(rshsdepot) Saratoga Springs, NY

["Jim Dent" <james.dent_@_itochu.com>]

=46rom The Saratogian...

Train station awaits $3.6 million face lift
 JIM KINNEY, The Saratogian July 26, 2001

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Rail boosters and Amtrak officials like what they saw=
 in
a presentation of what the Saratoga Springs railroad station might look l=
ike
soon.
''It will be a gateway for our community,'' said Jack Kelley, Saratoga
Economic Development Corp. senior vice president.

SEDC is working on the station rehabilitation project funded with $3.6
million in federal transportation money.

Kelley said Argus Architecture and Preservation of Troy looked at other
buildings in Saratoga Springs. The firm wants the new building to fit in
with others around the city.

Kelley said construction plans are not yet final. In the past, the Capita=
l
District Transportation Authority has predicted construction could start
this fall, although spokesman Carm Basile wouldn't confirm a start date
Wednesday.

West Side resident and rail-travel proponent Gene Corsale said plans call
for the renovation of the existing 1960s-era building. He had hoped for a
totally new structure.

''I think they are doing the best they can with the limited money they ha=
ve
available,'' Corsale said. ''That $3.6 million is to purchase the propert=
y,
do the track work and everything.''

He said plans showed a station visible from West Avenue down Station Lane
with a waiting room twice the size of the existing one. The side of the
building passengers from Albany and other points south will see first wil=
l
have a set of large windows.

''That way, it will be like the station we used to have,'' Corsale said,
referring to the Delaware and Hudson Railway station downtown on Railroad
Place.

The loading dock and railroad maintenance shops will be removed, Corsale
said. Instead, the new building will have a newsstand, modern restrooms a=
nd
other amenities for travelers.

Amtrak spokeswoman Karen Dunn said the station was host to 21,600 passeng=
ers
in the year 2000. That level of activity ranks the local station 189th ou=
t
of 300 Amtrak stations. Many of those are in communities larger than
Saratoga Springs, she said.

Kelley said Saratoga Springs and Saratoga Race Course are the cover story=
 in
this month's Arrive, a magazine Amtrak gives to riders.

''They are really doing a lot of promotion for the city,'' he said.

Plans for commuter rail service between Saratoga Springs and Albany were
shelved earlier this summer. Corsale said plans for scenic rail service t=
o
North Creek in the Adirondacks through Greenfield, Corinth and Hadley are
moving forward, though.

=A9The Saratogian 2001

------------------------------