contrary-contrarian t1_j6jsowz wrote on January 30, 2023 at 8:55 PM

Reply to comment by patsboston in My proposal for near-future inter-town/city passenger rail expansions in Vermont! (MAP) by DrToadley

Gotta start somewhere! I'm not saying it's going to happen tomorrow, but if there is political will in the state, and our federal reps are up for it, we can get that money.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but Vermont received 1.25 billion dollars in coronavirus relief funds (actually more than that if you count other programs). Despite being a small state, we have a decent amount of influence and could be a pilot project for the rest of the country.

goldenlight18 t1_j6jwkac wrote on January 30, 2023 at 9:18 PM

This was really a one time funding coupled with Leahy's seniority in the senate pulling weight. With him retiring it will be a while before we have that influence again.

contrary-contrarian t1_j6jz241 wrote on January 30, 2023 at 9:34 PM

This is mostly true, but it shows that large investments in small states is possible.

We could cut military spending by 1/64th and have enough funding to build light rail in most of the country...

cbospam1 t1_j6kfya0 wrote on January 30, 2023 at 11:24 PM

From what I could find only Wyoming received less in Covid relief funds than Vermont, so while we got a lot of assistance it’s not much as all in context.

The govt will never dump big money into a rural mountainous state to build rail. If they won’t do it in Texas or California it’s not happening here.