Train station closing possible
By Press And Journal Staff : 1/28/2009
The Middletown train station will be closed unless local officials can upgrade the facility to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is cracking down on all Amtrak stations. ADA requires that station platforms be at least 500 feet long, wheelchair accessible, and be clearly marked with specific warning areas at the platform’s edge.
The Middletown station does not meet any of the requirements, and federal officials are giving the borough until July 26, 2010 to make the changes, officials said.
The U.S. DOT has the right to shut down the station because Amtrak receives federal funding.
The Elizabethtown station, the next stop east of Middletown, is facing some of the same challenges, but plans to make the changes.
“We’ve thrown in the towel,” said Elizabethtown Borough manager Peter Whipple. Elizabethtown Borough has agreed to raise the station’s platform 4 feet and double its length.
Elevators will be installed leading to each side of the tracks. Currently the only way to get to the Elizabethtown station platform is by two staircases.
Whipple expects the Elizabethtown station upgrades to be completed by the 2010 deadline. The ADA upgrades have become part of a $7 million plan to revitalize the Elizabethtown station, Whipple said. The money will come from outside fundraising and grants, not the borough, he said.
While Elizabethtown seems to have their issues under control, Amtrak, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Harrisburg International Airport, and Middletown Borough are working together to solve their train station dilemma.
The logistics of bringing the current station up to code are frustrating local officials.
“There is no good place to put it,” said Jeffrey Stonehill, Middletown Borough manager. “Everybody wants it but nobody knows how to make it work.”
The station’s placement along a curve in the tracks makes it nearly impossible to install the longer platform ADA requires. Moving the station seems to be the only viable option.
An engineer working on the problem said a spot along the line in Londonderry Township, south of Royalton is the most logical place to put a new station, Stonehill said.
The suggestion received a cool response from borough officials who want to keep the station in town.
The cost to rebuild or move the Middletown station has not been estimated, officials said.
“The train station has the great potential of further developing the downtown and the residential and office base of the community,” said Stefan Klosowski, manager of the Middletown Main Street program. “The wealth of the train station is in its potential to downtown development.”
The Main Street program’s mission is to improve economic development in Middletown’s downtown.
HIA officials would like to see a rail stop at the airport. They are waiting for the engineers at Gannet Fleming to decide on the best place for the Middletown station.
“It makes a huge amount of sense to combine facilities in one location,” said Tim Edwards, executive director of HIA.
The airport train station would connect to the airport via an enclosed moving walkway, but would also provide access to non-airport travelers.
“It isn’t going to be a fancy train station,” Edwards said, “But it would certainly be more than a platform.” An enclosed seating area with bathrooms is also included in the airport’s station design.
Free parking would be available in a designated section of the airport-parking garage, in addition to a parking lot across from the airport along Route 230, Edwards said.
“It brings in a whole multi-modal transportation plan that a lot of communities have been looking at and trying to accomplish,” said the executive director. Capital Area Transit buses serve the airport, along with rental car and taxi companies.
Amtrak customer Barry Schmitt, of Hershey, supported the airport option.
“That would be great,” he said, as long as the parking would be ample and free. If the Middletown stop was eliminated, Schmitt said he’d switch to using the Elizabethtown station.
Schmitt travels by train about once a month, for personal and work reasons.
“I took my father on the train once, and he’s 92,” said Schmitt.
His father is also in a wheelchair. Schmitt said the conductors had no problem lifting his father into the train and getting him settled onboard. |