New York State news, ESPA Options

[KevinKorell]

Empire State Passengers Association (ESPA), newsletter for September/October 2010:

Ground was broken in late August for the new Niagara Falls Amtrak station. The new building will be located about one mile west of the current station. Besides functioning as a station, it will also include US Customs facilities. The station will be located on a siding track, and have just one 500-foot long, high level platform, although there will be allowances made to add a second track and platform at a later time. The layover and maintenance facilities near the old station will still be used when the new station comes online, so trains originating or terminating in Niagara Falls will have to deadhead in a reverse move.

Ridership and revenues on the Empire Corridor have continued to rise. Some eastbound and westbound trains routinely sold out over the summer, despite having cars added to their consists. Ridership on all trains that operate west of Albany rose 37.3% in July 2010, compared to the same month in 2009. Revenues on those trains rose 44.9%. For the same month, Adirondack ridership rose 25.1%, the Ethan Allen Express went up 16.9%, and collectively trains south of Albany encountered 9.4% more passengers. The overall ridership gain across the state was 18%, which includes the Lake Shore Limited, also up 14.6% for July.

The New York State Fair in Syracuse drew 1600 passengers who used the fair-specific stop by the fair's gates. In 2009, that number was around 1000.

On the negative side, on-time performance (OTP) suffered primarily due to scheduled summer trackwork projects. For all Empire Corridor trains, in the month of July OTP was just 73.7% -- up slightly from last July's 72.1%. West of Albany trains did best at 83.1%, south of Albany 80.7%, Ethan Allen Express 64.5%, Adirondack 48.4%, and the Maple Leaf was also dismal at 45.2%.

The Great Dome car is running on the Adirondack on select days until October 24th, north of Albany. National Park Service personnel are riding the dome providing commentary on the route.

Renovations will begin soon at the Buffalo Depew station. Much of it will be ADA related improvements. Most of the work will be in progress by the middle of 2011, and it should be completed by the end of that year.

Similar ADA improvements may soon also be taking place at the Rochester station. There is also the potential that Amtrak may build an entirely new station on the same site.