(rshsdepot) Pittsburgh, PA

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Amtrak urges Liberty Avenue station  revival 

December 6 2007 - _Pittsburgh Tribune  Review_ 
(http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_541384.html)  

Amtrak urges Liberty Avenue station revival  
By Jeremy Boren TRIBUNE-REVIEW  
Thursday, December 6, 2007  
Amtrak officials want Pittsburgh`s Downtown train station to be more than a  
humdrum passenger depot. In a first-ever workshop today on the station`s 
future,  Amtrak will try to sell regional leaders and developers on the concept 
that the  Liberty Avenue station could become a bustling civic center or retail 
hub akin  to a smaller version of Denver`s Union Station or Baltimore`s Penn 
Station.  
``We want people to get interested in fixing up their train stations,`` said  
Joe McHugh, Amtrak vice president of government affairs. ``The station is the 
 first thing that our passengers see when they get off the train and the last 
 thing when they get on. It creates a first impression of the city.``  
Amtrak owns Pittsburgh`s station but it`s attached to the historic corporate  
and residential apartment building The Pennsylvanian, owned by Brothers  
Pennsylvanian Corp. The station accommodates 120,000 passengers a year.  
There are no plans to improve the station, which serves 16 cities on two  
daily routes, the ``Capitol Limited`` and the ``Pennsylvanian.`` The station  
opened in its current form in October 1989 after extensive renovations to the  
Pennsylvania Railroad Station Terminal. Pennsylvanian apartments regional  
manager Pat Castille said Amtrak officials and mayors from a few small Western  
Pennsylvania towns will tour the terminal and building, but she was not aware of  
any plan for renovations.  
City and PennDOT officials have been invited to attend a daylong workshop on  
the station, but mainly to listen.  
Pittsburgh principal planner Sidney Kaikai said it`s worth examining how the  
Amtrak station could take advantage of its spot across the street from the  
380,000-square-foot Grant Street Transportation Center, which will house the  
Greyhound bus terminal and is slated to be finished in the spring. The $35  
million transportation center`s garage is bisected by the Norfolk Southern  
Railroad tracks that run into the Amtrak station. The center will have 1,000  
parking spaces spread over two garages, commercial storefronts and office space.  
``Perhaps (the train station) could be made into a multi-modal center since  
it is across the street,`` said Kaikai, who plans to attend the workshop. The  
city has no money or plans to do that, he said.  
It`s possible, however, for the city to include train station improvements in 
 its federal transportation funding requests in 2009.  
McHugh said one change that must occur is remodeling to make the station  
compliant with the Americans with Disability Act by a federally mandated  
deadline of 2010.  
Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman, said this is the first step in fostering  
a relationship with planners who might want to tap the station as a home for  
retail stores.  
The 19,000-employee company, however, isn`t offering to pay for improvements. 
 It can provide only in-kind architectural, planning and engineering support, 
he  said. 



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