(rshsdepot) New London, CT

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's edition of The  Day.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
State DOT Will Mull Options For Union  Station 


By Elaine Stoll  
Eminent Domain Seen Unlikely In Effort To Preserve Transit Hub  
The state Department of Transportation, in an effort to ensure that New  
London`s privately owned and financially struggling Union Station remains a  
transportation hub, will consider options that include the use of eminent domain  
to prevent the loss of bus and rail service there, department spokesman  
Christopher Cooper said Wednesday. However, the DOT expects to reach a solution  
cooperatively with Union Station owners Todd O`Donnell and Barbara Timken long  
before eminent domain –– a “last resort” –– is considered, Cooper said.  
“We`re working very hard with the city and with the current owners on a  
solution that will maintain the region`s transportation services, specifically  
Amtrak and Greyhound, and we fully expect a solution that will not involve  
eminent domain,” Cooper said. He called the possibility of invoking eminent  
domain “exceedingly remote.”  
“Please convey from the commissioner there is absolutely no intent to pursue  
eminent domain,” he said following a conversation with DOT Commissioner Ralph 
J.  Carpenter. “If the only way transportation service could be preserved is 
to go  that route, you would have to consider eminent domain.”  
In a Sept. 28 memo written to himself and accidentally entered into the  
public record in advance of Tuesday`s City Council meeting, City Law Director  
Thomas J. Londregan said the DOT is considering “various options with Union  
Station, including everything from buying to leasing the first floor with an  
option to buy. Eminent domain is not `out of the picture.` ”  
The DOT, Londregan said at the City Council meeting, “will not let the  
transportation center go out of business.”  
“They will not let Amtrak be evicted,” he said. “They will not let the buses 
 be evicted. ... They`re not going to let the people not have a place to get 
on  the trains.”  
O`Donnell wrote in April to the Southeastern Connecticut Council of  
Governments to seek partnerships to resolve the privately held station`s  struggles, 
most of which are financial in nature.  
Every other train station in the state is publicly owned, most by  
municipalities and three by the state itself. Because Union Station is under  private 
ownership, it can`t raise revenues through taxes or federal  transportation 
grants.  
Leasing to transportation tenants has been costly, O`Donnell wrote. Amtrak in 
 2004 failed to pay rent for 10 months and now leases on a month-to-month 
basis.  Greyhound pays for 1,500 square feet, but its buses occupy more than 
7,000  square feet of space outside that generates no rent.  
Southeast Area Transit buses have a kiosk on site but pay no rent. Passengers 
 of SEAT buses and nearby ferry services and other members of the public use 
the  bathrooms meant for Amtrak passengers, incurring extra maintenance, 
repair and  security costs for O`Donnell and Timken. In addition, their insurance 
costs have  more than tripled in the past five years.  
City, state and regional officials have held public and private meetings to  
discuss the future of Union Station and its transportation tenants since  
O`Donnell wrote the letter. The DOT is engaged in ongoing talks directly with  the 
Union Station owners, and Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments  
Executive Director James Butler said Wednesday that the COG “continues to work  
with the Department of Transportation and the City of New London to ensure the 
 future of Union Station as a multimodal transportation center.”  
The DOT is working to expand, not decrease, Shore Line East commuter rail  
service, and preserving Union Station as a transportation center is consistent  
with that goal, Cooper said. The State Bond Commission is expected to approve  
money Friday for DOT feasibility studies of adding rail service between New  
London and Worcester, Mass., and between Westerly and Providence, he said.  
“We certainly would never want to lose a station,” he said. “New London is 
an  important city.”  
Cooper said Wednesday he did not know what impact potential DOT involvement  
in Union Station might have on the property`s taxability, a concern for the 
city  because more than half of its approximately six square miles is 
tax-exempt.  
“I am sure it will become part of the discussion,” he said.  
O`Donnell declined Wednesday to comment on Londregan`s memo and the DOT  
statements, whose specifics he was not yet familiar with. 

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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 #1432
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org