What will the Lancaster Amtrak Station look like after its $14.2 million renovation?

From the inside, apparently, much the same as it looked before work began two years ago: shabby, worn-down, in need of a facelift.

On Monday, workers outside the station were preparing the parking lot and a new driveway to McGovern Avenue for paving.

But inside, paint still peeled on the walls and plaster crumbled on the ceiling.

Based on the dates scratched into the scarred wooden benches, they have not been refinished since at least 1987.

And fans blew the humid air around in the concourse, which did not get the air conditioning newly installed in other parts of the 82-year-old station.

"It's really disheartening. … A lot of us thought when this was starting that it was really going to be something," Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray said.

James Cowhey, the Lancaster County Planning Commission chairman, said interior refinishing — the areas most seen by the public — were left out of the specifications for the renovation project.

And so a new study of the station is being launched, in part to list the things that still need to be fixed.

"Hopefully, this study will be better than the previous studies, because the damn thing should have been done already, with all the money that was spent," the mayor said.

When the current project is completed in five or six months, passengers at the Amtrak station will see an increase of about 60 parking spaces, new railings, lights and paint on the track-side platforms, a new coffee shop inside the station and new sheltered areas for inner-city and local transit buses.

Less-visible improvements include a new roof, new heating and air conditioning systems and working areas for Amtrak employees. Much of that work already has been completed.

Yet the peeling paint will still be there, Cowhey acknowledged Monday to members of the Lancaster County Transportation Coordinating Committee. The multiagency panel approves funding for county transportation projects.

"I think everyone has done the best they can with the original designs," said Cowhey. He noted that the renovation had been more than 10 years in the planning and was in response to decades of deferred maintenance.

Problems were found as work progressed. Some of them, such as damage to the ceiling plaster, became worse as the renovation was done. The building's leaking roof was replaced, but the extensive water damage causes continued deterioration, he said.

Cowhey announced Monday that a new study of the station is being launched. Part of that study, by consultant Michael Baker Associates, will list the "capstone" items that will remain unfinished when the current project is complete.

The Baker study also will include a master plan for the station which will consider such issues as parking needs and how the station fits into redevelopment of the surrounding area.

Circumstances have changed since the renovation was proposed in 1997. Ridership has more than doubled — from 245,349 passengers in fiscal year 1998 to 528,658 this year, newspaper records show.

That has meant more wear and tear on the building and a greater need for parking, Cowhey said.

"No one projected that ridership would go up as it has," he said. "It's a good problem to have."

In the last few months, state Department of Transportation officials also have sought a role in the station project, he said. That follows the urging of Congress that state transportation officials nationwide to take a more active role in Amtrak facilities, Cowhey said.

Cowhey said the Baker study was commissioned with the state about two weeks ago. The first meeting was held last week.

Gray, a committee member, called the station a "jewel" for the city and the county.

He questioned the need for the study and whether it would take into account previous studies done for the project.

The initial low bids for the renovation work were $8.3 million. That number quickly grew to $12 million. After Amtrak tripled its fee for work that its employees did on the building, costs soared to $14.2 million.

It was scheduled to have been completed by spring 2011. It now appears to be about a year behind schedule.

Cowhey said the "capstone" items will include painting, plaster work, refinishing the benches, polishing brass, installing outside bike racks and air conditioning for the concourse area.

He anticipated that work on those items could begin five to six months after the current renovation is complete.

The work would be renewed on a new contract, with more favorable terms for the county, after the dust has settled on the existing work and it is determined how much money remains, Commissioner Scott Martin, the county Transportation Coordinating Committee chairman, said.

Cowhey said he expected the secondary project to cost between $800,000 and $900,000. About $600,000 of that cost would be the work itself and the remainder likely would be planning and design, he said.

Martin noted the contracts for the current project were signed before the current commissioner board took office.

"We all have some disappointment, but we can only control things going forward," Martin said.

bharris@lnpnews.com