Some of the new concrete platform at Albany Station has been poured, but much remains to be done.
On Monday I stopped at Albany Station to see how the construction of a raised concrete platform was coming along. Just then Amtrak’s Train 11, the southbound Coast Starlight, pulled in.
Check it out:
In the video you may have noticed the people walking back there to board the train. If they had been in the waiting room or elsewhere near the depot building, they had a long walk.
Trains have been stopping with the passenger cars ending up at the north end of the existing platform because of the construction at the other end.
Work on the new, raised platform started in September 2022. When I asked about it in December, I was told construction would take about a year.
The plan was to do the southern 700 feet of the 1,200-foot platform first, then build the rest after the first segment is finished.
TSE Construction of Jefferson has the platform construction contract. I’ve contacted Amtrak media relations in Oakland to learn more about the contract and the timing. I’ll add those details to the story if and when I hear back. (hh)
What a quaint picture! It looks more like tourists boarding a cruise ship than a regular, still prosperous, passenger service. The amount of time it takes to pour a concrete slab is fitting well with that. Are we going to lose the cute step stools like our newspaper, to history?
I think you better lose the prosperous comment as the government subsidizes Amtrac for billions of dollars. In 2020 Amtrac received $342 million in state subsidies plus it lost another $1.9 billion which was covered by the feds apparently and then was awarded $66 billion in funds from the 2021 infrastructure bill. So to say anything was prosperous about Amtrac is like saying the federal budget is balanced.
If they are “profitable”, why do they get a govt. subsidy?
Sorry, I was trying to draw a line between passenger
services that still break even, and Amtrak.
I am grateful that we still have passenger trains not to mention right here in Albany. I don’t mind a short walk as long as it’s not too much of a longer wait. Still looking forward to taking the Coast Starlight soon to Seattle. Thanks for the update.
Still wish you were in the newspaper bus.