Asbestos removal at the Bellows Falls train station in Vermont began Oct. 9, 2025, in what is expected to be a multi-million-dollar clean-up, restoration and renovation of the facility, the Brattleboro Reformer reported.
The Amtrak intercity rail station is in the Bellows Falls village of Rockingham, Vt.
Rockingham purchased the 102-year-old station in late March 2025 after several years of often tense negotiations with both Vermont Rail Systems, the owner of the station and the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans), which owns the railyard and surrounding land on which the station sits.
The town negotiated a long-term lease of the station's land from the state, while purchasing the building outright for $285,000.
Rockingham town officials had voted overwhelmingly in favor of buying the station in 2022, and since then have appropriated additional funds for the complicated project, the Reformer noted. As a result, it has received several major state and federal grants to fund most of the environmental clean-up and renovation work.
Scott Pickup, Rockingham's town manager, told the Brattleboro newspaper that the three contracts totaling $2.1 million the Select Board approved and signed Oct. 7 were a major step forward in the effort.
The contracts will start the clean-up and renovation process by installing a vapor barrier in the station's basement, allow crews to perform additional environmental cleanup and make exterior building renovations, and add design work which will allow the town to apply for funds to pay for the third phase of the project.
Stone Environmental Inc. in Montpelier was awarded a $789,000 contract for the vapor barrier, which will contain the infiltration of hazardous gases into the building from the polluted railyard. In addition, Middlebury-based Breadloaf Construction was awarded an "up to" contract of $1.189 million for cleanup and exterior improvements.
The final contract will be available in early November, Rockingham Development Director Gary Fox told the Select Board.
Stevens and Associates, an architecture and civil engineering firm in Brattleboro, received a $130,000 contract to do 30 percent of the Phase 3 design work, which will allow Rockingham to apply for another round of grants.
"All of that is funded," said Pickup. "The money is available and on hand."
Pickup said he expects the contractors will start mobilizing for the project throughout the rest of October, with visible work likely to occur at the site in November.
Fox characterized the asbestos abatement project as being on "a really tight timeline." Following its completion, masonry work would begin on both the inside and outside of the brick building, and eventually the restoration of its historic windows and doors.
Pickup and Fox said the restoration work is being coordinated, as best as possible, with the state's plans for building a new ADA-compliant platform for the Amtrak train, which stops in Bellows Falls two times a day. Rail passengers currently must use a small stepladder to reach the train's steps.
According to Pickup, the awarding of the contracts was a big milestone in the town's effort to buy and restore the train station, a major component of Rockingham's overall effort to redevelop The Island, which is that portion of central Bellows Falls that is cut off from the rest of the downtown by the Bellows Falls Canal.
Fox presented the three different contracts to the Rockingham Select Board, and each were approved unanimously. He also provided an update on the town project, including the rail station, which itself replaced an earlier, larger station that burned down.
When the town bought the station earlier this year, Rockingham officials set the stage for it to possibly be the home of a cafe or restaurant.
