The Queen Street entrance to the Lancaster train station will remain open.

An Amtrak official announced Tuesday that the passenger rail provider will withdraw its proposal to close the Queen Street entrance and maintain current traffic patterns at the station.

Marilyn Jemison, a senior director in Amtrak's department of major project partnerships, policy and development, said she personally will attend the city Traffic Commission meeting on Jan. 8 to officially withdraw the proposal.

The decision came during a meeting of the Lancaster Train Station Advisory Committee, a group of public officials, business leaders, Amtrak personnel and transportation consultants who meet every other month to discuss and review ongoing work at the station.

Amtrak unveiled the proposal to block the Queen Street entrance and turn it into an exit onto McGovern Avenue, forcing all traffic to enter from McGovern Avenue further to the East.

The change was necessary, an Amtrak police official told the city Traffic Commission members last month, because longer intercity buses using the station could no longer make the turns through the parking lot in order to reach the bus bays.

The traffic pattern was designed to accommodate 40-foot long buses used by Capitol Trailways. However, that company went out of business and was acquired by Bieber Bus Service  in Kutztown, which uses 45-foot long buses.

Drivers for Bieber contended they could not negotiate turns through the employee parking lot east of the station  to reach the bays and instead began entering the station at Queen Street and unloading passengers at the taxi stand across from the front door.

This caused problems, Amtrak police said, because the buses tied up traffic and forced passengers to walk across the roadway and through traffic to enter the station.

The Amtrak proposal called for all traffic to access the station through  the eastern McGovern Avenue entrance and exit at Queen Street, forcing closure of the Queen Street entrance.

That proposal was not well-received at the Lancaster County Transportation Coordinating Committee meeting on Nov. 26 and became a hot topic during Tuesday's advisory committee meeting.

James Cowhey, executive director of the Lancaster County Planning Commission, opened the discussion by noting that "an important issue for the local community is internal circulation at the station."

In addition to the concern about closing the Queen Street entrance, Cowhey said, "We now have the use of the bus canopies by taxis and the taxi canopy by buses.

"We spent $400,000 on those canopies and now they're taxi stands."

Cowhey also expressed dismay at the lack of advance notice by Amtrak regarding the proposal. He also wondered why it was taken directly to the city Traffic Commission.

Jemison explained that Amtrak police, who are responsible for enforcing  traffic flow at the station, had been getting complaints about the buses and had talked to Lancaster city  police about the problem.

Together, she said, they devised the proposal as a possible solution.

"It got confusing," Jemison said, and noted that she, too, was "concerned that we did not get the opportunity to discuss it."

On behalf of Amtrak, she said, "We apologize for the way in which this was communicated."

County planners had devised a possible solution to the traffic pattern problem with a change that would have forced reconstruction of curbing to allow for a wider turning radius. The cost of the work was estimated at $6,500.

But people at the committee meeting did not believe the change was necessary.

Dino Mandros, a member of both the city Traffic Commission and the county Transportation Coordinating

Committee, said he travels to New York City by bus and drivers are forced to negotiate even sharper turns in the basement at the Port Authority.

"I think the problem is that the [Bieber] drivers need to be trained in how to drive to the canopies," he said.

Mandros also said he was certain the traffic commission would deny the Amtrak proposal in January.

Linda Frankel, Amtrak's director of real estate development for the greater Philadelphia area, agreed that drivers, and not the turning area, is the problem. She and Mandros then volunteered to meet with Bieber officials to discuss the situation.

Weighing the options of funding a project to reconfigure the parking lot to make it easier to negotiate or training bus drivers on how to handle the current layout, Matt Leonard, regional manager of Sen. Robert P. Casey's Harrisburg office said, "I would be opposed to spending any public dollars if it's just a matter of educating the drivers."

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey and U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts had weighed in on the issue, objecting to Amtrak's proposal to change the traffic pattern.

Following Tuesday's announcement, Sen. Toomey said in a news release, "I'm so glad Amtrak has agreed to work with Lancaster officials to alleviate the traffic congestion. Their timely response is much appreciated. Hopefully, the people of Lancaster and the passengers using the station will not be inconvenienced for long."

Rep. Pitts added, "I'm pleased that Amtrak responded quickly to our call for a commuter-friendly solution to the traffic problems around the station.  The renovation project has already been an ordeal for rail passengers and these changes need to be completed quickly to minimize any further disruption."

Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray, a vocal opponent of the original proposal, offered tempered praise.

"I'm happy but I'll be a lot happier when the renovations are done," he said. "When people get off the train, the interior still presents an image of Lancaster that we don't want and don't deserve.

"The fact that we are dealing with issues like this [traffic patterns at the station] instead of devoting time and resources to finish the renovations is disgraceful."

In the end, however, whether or not the buses can make the turns will soon become a moot point, said Amtrak's Brad Webber.

"PennDOT has said it is going to use part of the parking lot for construction equipment while they are rebuilding the Lititz Pike bridge, so the buses will not be able to use the canopies at all," Webber said.

Consequently, the buses will be forced to unload and load passengers in front of the station for the two-year duration of that project. Bridge work is expected to start as soon as February.

The proposal to close Queen Street would have served as a temporary solution until the buses could once again use the lot, and the canopies.

"I don't like them out front," Webber said. "We all want them to use the bus canopy."

csmedley@lnpnews.com