06/30/2026
Trains, bikes, and Brattleboro station’s new level boarding platform!
To celebrate the opening of Brattleboro’s new Amtrak station last week, over the weekend our GIS planner/map guy Jeff pedaled from Brattleboro to Northampton, Massachusetts (following three different rail trails along the way), then brought himself and his bike on Amtrak’s Vermonter for the return trip back to Brattleboro. The new level boarding platform in Brattleboro means anyone with a bike, luggage, stroller, or mobility issue can easily step directly out of the train car and onto the station platform without having to negotiate the car’s steep, narrow stairs.
Want to complete a similar trip? The Vermonter has space for several bikes on their trains, and advanced reservations are required. From Brattleboro, it’s 40 miles by bike taking the most direct route to the Northampton train station (with its own level boarding platform), where the northbound Vermonter departs at 3:57pm for the hour-long trip back. Taking the scenic route on more bike-friendly roads is 45-55 miles of biking.
Want a shorter trip? The Vermonter also stops in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Starting in Bellows Falls? You could bike to Brattleboro or Greenfield. In fact, if you utilize Cheshire County New Hampshire’s amazing rail trail network though Keene, you’d have a 50-mile bike ride to Brattleboro with well over three-quarters of that being car-free!
