Rutland Rail Switching Yard Relocation

When the Rutland Redevelopment Authority (RRA) and the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) wanted to relocate a rail switching yard from one end of town to the other, they needed a team that was both capable and had the local knowledge necessary to understand the town’s needs. The VHB team examined the feasibility of relocating the yard to a previously selected site and provided the scoping necessary to create a project development plan. We identified and evaluated multiple essential project components—including the main switching yard, rail customer facilities, railroad operating and maintenance facilities, two off-site wye tracks, an access roadway, and associated roadway improvements. To help provide order-of-magnitude cost estimates, we also developed schematic designs that examined how each project component would relate to the existing infrastructure. This comprehensive analysis allowed VHB to develop a permitting, design, and development strategy which advanced the project into the environmental analysis and preliminary engineering stage.