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Illinois town to break ground on new Amtrak station
The old Alton Route station in Dwight is one of the nicest looking stations on the Lincoln Service line. I can only hope the new Amtrak station is even remotely close to the look of the old station.
Wow! I just looked up Dwight, IL on Wikipedia. They have a picture of the Dwight C&A station. It is impressive. Why would the village spend $3.77 million to build a new ‘Amshack’. Unfortunately, the old station is now occupied by a government entity and would be hard to get back, like our ROWs lost to “Rails-to-Trails”. Move the Dwight Main Street Program into a free FEMA trailer and do the right thing.
Use the existing station and platforms for the train. Spend Half that amount for new offices for the current tenants. A historic structure like this should serve its original function as the gateway to the city.
The only reason I can see for building a new station is that trains block downtown streets when stopping at the existing depot. The isn’t that much hustle and bustle that people can’t wait for a few minutes.The 1891 structure is an architectural gem that should remain in its intended service.
Does anyone else wonder why it should cost that much?
$3.7 million seems like a lot of money for an 800-square-foot building, even when you figure in the cost of the platform and some parking.
It does seem like a lot of money for what it is. Compare it to the 60,000 sq foot station with an elevated platform structure over the tracks in west Palm beach that All Aboard Florida is building at this time. That station is costing $25-30 million dollars. Or 6-8 times as much money for a building 75 times larger. Same thing for the new AAF station being built in Fort Lauderdale.
Big difference: AAF is spending shareholders money, Dwight is spending taxpayers money.
Yup, Mr. Hays has it pegged, It’s FREE money so spend it quick!!!
Yup! That is definitely the answer. Corrupt government doing whatever they want with the taxpayers money. It’s hard to beleive that some want the government to do more.
Does anyone wonder why Amtrak is broke?
There is no way the new station will in anyway compare to what’s there now. At least it will be left standing. For now.
Only 800 quare feet for a new “station”? Heck, the room for my train layout is almost that big!
$4,700 per square foot! Really? What is the ridership for the seven trains per day? And we wonder why Illinois is broke and spent four times as much for HSR as they did in Michigan.
More government involvement, waste, and nonsense! The existing station is beautiful on the outside. Why should funds designated to improve High Speed Rail be used to build a station–anywhere? That station won’t contribute one thing to HSR. If 800 square feet is all that’s needed, it can’t be much of a station, or house many facilities. Take out the footage for the restrooms, and you have very little room left for a “waiting room”. Obviously, another boondoggle designed for the politicians to steal more of OUR money!!!