(rshsdepot) Saratoga Springs, NY

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

City rail station to get overhaul

JIM KINNEY, The Saratogian July 18, 2002


SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Extensive renovation work at Saratoga Springs' passenger
rail station will begin in late September and could last until the end of
2003.
The Capital District Transportation Authority plans to unveil architectural
drawings for the $5.9 million project Monday. The new station will be on the
same site as the existing one on Station Lane, just off West Avenue.

''Speaking as someone who helped choose the design, it is going to be
impressive,'' said Jon Kelley, executive vice president of the Saratoga
Economic Development Corporation.

Kelley and other local boosters got a progress report Wednesday in a meeting
with officials from CDTA.

''It incorporates a lot of the architecture that is already in Saratoga
Springs,'' said Robert Cleary, a member of the project's local advisory
committee. ''It will have large glass windows all the way around.''

He said the new building will also have an arched, cathedral-style ceiling
over the waiting room and ticket area.

While it will fit the footprint of the existing station, it won't have the
track-maintenance workshop, which took up half the old building.

''Those people have moved down toward Geyser Road,'' Cleary said. ''That
space will be rental space for CDTA.''

The Authority will eliminate steps leading to and from the platform.

''It's going to be a big improvement,'' Cleary said.

Cleary and Gene Corsale, the city's other representative on the panel, have
been trying for more than four years to do something about the existing
1960s-era cinderblock station.

''Anything we do out there has got to be better than what we've got,''
Corsale said. ''This fits in with the Master Plan for the West Side.''

Cleary said the project goes in front of the city Planning Board July 24.
But since it is a government project, the Planning Board can only advise, he
said.

Cleary said CDTA plans to bring in a double-wide trailer to house a ticket
agent and a waiting room while work progresses.

Actual construction work will only cost about $1.9 million, Cleary said. The
rest of the work will go to lay new track, remove hazardous materials from
the site and complete other work.

Corsale said work on the new station needs to be complete when a planned
tourist and scenic train starts rolling between Saratoga Springs and the
Adirondacks via Corinth.

Kelly said SEDC is negotiating to buy the Canadian Pacific line from
Saratoga Springs to Corinth.

    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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