A little more express: Amtrak shaves off travel time on Ethan Allen Express route

Passengers may, or may not, notice the Ethan Allen Express line from Burlington to New York City just got a little quicker.

In tandem with the state Agency of Transportation, Vermont Rail Service and the New York transportation department, Amtrak has introduced earlier departure and arrival schedules, shaving up to 15 minutes off the nearly eight-hour southbound route.

“The new, faster trip times, combined with the earlier southbound departure out of Vermont’s largest city, makes train travel even more appealing to our customers and allows us to build upon our recent, successful expansion to Burlington,” said Ray Lang, Amtrak’s vice president for state supported services, in a press release Wednesday.

Ridership on the Ethan Allen Express has grown in the past four years — from 50,515 riders in 2019 to 86,638 riders in 2023 — a growth Amtrak attributes to the extension of the line from its former terminus in Rutland, to stations in Middlebury, Vergennes and Burlington last July . Before then, Burlington residents had to travel to Essex Junction to hop on a train to New York City, via Amtrak’s Vermonter line on the eastern side of the state.

Amtrak says riders between Vermont and New York will benefit from the change, being “two of the most popular states for train travel demand throughout the country.”

New schedules slot Train 290 southbound from Burlington departing at 9:50 a.m., 20 minutes earlier than the previous schedule, reaching its final stop at New York Penn Station at 5:17 p.m. The northbound Train 291 will arrive in Burlington at 9:50 p.m., just five minutes earlier than the previous schedule.

Quicker and earlier service times on Ethan Allen Express “align with Amtrak’s ambitious goal of doubling annual ridership to 66 million by FY 2040,” Amtrak said in its press release.

Read the story on VTDigger here: A little more express: Amtrak shaves off travel time on Ethan Allen Express route .