(rshsdepot) Wilmington, DE

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

From The News Journal.

Original articles and pictures at:
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090505/NEWS/905050323 

Bernie Wagenblast

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

VP kicks off face-lift of his favorite train station

Wilmington terminal will undergo $32 million restoration and update

By GINGER GIBSON
The News Journal 
May 5, 2009

WILMINGTON -- As part of a $32 million renovation to the Wilmington train
station, riders will soon notice a more modern waiting room, restoration of
the historic building's crumbling facade and repairs to its platforms.

But first, passengers will spend about 14 months navigating a temporary
station made up of about a dozen connected portable buildings, like those
often used to provide extra classrooms at schools.

New details were unveiled Monday morning during a news conference that
included Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Tom Carper and Ted Kaufman, Rep.
Mike Castle, Gov. Jack Markell, Mayor James Baker and officials from DelDOT,
Amtrak and federal transportation officials.

"It's about time we took the railroads and made them the national treasure
they should be," said Biden, who rode Amtrak to and from Washington, D.C.,
for nearly four decades as a U.S. senator. "We're doing this for the people
of Delaware, and we're doing it for the 28 million people who ride Amtrak
every week."

Of the $32 million, $21 million will come from the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act, also known as the federal stimulus package. President
Barack Obama has appointed Biden watchdog of how that money is spent. The
rest comes from money the state set aside in previous years.

The temporary station will be built from September to December of this year.
It will be put together under the current tracks; passengers will be able to
climb stairs or ride an elevator to the train platforms, said Amtrak
spokeswoman Karina Romero.

Work on the station's new interior will begin in January and is expected to
be completed by mid-February 2011.

The new interior will include renovated ticket booths, retail areas and new
seating, said John Sisson, DelDOT manager of projects and facilities. Old
wooden benches added in the late 1990s -- taken from discarded materials
after a renovation at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia -- will be
replaced with modern seating.

Other renovations to unused portions of the structure will allow for more
retail outlets. Sisson said Amtrak has not yet found tenants, but is working
to create a "warm, lit shell."

During renovations, current vendors, including a coffee shop, convenience
store and rental-car booth, will move into the temporary building, Sisson
said.

Work on the exterior will be the first signs of change, Sisson said.

Terra-cotta facades will be restored and the exterior will be weatherized.
During a renovation that ended in 1984, the terra cotta was bleached, but
not repaired. Workers will also replace several broken and deteriorated
windows.

Wilmington spokesman John Rago said the city has been in talks with Amtrak
to ensure that rail travel will not be impacted and there will be limited,
if any, interruptions for passengers. The 100-year-old station serves more
than 700,000 passengers each year with more than 100 weekday trains.

Commuters and those who work in the station seem willing to put up with some
obstacles if it means a better train station in the long run.

Rick Atnip works at Primo Cappuccino. "We welcome it," he said as he served
blueberry muffins and coffee to commuters Monday. "They are starting from
the outside first, so it will be a while before they inconvenience us. And
it will be worth the inconvenience."

At the Faber Shop, which sells snacks, magazines, lottery tickets, umbrellas
and other things for travelers, Emanuel Griffin was more philosophical.

"It's better than letting the place fall apart. People love this place. "

An older man with a salt-and- pepper mustache and a cleanshaven head sat on
one of the old benches. A cabdriver trying to attract some business, he
would identify himself only as Big Dave.

"This is a good thing to do. Look at this place," he said, pointing around
the waiting area.

"They have one escalator going up but they don't have one coming down. They
have one raggedy elevator and it's all the way in the back. People don't
even know it's there. I could tell you all about this place."

The station, designed by architect Frank Furness, was finished in 1908,
although trains rolled in and out of the unfinished building for a year
before that. In those days, the main floor was devoted mostly to freight and
baggage, and passengers, who arrived by horse and carriage or trolley,
entered from Front Street. They took the stairs to track level, where
waiting rooms -- separate ones for men and women -- sheltered them as they
waited for trains.

As decades passed and other modes of transportation became more popular, the
station declined some, but remained a vital link in the Northeast Corridor.

In 1984, Amtrak, which had taken over passenger rail service, completed a
$10.4 million renovation. The waiting room was moved to the main floor, and
many long-vanished details, such as the glass-and-metal canopy surrounding
the entrances, were reproduced and reinstalled. The revitalization of the
Christina Riverfront -- which included hundreds of millions of dollars in
private and public investment into ING Direct's headquarters, restoration of
the Pennsylvania Building and the B&O Water Street Station, and a
Furness-style parking garage -- transformed the former industrial wasteland.

"I guess this building could use some new stuff," said Barry Sloan of West
Chester, Pa., as he waited for a train to Washington. "It's a pretty nice
old building. It feels like a train station, not like an airport or anything
like that."

Kaufman said $100 million in recovery money for Amtrak has already begun to
bring dozens of jobs to Delaware, including the Bear Car Shops, where
damaged Amtrak cars are refurbished at less cost than buying new ones. $58.5
million went to that project alone.

"And the work that will now -- finally -- be done here at the station will
mean the one thing we need most right now: jobs, jobs, jobs," Kaufman said.
"It's a long list. We'll need roofers, painters, carpenters,
sprinkler-fitters and my personal favorite, engineers."

Markell said the project is important to help jump-start the Delaware
economy.

"It will put Delawareans back to work building something we can be proud to
call our own," Markell said.

Wilmington Mayor Jim Baker said he's happy to see the renovations will
finally become a reality.

"When I first came here in 1966, I wanted to go back to New York -- there
was the Terminal Hotel and a lot of crap across the street," Baker said.

Additional Facts
CONSTRUCTION TIMELINE 

June -- Exterior facade restoration and center platform construction to
begin


July -- Track No. 3 work to start


September-December -- Temporary station to be built


January 2010 -- Renovations to station interior to begin


March 2010 -- Track No. 1 work to be completed


February 17, 2011 -- Project to be completed

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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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