur wants to degree, he founded NRG
set up a commuter rail sys- Systems, a company that
tem to further his vision of makes products used to
weaning Vermont from fos- measure wind energy. Af-
sil fuels and getting cars off ter selling it, he founded Al-
the highways, and he has lEarth Renewables, which
taken the first step toward makes devices that allow
moving it beyond the theo- solar panels to follow the
retical by buying a dozen sun across the sky.
rail cars. He is majority owner of
David Blittersdorf spent $5 Georgia Mountain Wind, a
million of his own money four-turbine industrial wind
to buy the fully functional, project just north of Burl-
1950s-era cars, and he has ington, and is working to
hired one of the state’s develop other wind-energy
most experienced rail ex- and solar projects.
perts to get those cars Blittersdorf this year bought
carrying passengers once a dozen self-propelled
again. In this Sept. 5, 2017 photo, David Blittersdorf, right, and Charlie Moore pose in Barre, Vt., in front of rail diesel cars built by the
one of a dozen passenger rail cars Blittersdorf bought to try to jump-start a commuter rail system
“Part of the vision is you’ve in Vermont. Budd Co. of Philadelphia
got to show the pictures, Associated Press between 1949 and 1962.
you’ve got to show the public-private partnership commuter rail system. In into service. The cars, completely re-
real stuff,” Blittersdorf said that could run a commuter the late 1990s, former Dem- Dean said that his idea furbished not long before
recently inside one of the rail system with the cars he ocratic Gov. wasn’t financially viable at he bought them, get 2.5
new cars. “If we were to bought. He would like to Howard Dean conceived the time, but that he’s not miles per gallon of diesel
buy the new hardware or see at least some of the of what became the sorry he tried. fuel; can carry, with stand-
worked the way the folks cars carrying the first pay- Champlain Flyer, a com- “We basically ran an exper- ing passengers, almost
have been working on rail ing passengers in a year or muter train that ran a 13- iment,” Dean said. “What 140 people; and can hit
it would be decades away so. mile route between Burling- David can benefit from is 85 mph, well above the
and we don’t have time. He hired out of retirement ton and Charlotte. learning from the things we 59 mph maximum on Ver-
We have an oil crisis. We Charlie Moore, a 40-year After millions of dollars in did wrong and benefit from mont’s top railroads.
have a climate crisis.” veteran of the Vermont rail infrastructure and track the things we did right.” Blittersdorf thinks it could
OK, but ... Vermont? industry, to be president of upgrades, including the Vermont transportation of- be done for significantly
construction of new train ficials are intrigued by Blit- less than the $310 million to
stations in Charlotte and tersdorf’s idea, but they $363 million estimate found
Shelburne, the Champlain want to hear more. by a commuter rail study
Flyer ran for just over two “We support all modes of completed this year for the
years. It never attracted transportation,” said Dan Vermont Legislature.
the ridership it needed and Delabruere, the rail pro- Blittersdorf called the study
was canceled in early 2003 gram manager for the Ver- a “gold-plated consul-
by Dean’s successor, Re- mont Agency of Transpor- tant’s report” that included
publican Gov. Jim Douglas, tation. spending between $162
shortly after Douglas took “We are always open to million and $189 million on
office. different ideas; we don’t rail cars and $48 million for
But the improvements did just know enough about the construction of six new
train stations. He has al-
In this Sept. 14, 2017 photo, a rail station built to be used by ready bought the cars, he
the Champlain Flyer, a commuter train that ran between thinks existing train stations
Charlotte and Burlington from late 2000 until early 2003, sits idle could work, and he is ea-
in Charlotte, Vt. ger to work out other de-
Associated Press tails with the railroads and
the state.
This is a state where traf- his company AllEarth Rail, Nancy Erickson commutes
fic jams are tiny by big-city to work out the details. 62 miles each way from her
measures and people are They are working to iden- home in Marshfield to her
accustomed to driving tify a first route, but possi- job with the Health Depart-
long distances to work. But bilities are from Burlington, ment in Burlington.
Vermont is also committed the state’s largest city, to Since she began work
to reducing its carbon foot- Vergennes or Middlebury, there in 1983, she has
print; the official state goal communities to the south. moved from carpooling to
is to get 90 percent of the Or between Essex Junction, In this Sept. 14, 2017 photo, a rail station built to be used by van pooling to taking a bus
the Champlain Flyer, a commuter train that ran between
state’s energy, including just outside of Burlington, Charlotte and Burlington from late 2000 until early 2003, sits idle from Montpelier to Burling-
transportation, from renew- and Montpelier, the state in Charlotte, Vt. ton.
able sources by 2050. capital. Associated Press “I love where I live, and
Blittersdorf maintains many Ultimately, he believes, the I love my job, so that’s
young people now don’t state’s job centers could result in the upgrading of this idea yet.” what I do,” Erickson said.
want to be tied to their ve- be connected by rail. the rail lines south of Burl- Blittersdorf, 60, has spent “I would definitely love a
hicles, as their parents have It wouldn’t be Vermont’s ington. It would take little to his professional life in the train, particularly in the
been. He hopes to set up a first attempt at a modern bring the train stations back renewable energy world. wintertime.”q