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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MONTPELIER, Vt. — A former Vermont transportation secretary is coming out of retirement to help plan resumption of passenger train service between the northeastern United States and Montreal.

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Brian Searles, who retired as transportation secretary in December, is returning to state service part-time to deal with the U.S. and Canadian governments on plans to restore Amtrak service on the northern end of a route that last operated in 1994.

U.S. federal budget cuts last year halted service north of St. Albans, Vt., and a train that had been called the Montrealer was renamed the Vermonter.

Transportation officials say tentative plans are for a joint U.S.-Canadian facility to be built at the Central Station in Montreal — where both north- and southbound passengers will clear customs.

No target date for completion has been given.

“This has been a goal of the state to get back into Montreal since the mid-1990s,” Searles said. But new hurdles were set up after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which prompted a tightening of security at international borders.