(rshsdepot) Niagara Falls, NY

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

$3 Million Earmarked For Station

Buffalo News

The addition of $3 million in funding for a planned international
transportation center will further cement the project's credibility and
encourage federal and state investment, local officials said Thursday.
Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fairport, announced that her office had secured
funds from a transportation bill recently passed in the House of
Representatives for the $20 million Niagara Falls Intermodal Transportation
Center & International Railway Station, a project that will relocate the
city's Amtrak passenger station and serve as a regional transportation hub.

Slaughter said in a release that transforming the nearly 140- year-old
Customs House across from the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge into a joint border
crossing/passenger station will improve travel and security along the
U.S.-Canadian border.

"Travelers and business in Niagara Falls will benefit greatly from a more
centrally located train station. In addition, the new Customs and
Immigration facility will make the customs process easier and more efficient
for Amtrak passengers traveling between New York and Canada," she said.

Mayor Vince Anello said the funds from Slaughter, coming nearly one month
after Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., provided $2.5 million for the
project, put the station "in the firm footing to become a reality."

"We're going to keep encouraging all the stakeholders to become part of the
process," said Anello. "Now that we have 5 1/2 million (dollars), it's going
to be easier to get other funding from federal and state sources."

Paul Dyster, a former councilman who was heavily involved in the project,
said the station may attract more federal grants than other projects because
it includes NFTA Metro Bus service and its greater emphasis on security.

"This was the first transportation center proposed after 9/11, so it's
important that it's intermodal," said Dyster. "We learned in Spain that
terrorists can get to a single train, but the nature of this project makes
it more secure and therefore more appealing."

The $3 million from Slaughter will be used to finish the design and planning
of the building, and acquire nearby property, said Thomas DeSantis, senior
planner for the city.

The project -- expected to be finished by 2007, with construction starting
as early as next year -- will move the Amtrak station from the Lockport Road
rail yard to the foot of the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, where it would be
integrated with the Customs House in a new two-story, 14,000-square-foot
station.

The project also would require the realignment of an existing CSX mainline
track and the replacement of two old railroad bridges over Main Street.

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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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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #896
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org