(rshsdepot) Lancaster, PA

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Lancaster New Era.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
12M train station work could begin next  spring

June 27 2007 - _Lancaster  New Era (PA)_ 
(http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/206099)  

By BERNARD HARRIS  
A decade after it was first proposed, renovation of Lancaster City`s Amtrak  
station may be coming around the bend.  
Station improvements, expected to cost more than $12 million, are on track to 
 go to bid by the end of this year. Construction could start in the spring.  
Under that schedule, Amtrak passengers could see — by fall 2009 — increased  
parking, a separate waiting area for bus passengers, shops, restaurants, new  
Amtrak offices, upgrades to the nearly 80-year-old station`s heating and air  
conditioning systems and realignment of the station driveway to meet North 
Duke  Street.  
``Nothing`s come along to convince me that we cannot make that date,`` said  
Christopher Neuman, the county transportation planner who is heading the  
project.  
Neuman told members of the county`s Transportation Coordinating Committee on  
Monday that the project had passed a major hurdle. The renovation plans have  
been approved by Amtrak planners.  
Last month, the plans were also given conditional approval by the Lancaster  
City Planning Commission, he said.  
Planners are now working to complete the city conditions and get final  
approval from the state Transportation Department, said Neuman.  
Once the work begins, it will be done while the station continues operating,  
he said.  
``That`s one of the complexities of doing a project like this. We have to  
work around the existing riders, he said.  
And the number of riders has been growing. Earlier this year, Amtrak  
ridership statistics showed a nearly 18 percent increase in passengers using the  
Lancaster station since additional trains were added to the Keystone line last  
October.  
Last year, more than 368,000 passengers arrived at or departed from the  
Lancaster station.  
It was the second-busiest stop on the Keystone line, behind Philadelphia, but 
 ahead of Harrisburg, Neuman said. 



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