(rshsdepot) Rensselaer, NY (2 stories)

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Station chugging on amid change Rensselaer--

Tourists fill old facility as new one takes shape

By CATHY WOODRUFF, Staff writer
Times Union


 It's still not clear how long it has left, but the old Rensselaer Amtrak
station is going out amid a flurry of visits from summertime tourists.While
the Capital District Transportation Authority was close to finishing a grand
new station a few hundred yards away, hundreds of travelers passed through
the old one Tuesday.An answer on when the new $53.1 million station, last
slated to open in June, will welcome passengers could come as soon as
today's monthly CDTA board meeting. The authority has refused to publicly
state an opening date. One source close to the moving plans said "late July"
has been mentioned recently as the new target.It has become increasingly
difficult to navigate the free surface parking lot next to the old station.
New traffic lanes and construction are designed mainly for access to the new
station, a paid parking garage and eventually, paid parking lots."It doesn't
really matter much to me. This serves our purpose just fine. I guess the
parking could be better," said Carol Villeneuve of Schodack, who was meeting
her mother from Brooklyn.There were other problems, too. Track work forced
many passengers to take charter buses to reach destinations not serviced by
train from the Capital Region. Dennis Dougherty, 45, of Oakland, Calif.,
said Amtrak called him at home a few days ago to tell him a bus would take
him from Albany to Montreal. "Whatever way is going to get me there is OK,"
he said.


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New train station close to completion
By ERIC ANDERSON
Gazette Business Editor

ALBANY - It's not on the agenda, but local rail officials are hoping the
Capital District Transportation Authority will shed some light on when it
plans to open the new Rensselaer train station at its monthly board meeting
this afternoon.
The $53 million project is nearing completion, with workers putting
finishing touches on stairwells, the overhead walkway connecting the station
with the platforms, and the station interior.

CDTA spokesman Carm Basile said the project is close to completion, but that
no opening date has been set.

Other officials said CDTA had been considering a ribbon-cutting ceremony
sometime before the end of July, although the station wouldn't go into
operation until early August.

CDTA apparently has been trying to coordinate opening ceremonies with local
and state officials.

Even local Amtrak officials haven't yet heard when they'll be able to begin
using the new station.

"I want to know just as badly as the rest of the world," said Phillip
Larson, general manager for Amtrak's Empire Corridor, which serves upstate
New York. "I've heard a lot of different dates."

The station project has faced numerous delays. Even when it's open, the
project won't officially be completed. A fourth track can't be laid until
the existing station is removed. And it's not clear how quickly that track
will be put into place.

For now, the new station will have three tracks and two platforms, the same
arrangement that exists at the current station.

But passengers no longer will have to climb steps into the rail cars.
Instead, the new high-level boarding platforms will be even with the floors
of the passenger cars.

People with wheeled luggage, and people using wheelchairs, will be able to
board more easily.

With the new platforms, "we can open all the doors at one time," Larson
said.

Monitors displaying train arrival and departure information will be larger,
and some will display bus schedules as well, Larson said.

At least one monitor will carry CNN, he added.

Larson said he goes through the new station two to three times a week, and
said workers have made "tremendous progress. The escalators are in. The
elevators are in," he said.

CDTA officials had hoped to complete the station by the end of June.

When ground was first broken in June 1999, officials hoped to complete the
station, then estimated to cost $43 million, by sometime between the end of
2000 and the middle of 2001. But weather and other hurdles pushed the
completion date back.

The attached 600-car, two-level parking garage opened last autumn.



  Bernie Wagenblast
  Transportation Communications Newsletter
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/


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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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