Fears of Greater Economic Troubles Down the Line for Amtrak in Vermont

Author: Julie Shumway

Amtrak has announced that, beginning Oct. 4, it will no longer employ ticketing agents in any of its Vermont stations. The closing of these ticketing offices will result in the loss of six jobs, a number that belies the reality of a company already in financial trouble.
The decision affects Rutland, White River Junction, Essex and St. Albans stations, the only railroad stations in Vermont still staffed by Amtrak employees. For Middlebury students and others who use the train system to reach New York City, the change means tickets will have to be purchased at automatic ticketing machines or on the trains. For the moment, however, Amtrak has yet to purchase or install the $40,000 apiece machines.
It is expected to take as long as five months for the credit card-operated machines to be ready for general use. Vermont's ticketing agents leave their posts for the last time on Friday.
In the eyes of Walter Clarke, a 25-year veteran of Amtrak and its Rutland ticketing agent, the layoffs come from a lack of proper planning, and a rush to cut spending in ways that are not always effective. Clarke spoke passionately about the service he and others in his profession provide travelers. "We are the ambassadors to Vermont," he explained. Clarke, a Rhode Island native who began working for Amtrak in Vermont in 1992 and expresses a deep love of the state, has been offered a position with Amtrak in Portland, Maine, which he has accepted.
To Clarke, however, Amtrak's offer to let him continue with the company is small solace. He says that recent budget problems, including a Clinton Administration directive to become one of the only non-government subsidized passenger rails in the world, have forced Amtrak to make a series of rash decisions in an effort to cut back on spending. "A ticket machine isn't going to help anybody," Clarke laments. "There's no personal service anymore."
Clarke looks at the bigger picture when offering his advice. He sees a recent drop in tourism in Vermont as a direct result of Sept. 11, and urges that if Amtrak waits one more year, it is possible the economy will improve and such drastic measures as eliminating all the Amtrak jobs in an entire state.
Clarke will soon be moving his wife and their pets to Portland to take up the new position with the company.
But even as he prepares to leave the state in which he has lived for almost 10 years, he urges everyone to write to their senators, representatives and governors in an effort to save not only jobs, but the American passenger train itself.