MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Amtrak passenger rail service could be back on track in Vermont within the next few months, officials said.

Service on the two trains that serve Vermont, The Vermonter, which runs from Washington, D.C., up the eastern side of Vermont before crossing the state and then ending in St. Albans, and the Ethan Allen Express, which travels between Rutland and New York City, were suspended last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve had some preliminary discussions with Amtrak on this and we had said that we’re looking forward to them coming back and being fully operational,” Scott said Tuesday during his regular virus briefing.

“We just don’t know exactly when it’s going to be,” Scott said.

Amy Tatko, a spokeswoman for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, told the St. Albans Messenger restart talks are underway.

“We hope to make an announcement within the next several weeks as to what that timeline will look like.”

Despite the suspension of service, Amtrak trains have been operating on the Vermont lines to train staff.

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NUMBERS

On Wednesday the Vermont Department of Health reported nearly 90 new confirmed virus cases, bringing the statewide total since the pandemic began to almost 18,030.

There were 23 people hospitalized with COVID-19, including five in intensive care.

Two new fatalities were reported, bringing the number of deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began to 222.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Vermont did not increase over the past two weeks, going from 130.57 new cases per day on March 8 to 126.57 new cases per day on March 22.

The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in Vermont did not increase over the past two weeks, going from 0.71 deaths per day on March 8 to 0.71 deaths per day on March 22.