(rshsdepot) Palatka, FL

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_home.com>]

Train station renovation on track

By Virginia Wissel
Palatka Daily News

(links below)

Renovations to the old train station in Palatka are getting under way. Bids
will be let out this week for two separate projects.
Upgrading the station is part of the plan to facilitate passengers riding
the rails.
Ridership on Amtrak trains passing through the Palatka station dropped off
last year, but still topped the 12,000 mark. As of the fiscal year ending
Sept. 30, 2001, 12,768 guests got on and off in Palatka.
"There were 13,454 who got on and off in 2000," said Kevin Johnson of the
Amtrak media office in Chicago. "We attribute the drop off in passengers as
a result of the drag on the economy."
Palatka became a flag stop for Amtrak in 1976.
Improvements to the station are a first step in possibly getting a full-time
Amtrak ticket agent.
Tommy Suckow, senior designer for Robert E. Taylor, renovation project
architect, said one bid is for the patching and repair of the roof and
adding new downspouts and gutters. The other is for the painting of the
entire exterior brick building.
"When the bids come in and the bidder selected, we'll begin the roofing and
the painting as soon as possible," Suckow said.
Suckow said the city has not picked a color yet for the depot. The original
color was a cream-colored brick.
"Probably we'll decide on a neutral color," said Allen Bush, city manager.
This past year, the city received $220,000 in grant money to refurbish the
depot at Reid and 11th streets. The building was constructed circa 1909 as a
train station.
With $75,000 from the Florida Community Trust Fund and the remaining
$147,000 from the Florida Department of Transportation, repairs will be made
and the rooms refurbished.
The main lobby will be divided into two rooms. One room will house the
railroad museum, which is listed on the National Register of Historic
Places.
The other room will be used for Amtrak. That area will house the ticket
office, baggage handling and storage, vending and waiting area for Amtrak
train passengers. Handicapped accessible restrooms as well as access to the
front of the building will be constructed.
"But we won't have enough money for an elevated train passenger platform and
back access to the building," said Jeff Norton, city parks superintendent,
who helped in writing the grants.
Amtrak uses the facility in Palatka to handle passengers bused to and from
Gainesville. Six trains a day stop in Palatka, the Silver Star and Silver
Meteor on the New York to Miami route and the Sunset Limited from Orlando to
Los Angeles.
"Palatka would be a good place to staff because the trains run during an
eight-hour period in the daylight. That is unusual," said Steven W. Haerter,
Amtrak construction project representative in Jacksonville.
"Ultimately, a decision will be made based on the business climate when the
construction is finished," Haerter said.
Gov. Jeb Bush recently requested Florida's transportation department to
fully fund Amtrak-Florida East Coast Railway passenger rail service from
Jacksonville to Miami. If approved, the service will include eight new
stations at St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Titusville, Cocoa, Melbourne, Vero
Beach, Fort Pierce and Stuart, and a new rail connection between the FEC and
the South Florida Rail Corridor in Palm Beach County.
This would provide six trains a day in each direction from Jacksonville to
various cities throughout the state, including two trains per day in each
direction on the FEC tracks from Jacksonville to West Palm Beach, continuing
to Miami on the state-owned South Florida Rail Corridor.
Johnson said he was speculating but thought it was "doubtful that Palatka
would lose any business" if this occurs.
"I think there has to be a gain to Palatka to have the new lines from
Jacksonville to West Palm Beach," Johnson said.

http://www.trainweb.com/gcdra/images/photos/sunsetlimited_@_palatka.jpg
(Amtrak's Sunset Limited at station)
http://www.putnamcountychamber.org/postcardtour/15jpg.gif  (old postcard
view)

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