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(rshsdepot) Trenton, NJ
From The Times (of Trenton).
Bernie Wagenblast
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
All aboard a modern-day train station
Remaking of Trenton facility is on the right track for the future
Saturday, July 19, 2008
BY BILL MOONEY
TRENTON -- Gottlieb Holl worked nearly five decades at the Trenton train
station. A prominent descendant of his said that he be lieves Holl, who also was
a Trenton city council member, would have approved of what happened there
yesterday.
``My great-great-grandfather worked 47 years on those tracks,`` said U.S.
Rep. Chris Smith, R- Hamilton. ``All those years going up and down those stairs
on his way to and from work.`` Smith, who helped shepherd millions of dollars
in federal funding toward transforming the 100-year-old station into a
modern transportation facility, was one of many federal, state, county and local
politicians who gathered yesterday to christen the newly named Trenton Transit
Center as a three-year, $79 million makeover nears its conclusion.
Smith, who helped get the first $5 million earmarked for the station
project, said it all began more than 10 years ago with a meeting that included
Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer and then-Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti and
a belief that the future of not only the capital city but the region hung on
a modern transportation depot.
``We truly now have a station that befits the city of Trenton, the state
capital and, most impor tantly, fits the needs of our customers,`` said Richard
Sarles, executive director of NJ Transit. Among other things, the massive
transformation -- $46 million in federal funding and $33 million in state
funding -- more than doubled the station`s size from 19,000 to 46,000 square feet,
tripled the available re tail space to 6,600 square feet, tripled the waiting
room space to 3,400 square feet, and relocated ticket windows to the Raoul
Wallenberg Avenue side of the station in order to reduce congestion.
Improved function was not the only goal; an improved appearance was part of
the plan. Tiles inside the station done by Lambertville artist Katherine Hackl
present historic Trenton scenes and were part of an effort to beautify the
overall appearance of a station that, with approximately 8,000 riders passing
through on an average weekday, is NJ Transit`s third busiest station behind
Metro Park and Princeton Junction.
``This is more than just a train station,`` said Palmer, who for years has
said a station upgrade is inte gral to overall redevelopment in the city. He
and Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes said they hope the state`s transit hub
tax program, which offers tax credits to employers who locate within a half
mile of the station and employ a certain number of people, will help to spur
redevelopment.
The rebirth of the station, which links SEPTA, NJ Transit, Amtrak and bus
service and has the Light- Rail River Line just across the street, is ``one of
the classic examples of partnership,`` said Gov. Jon Corzine, who often
champions urban revitalization. ``This is the sweet spot of what we need to be
doing,`` he said while standing in the concourse of the bustling station on a
busy weekday afternoon. ``This is an essential piece, a footprint for
redevelopment, to have our urban communities grow and prosper.``
According to executive director Sarles and Flora Castillo, a member of NJ
Transit`s board of direc tors, the remaking of the station could not have come
at a better time, with soaring gasoline prices an incentive for more people to
use mass transit. Sarles said that rail- line ridership increases about 4 to
5 percent each year, and commuters demand modern, comfortable, well- lit
stations with all the amenities.
One of the longtime amenities at the Trenton station with which regular
commuters are familiar is the nut stand operated for more than 20 years by Mian
Rafi Anwar, who appeared very happy yesterday with the changes at the station.
``We are here to treat New Jersey customers as a guest,`` he said. ``I feel
good to give them good service.``
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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1757
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org