High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail: Updated and Improved Stations to Meet the Needs of Travelers

Station Improvements Add Comfort and Information for Passengers

As part of the equation in the 21st century train experience, train stations will need to be refurbished or rebuilt to serve growing numbers of passengers and to provide them with enhanced security, comfort and timely information. This year, several stations across the country are getting major face lifts or are being completely rebuilt.

  • In Rochester, a 37-year-old “temporary” building will be replaced with a new intermodal station that will include bus service as well as rail. Other similar station work will be done in Niagara Falls and at the Moynihan Station in New York City.
  • Michigan’s Battle Creek Station is in for a complete renovation, including work to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Similar work will be done in Troy/Birmingham and Dearborn.

“This investment is a transformation of our state’s high-speed rail transportation system, giving people a travel option that is good for jobs, good for business and good for the environment. Train travel provides an alternative to highway travel that reduces congestion, energy use and emissions.” --  Michigan State Transportation Director Kirk T. Steudle

  • Work is expected to be completed by next winter on three new tracks and two new platforms at the San Jose–Diridon Train Station in California. This project will add new messaging signs, public address systems, and closed-circuit TVs for added security. The $18 million project, according to Cindy McKim, director, California Department of Transportation, “will enhance not only the Capitol Corridor service performance but will improve passenger amenities in San Jose.”
  • Maryland is working to upgrade the Amtrak station at the Baltimore–Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The $80+ million project will include new platforms, tracks, and a new rail building. Overall, the work is “essential to improving customer service and increasing our ability to move Marylanders more efficiently by rail and motivate them to get out of their cars and use transit instead,” said Beverley K. Swaim-Staley, secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation.