Elizabethtown has been on a fast track since early this spring to renovate its nearly century-old train station, thanks to federal stimulus funding.

On May 20, the borough received another green light when the U.S. Department of Transportation formally awarded two grants for the project, totaling more than $9.38 million, just in time for a bid opening set for June 12.

"Assuming everything goes smoothly, we'd like to see a shovel in the ground about 45 days from June 12," borough manager Peter Whipple said.

The stone train station has been closed for almost 30 years, Whipple said, and the borough has been working to find money to renovate it since about 1996.

"It is moving rather rapidly now from the time we were told we were going to get the money. It's been going double or triple speed," Whipple said.

The grants for the project are coming from two different federal programs, with funding authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, federal transportation spokesman Paul Griffo said.

The first grant, for about $7.97 million, will pay for the renovation of the station, installation of elevators, and raising and extending the boarding platforms. The project is expected to take about 15 months.

Ridership at the Amtrak station has nearly doubled in recent years, from 43,637 passengers in the 2003-04 fiscal year to 84,329 in 2007-08, according to PennDOT, the state agency that will be the conduit for the federal funding.

The second grant, for more than $1.41 million, will provide additional off-site parking at an as-yet-undetermined site, Whipple said.

"Very clearly, if our ridership has seen double-digit increases, I shudder to think what a brand-new station will bring," he said.

Whipple attributes the additional ridership to rising gas prices, along with track improvements, more trains and cheaper fares.

Many of the residents of the Elizabethtown area are couples who commute to work in different directions, he said, and they've discovered that the trains are convenient, the schedules reliable and the costs comparable to driving.

Elizabethtown officials anticipate the project will spur business development on the west side of the borough, luring commercial tenants to Masonic Village's Sycamore Square project on the other side of the train tracks from the station.

Even further along than the Elizabethtown train station is a project to renovate the Lancaster train station.

Bids for that project came in back in April about $3.6 million under the $12 million budget.

Those bids are awaiting state approval for award of contract, said David Royer, transportation planning director for Lancaster County.

Groundbreaking for that project could come as early as mid- to late June, Royer said, with completion as early as the end of 2010.

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Dennis Larison is editor of the business section and can be reached by telephone at 291-8753 or by e-mail at dlarison@lnpnews.com.
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