The Elizabethtown Amtrak station is a shell of its once proud past — peeling paint on the walls, broken and boarded-up windows, an empty ticket office and plastic covering the waiting platform.

But federal money flowing into the state is allowing a $9.3 million renovation project to move forward, restoring the stone structure built in the early 1900s and making improvements to the station.

State Department of Transportation secretary Allen Biehler announced the go-ahead of the Elizabethtown project Friday morning during a news conference at the station building, which has sat vacant for more than 30 years.

If plans are finalized soon, Biehler said, the project could begin by the end of summer and the renovated transit facility would be open by fall 2010. The platform currently serves 80,000 passengers a year.

"(The station's) not just going to be a little monument that someone can look at on a museum tour — it's going to be used," Biehler said.

The money is coming from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, with $16 billion of the stimulus money coming to the state in the next year.

Biehler said more than $1 billion has been allocated for highway and bridge projects, which includes the repair of 399 bridges and 600 miles of road resurfacing. The state had already allocated nearly $2 billion for additional road projects.

Another $347 million in stimulus money has been set aside for transit projects in Pennsylvania, Biehler said, including $5 million for the expansion and renovation of the Lancaster Red Rose Transit Authority's headquarters and maintenance facility on Erich Road in Lancaster city.

Biehler said the Elizabethtown station was the perfect "shovel-ready project" because it has been in the works for several years.

Phil Clark, vice president of Elizabethtown Borough Council, said the station project has been a priority of council since 1996 as one of the key proposals for the revitalization of downtown.

Biehler said Amtrak and the state have worked together over the past two years, investing $145 million into the track system between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. In that same time, Amtrak has seen ridership go from 800,000 per year to more than 1.1 million.

Biehler said the Elizabethtown station has increased ridership by 90 percent in the same time — the highest increase along the Keystone corridor.

Drew Galloway, a representative from Amtrak, called the Keystone corridor from Harrisburg to Philadelphia a "vital artery" of transportation in eastern Pennsylvania.

Galloway said past rail projects have neglected improvements to the stations along the corridor, calling them important portals to the riding experience.

The Elizabethtown project will include renovation of the station, new platforms, new paths, a paved parking lot, elevators and an Amtrak ticket kiosk installed in the building.

"I think the shovel for the shovel-ready part (of this project) was bought about a decade ago," Galloway said. "Now it's time to do it."

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