(rshsdepot) Sacramento, CA

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Downtown train depot getting a few touch-ups

By Bill Lindelof -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 5:30 a.m. PST Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002

A fresh coat of paint, better lighting and other fixes are finished. A new
roof is on the way.

That's good news for Sacramento's stately but worn downtown train depot.

Stopgap measures to protect the structural integrity of the depot and at the
same time make the ever-increasing number of train passengers more
comfortable were touted Wednesday during a tour for the media.

"While we move to the station of the future that millions of people will
pass through, we want to make this station more attractive and easier to
use," said Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson.

Still to come are fixes for the roof, better signs, an extension of light
rail and a temporary fix for the vacant REA building next to the depot.

The buildings are owned by Union Pacific Railroad, which inherited them when
it bought Southern Pacific Rail Corp. in 1997.

Sacramento officials believe it is in the city's best interest for them to
use government money to make repairs now.

The reasoning behind spending government funds on a privately held property
involves the future of the tile-roofed depot.

The city qualifies for millions of dollars in state and federal
transportation grants for the depot work, and city officials ultimately hope
to buy the depot, the REA building and about four acres around the two
structures used mainly for parking.

City officials have said they have $3.5 million in city, state and federal
funds for the depot. Much of that has already been spent.

Councilman Steve Cohn, a member of regional and local transportation boards,
said the initial phase of maintenance and improvements are long overdue.

And more has to be done: "This gets us to a barely acceptable condition for
our existing customers. This does nothing to handle expansion."

The 75-year-old depot's roof has leaked for some time and water has seeped
into walls. Water stains the ceiling.

Among the improvements financed by the city is a new roof for $800,000. Work
is scheduled to begin in May.

Also, the sign at the entrance to the parking lot prominently identifies the
site as "Courthouse Parking" rather than Sacramento Valley Station -- the
depot's new name.

The design and installation of a new sign will cost $120,000. The sign will
be installed next month.

Paving, parking lot re-striping and installation of ramps to modern
standards will cost $2 million.

Historians who want the depot totally rehabilitated and retained as a
working station have lamented the railroad's neglect of the historical
structure.

In even worse condition than the depot is the REA building, once a
distribution center for Railway Express Agency, a nationwide
package-delivery company. A section of roof caved in years ago.

Sacramento UP official Mike Casey said the railroad plans to make temporary
structural and roof upgrades to the REA building.

Walls will be braced, the partially collapsed roof will be taken off and the
interior will be cleaned up in the next few months.

The depot mainly is used by Amtrak and the Capitol Corridor passenger
service run by a regional government body.

UP officials want to move the passenger and rail lines several hundred feet
north of the existing depot at Fifth and I streets and create a concourse
there to serve passengers.

That would improve UP's freight-hauling business, give Amtrak modern
passenger facilities and open the lower portion of the railyard closest to
downtown for development.

Other improvements already finished include painting, lighting and audio
improvements, plus renovation of the ticket office and ticket counter area
by Amtrak at a cost of $160,000.

Amtrak has also spent $80,000 on one of the main eyesores at the depot, a
subway that leads to the tracks.

Storage track and platform canopies have been improved by Amtrak, UP and the
Capitol Corridors Joint Powers Authority at a cost of $750,000.

An extension of light rail, including the installation of a stop at the
depot, should begin this fall.

Scheduled for completion in December 2003, the extension is part of the $209
million depot-to-Folsom light-rail extension.

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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