LANCASTER, Pa. — After years of planning, the 73-year-old Lancaster train station on McGovern Avenue is finally going to be restored to its former glory, the Lancaster New Era reported.
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, flanked by state, county, city and Amtrak officials here this morning, announced a $7 million project to renovate the train station by 2005 and bring it back to what he called the “golden age of railroad.”
“This station needs and deserves a facelift,” Pitts said today, adding that it is the first place many visitors see when they arrive here.
Pitts and other officials said the project dovetails with plans to build a high-speed rail line between Philadelphia and Harrisburg as well as the construction of the Lancaster County Convention Center.
The Amtrak-owned station, which opened in April 1929, sits on eight acres north of the city.
Pitts called the project part of “the exciting renovation and revitalization this city is going through.”
The project, which involves all levels of government, was stalled as a result of Amtrak’s financial woes.
But financing for the project came to fruition after the U.S. Transportation Department earmarked nearly $538,000 for PennDOT to make up Amtrak’s share and fully fund the work, according to Chris Neumann of the Lancaster County Planning Commission.
The project, detailed in the 1998 Lancaster Regional Transportation Station Master Plan, includes numerous interior and exterior improvements. Among them is the realignment of the station driveway with North Duke Street so that Red Rose Transit Authority buses can directly serve the station.
Improvements include the creation of a conference room and banquet facility, a new lobby and office for Capitol Trailways, new Amtrak offices and a newsstand and gift shop.
The project will include the addition of a new roof, a new heating system, the addition of an air-conditioning system, and the replacement of the massive skylight.
Other improvements: a bus island and bus shelter, additional parking, a pedestrian plaza with a granite foundation, and a new storm-water management system.
Nearly 280,000 passengers use the station each year, making it the second busiest in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, county planners said. Eleven eastbound and 11 westbound trains stop on weekdays, and six each way stop there on Saturdays and on Sundays.
“It is a bigger train station than most in the United States, and when we get it restored it is going to be an absolute showpiece for Lancaster,” said Ron Bailey, executive director of the Lancaster County Planning Commission.
“This will return the station to its utility and beauty of 1929.”
Mayor Charlie Smithgall, who also spoke this morning, said he is particularly pleased that RRTA buses will be able to stop at the train station. Currently, buses have no access to pick up or deliver passengers there.
“This is going to be truly inter-modal,” the mayor said, offering up the image of RRTA buses ferrying train passengers to the new convention center.
“This is going to be a tremendous boon for the city. With this spruced up and livened up, it is going to be a good welcoming point for people coming to the city.”
Bailey said station improvements are needed to accommodate what planners expect will be increased ridership when the $140 million Keystone Corridor high-speed rail project is completed in five years.
The Keystone project will modify the Philadelphia-to-Harrisburg tracks for 110 mph electric trains.
The next step, Neumann said, will be the selection of a design engineer. Bailey said he hopes for a spring start for construction.
Project leaders hope to have the station completed in 2005 so it coincides with the opening of the new convention center.
Amtrak completed the first phase of station improvements in 1999 with $1.2 million in renovations to rest rooms and the installation of passenger elevators.
Since then, Amtrak’s revenues have fallen, forcing cutbacks in service and pleas for financial relief.
State Sen. Noah Wenger and other officials attending today’s news conference noted that the project shows the county is committed to preserving its heritage and able to foster government cooperation.
“You need that cooperation to make things happen,” he said. “When everyone gets enthusiastic enough to make a commitment, it can happen.”