Re: (rshsdepot) Albany, NY

["Paul S. Luchter" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>]

Whose station, or where was that big French chateau-like station up there?
- -----Original Message-----
From: ERIE LACKAWANNA SD45-2 <ERIE-LACKAWANNA_@_prodigy.net>
To: rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net <rshsdepot@lists.railfan.net>
Date: Saturday, May 12, 2001 4:41 AM
Subject: Re: (rshsdepot) Albany, NY


>D&H never owned a station in Albany. They used the New York Central station
>which is now a museum and has a highway in front where station platforms
>were and across Hudson River where rail bridge was. were.
>
>Jerome
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Paul S. Luchter" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>
>To: <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
>Sent: Friday, May 11, 2001 10:59 PM
>Subject: Re: (rshsdepot) Albany, NY
>
>
>> Why don't they just use the Albany D&H station? (he says tongue in cheek
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: James Dent <james.dent_@_itochu.com>
>> To: RSHS List <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
>> Date: Friday, May 11, 2001 4:26 PM
>> Subject: (rshsdepot) Albany, NY
>>
>>
>> >From the Albany (NY) Times Union...
>> >
>> >Station funds held up
>> >Albany -- Citing cost overruns, state Senate Majority Leader Joseph
Bruno
>> >demands an accounting of the Rensselaer project
>> >
>> >Calling the Rensselaer railway station construction project "a runaway
>> >train,'' Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said Thursday he would
>> withhold
>> >further funding from the project until its managers account for
>escalating
>> >expenses.
>> >
>> >Politicians on both sides of the aisle assailed the Capital District
>> >Transportation Authority for running tens of millions of dollars over
>> budget
>> >on the project. CDTA officials this week revised their cost projections,
>> >saying the new station will probably cost more than $60 million by the
>time
>> >it is completed. It was at least the third major cost revision since the
>> >original estimate of $35 million, and it drew fire from the same state
>> >officials the CDTA hopes will help bridge the massive shortfall.
>> >
>> >"Since it was first announced, the cost of this project has been a
>runaway
>> >train,'' Bruno, R-Brunswick, said. "I will not commit any additional
>state
>> >funding to the new rail station until I receive a full and complete
>> >accounting of how these cost overruns occurred.''
>> >
>> >CDTA officials say the station could still open in spring 2002 on the
>last
>> >budget estimate of $52.2 million, but that additional track and signal
>work
>> >they call "Phase Three'' will be needed afterward and will push the
>budget
>> >past the $60 million mark.
>> >
>> >The CDTA has secured between $41 million and $47 million for the station
>> and
>> >is looking to state officials to help complete the project, which broke
>> >ground in June 1999.
>> >
>> >"We appreciate the senator's concern and we will provide him with the
>> >information necessary to receive his continued support for this
important
>> >project,'' said CDTA spokesman Carm Basile.
>> >
>> >The remarks recalled a similar exchange the CDTA had earlier this year
>with
>> >U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, when he criticized the authority's handling of a
>> >Saratoga Springs-to-Albany commuter rail project. Sweeney demanded
>> accountin
>> >g records and other documents before lending that project further
federal
>> >support.
>> >
>> >CDTA officials said the cost overruns at the Rensselaer station are
>largely
>> >due to unanticipated track work that involved moving less than a mile of
>> >rail and more than 100 signals to accommodate the new station's
>platforms.
>> >
>> >The so-called third phase of the project that will continue after the
>> >station is open will involve further track and signal work to provide
for
>a
>> >freight rail bypass and high-speed rail capability, said Dennis
>Fitzgerald,
>> >the CDTA's executive director.
>> >
>> >But some legislators have grown skeptical after watching the CDTA raise
>the
>> >construction project's price tag and push back the completion date from
>the
>> >original plan in 1998, when they said the $35 million station would open
>in
>> >2001. The projected opening has been pushed back a year.
>> >
>> >"This is not the first time and that adds to the predicament,'' said
>> >Assemblyman Ron Canestrari, D-Cohoes, who sits on the Assembly's
>> >transportation committee.
>> >
>> >"There is going to have to be serious justification for us to commit to
>> much
>> >more,'' Canestrari said. "What isn't finished may have to be scaled
>back.''
>> >
>> >Canestrari noted that the state voters' defeat of the Transportation
Bond
>> >Act last fall has cramped the budgets of projects statewide and made
>> >officials especially sensitive to cost overruns.
>> >
>> >A spokesperson for Gov. George Pataki did not return calls for comment
on
>> >the rail station's revised cost estimates.
>> >
>> >More than 600,000 passengers pass through Rensselaer station each year,
>> most
>> >of them traveling to New York City, making it the 13th busiest in the
>> >nation, Amtrak officials said
>> >
>> >Bruce Becker, president of the Empire State Passengers Association, a
>group
>> >that lobbies for better rail service, said he has received assurances
>from
>> >the state Department of Transportation that the station will open in
>early
>> >2002, but he said the cost overruns are worrisome.
>> >
>> >"We are concerned that there is still a funding shortfall and in light
of
>> >the new cost overruns, that concern is heightened. The gap is widening,
>not
>> >narrowing,'' Becker said.
>> >
>> >Meanwhile, CDTA officials are waiting for a bid on one of the final
>> >construction pieces of the station project, a walkway over the tracks.
>The
>> >80,000 square-foot brick station appears, from the outside, to be nearly
>> >complete. Painters have been hired for the interior.
>> >
>> >"The station is going to open at some point, somehow,'' Becker said.
"For
>> >the CDTA to say 'We ran out of money, we're going to stop,' that's not
>> >realistic.''
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>

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