Station Developments

That started back in October. The article was re-published today.

New Newport News intermodal centerhearing (Construction at 500 Bland Blvd to being in 2016, completion in 2018)

There was talk of a service extension (of AMTRAK's Lynchburg service) to Roanoke and a station in Roanoke (VA), anything new about that?

mr. mick wrote:There was talk of a service extension (of AMTRAK's Lynchburg service) to Roanoke and a station in Roanoke (VA), anything new about that?

Construction (site prep) has begun. Can't reuse the Midcentury station cause it is now a museum.State of VA also has to upgrade a parallel line for NS (the Virginian?) so coal can be diverted away from passenger. I think it's still pegged for 2017.

mr. mick wrote:There was talk of a service extension (of AMTRAK's Lynchburg service) to Roanoke and a station in Roanoke (VA), anything new about that?

It is more than talk, Virginia DRPT has committed $95.8 million in the FY15 to FY17 budgets for the service extension to Roanoke. The target date for start of service is by September, 2017, but comments from public officials suggest they are hoping to start service earlier in 2017. Gov. McAuliffe recent press release on the start of construction for Roanoke service. The state has also committed $6.4 million towards a $9.2 million project in FY15 and FY16 for Alexandria to Lynchburg speed improvements and $22 million towards a $31.6 million Nokesville to Calverton double track project for the NS tracks (south of Manassas), so the ALX to LYH route segment will be seeing improvements by 2017 as well. Plans also appear to be advancing on adding a second Regional service to LYH, likely shortly after the current Regional is extended to Roanoke.

An update on the new Miami station (although no mention of when Amtrak service might begin):

Tri-Rail's new Miami International Airport station, already more than a year late, faces even more delays and may not open until late March or early April.
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Florida Department of Transportation officials in October said the station would open in January. At the time, they said minor "quality control" issues were the reason for the delays.
They now say they are transferring operation and maintenance responsibilities to the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, and that is what is causing the holdup.
"There needs to be a maintenance contract and insurance for the common areas, so if someone arrives on Tri-Rail and chooses to walk to the parking lot and they're going through the common areas, their safety is assured," said Ric Katz, a DOT spokesman. "We should be ready to cut the ribbon for Tri-Rail by the end of March or early April."
Tri-Rail will run the first test trains into the station this weekend, but none with passengers.
Structural work for the $92 million station, part of the giant Miami Intermodal Center east of the airport, is finished although workers are still completing final touches.
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One must sign up to read "premium content". I knew there was a reason I read the Miami Herald!

Does anybody know what happened to the hotel planned for Baltimore Penn station that was announced in 2009. Hospitality Partners of Bethesda had planned "to turn the three upper levels of Baltimore's historical Pennsylvania Station into a 77-room boutique hotel, a first for an Amtrak-owned station along the northeast corridor".

Greg Moore wrote:I've given up on Atlanta ever really doing anything with passenger rail.

Sometimes when things seem darkest is when hope really begins. The harder it seems that Atlanta is ignoring the national trend towards increased use of mass transit the more we know there will be community pressure to reconsider. It was one thing in the roaring 90's for Atlanta to snub its nose at Amtrak, yet another in the 00's with the tremendous growth at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, but those days are gone now and Atlanta has got 30 years of dense sprawl to recover from. A process which will take many many years and I think will have a major railroad terminal at its core.

Sooner or later some politicians in Georgia are going to realize that supporting federal spending on high speed rail is going to be one of the easiest ways for them to find new things for their friends in construction companies to stay busy with. SEHSR is ripe for exploitation in this sense and Georgia would stand to benefit from it more than almost any other state.

Anyways, I'm thrilled to finally join this thread. I've definitely been missing out. My thanks to Station Aficionado for starting it and keeping it going.

Tha Alanta Sprawl continues,the Braves are building a new stadium northeastward of Alanta,
where their triple A farm team called home,hopefully MARTA will extend to that new stadium.

Mr. Backshop, the new Braves stadium will be in Cobb County, roundly at the intersection of 285 and 75. Cobb has resisted any MARTA rail "intrusion" and when I first learned of this "relo", my reaction was good luck getting there.

When in Atlanta, I do use MARTA rail, and I have noted enough passengers clearly going to the Braves. As information, last year on my annual journey there, I used MARTA airport to hotel in Dunwoody and return, also one way to the Woodruff Arts Center. I had no need to rent a car.

But Atlanta is very "car centric", and the Braves "relo" as well as no commuter rail, simply is indicative of that mindset.

I think the harder they try to make Atlanta a "non-transit" city the deeper they are digging the hole.

I doubt very much anyone is looking at how the city developed and saying to themselves, "this is sustainable".

Atlanta is going to be the Newark of the South in short order if they don't get more proactive soon.

Palmer5RR wrote:Does anybody know what happened to the hotel planned for Baltimore Penn station that was announced in 2009. Hospitality Partners of Bethesda had planned "to turn the three upper levels of Baltimore's historical Pennsylvania Station into a 77-room boutique hotel, a first for an Amtrak-owned station along the northeast corridor".

That project evaporated in the Great Recession. According to GAS, "Amtrak also kicked off a two-year master planning process in fall 2013 that will incorporate three components: State of Good Repair Study, Operations and Facilities Plan and Commercial Development Plan. The Commercial Development Plan will be performed by Harbor Point Holdings to evaluate the development opportunities for the vacant upper floors of the station, the adjacent 1.5-acre Lanvale site and other underutilized assets." I've heard nothing recent about redevelopment of the upper floors--perhaps there will be a new idea later this year.

Change is afoot at NYP with respect to food options:

Tim Horton and Caruso are departing from New York's Penn Station.

NJ Transit commuters won't be able to get an ice cold beer or their fix of fast food such as Nathan's, KFC, Caruso's Pizza and Haagen Dazs, as Amtrak and its realty management company have shuttered the eateries located along the lower level corridor that stretches from 7th to 8th Avenues.

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And work continues at Springfield:

Skid steer loaders driven by rubbish-removing construction workers whirled and twirled Friday morning through the grand concourse of Springfield's Union Station.
Turn by turn, they grabbed a pile of construction debris from what was once a lunch counter or a row of ticket booths and hauled it outside for recycling or disposal.
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Demolition work has exposed the building's interior steel frame. Gone is the crumbling plaster, which will be replaced by new walls and restored marble architectural accents.
Construction continues at the Union Station project in Springfield. An update on the construction progress at the Union Station project in Springfield.
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By June, workers will dismantle a rabbit warren of small upper-floor offices for railroad employees, some with the desks still in place, Clink said. That space will be replaced with ready-to-rent office space with modern electricity, data connections, heating and ventilation.
In a few weeks, the city will start working with The Massachusetts Realty Group, a partnership of Greystone and JLL, to determine who the best tenants would be. The Massachusetts Realty Group is the real estate consultant to the MBTA.
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