Central Terminal in the News
From today’s Buffalo News:
Plan train station now
High-speed rail connection won’t work without a properly considered terminalSpending billions of dollars to get people to Buffalo more quickly will be a big and embarrassing waste unless the plan also includes a way to get those people into Buffalo just as easily.
That’s why the joy understandably felt by those who see Buffalo’s stately Central Terminal as the anchor of this end of a planned high-speed rail system for the Empire State cannot be swallowed whole by a responsible community.
Yes, the Central Terminal is a legacy of the glory days, not only of Buffalo, but of rail travel in general. Yes, it is a horrible shame to see it stand there, at the end of Paderewski Drive, with so little to do, despite the best efforts of Terminal lovers who have attracted successful community events and continually sing its praises.
But the point is to make Buffalo a more successful community by improving its connections to Albany and, via Albany, New York City. We would surely be derailing that effort if we deposited these hasty visitors in a building, historic though it may be, that sits in the middle of a snarl of railroad tracks, in a lonely neighborhood that misses passenger rail even more than the Terminal does, without a quick way to move them, just as quickly, into downtown Buffalo or the other places they might be bound for.
Solve that by, say, simultaneously extending the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority’s Metro Rail service to the Central Terminal, and it could be a different story.
Properly planned and connected, high-speed rail service to Buffalo’s Central Terminal could help the city a lot and the East Side Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood tremendously. Like an airport, it could become the hub of redevelopment projects such as hotels, restaurants, car rental offices, parking ramps, etc.
Such planning needs to be under way quickly, at least as quickly as planning for the overall rail system goes. Without it, it would make more sense for the new rail service to head straight for downtown Buffalo, to a newly built terminal that would be more accommodating than the tiny station on Exchange Street and, admittedly, less awe-inspiring than the Central Terminal.
Because that’s where people will want and need to go.
April 6th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Nice to have the News telling public officials to get off the dime on the planning for this. That’s especially so with canalside advancing — that intermodal link at Main St. between passenger rail and MetroRail will be key to linking the Terminal into the system, and needs to be part of the canalside planning before things get too far along.
April 6th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Honestly, I see no issue with the location in regard to getting people to and from the city. If the airport can be all the way in Cheektowaga and require no light rail transportation, the Central Terminal certainly doesn’t need it. I understand where this person is coming from, and I think it would be great to have something like that as an option to those coming from NYC… but to drop the whole plan and build new (which has been the main problem contributing to the economic and social demise of Buffalo from day one) would be hasty and poorly received. I know if I were to come from NYC, I’d love to enter through Buffalo Central Terminal, a building with as much beauty, majesty and history as Grand Central… and not some pathetic little modern new build closer to downtown.
April 6th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Until something definite is decided upon as far as linking downtown to the terminal by rail is concerned, shuttle bus service between the terminal to and from downtown is a viable and flexible means of connecting them in the meantime. And also between the ternminal to and from other locations around the Buffalo area.
We’d all like to see the tracks come back, but it’s important to remember that as an intermodal hub, commercial development can proceed at the terminal beforehand. Once the commercial end of the terminal gets going, and occupants of the terminal bring it to the point of being economically self-sustaining, it will give incentive to the powers that be to take a good hard look at the merits and benefits of providing the rail connection. Becoming economically self-sustaining is still a ways off, but the terminal needs to become a working, functioning facility again, not just a tourist attraction. That in and of itself will bring interest in a possible rail connection.
April 6th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Buffalo really is a driving city. When people fly into Buffalo Niagara Airport, then do not get onto a light rail. They rent a vehicle and drive to their destination or they park at the airport and fly to their destination. Bus service and car rental would be MOST important. Also, as somebody who would like to take the train to new you, a secure parking lot where I could keep my vehicle would be a top priority.
April 6th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
That being said, the BCT would be a good place for the rail.
April 8th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
The infrastructure is already there for shuttle buses, taxicabs and rental cars. It wouldn’t involve a substantial investment in installing and maintaining tracks and purchasing equipment when the community isn’t yet ready for it. To jump the gun and put tracks in sounds like what happened to Rochester’s ill-fated ferry to Toronto a few years ago. The ferry terminal sits mostly empty now with ideas, but nothing concrete to bring it to life again. Who would be responsible for the maintenance of way? A lot of taxpayers might have a problem if that was decided over their heads and they never use the rail connection. Private carriers could be contracted, but if they wanted exclusive access, they would have to earn it, not ‘cut a deal with management’, like the Van Dyke Cab Company did with the NYCRR.
April 8th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Besides, until the commercial development at BCT gets started, the average commuter would be limited access to only the main concourse and front entrances, until other parts of the building are certified ’safe’ after renovations are completed. Before any rail infrastructure is re-introduced, several parts of the facility must be up and running, to give those folks something to do while they’re there waiting for their ride from the terminal to their destination. Any other way would be like building a bridge to nowhere. First must come commerce, then later, rail, once things get established. (The legacy of Rochester’s failed ‘Fast Ferry’ is still leaving a bad taste in the mouths of taxpayers in the Rochester area to this day!)
April 11th, 2009 at 1:05 am
I couldnt disagree more with some of the short sighted comments. Let me explain:
However, discussions need to be made with CSX for right of way usage within the Beltway and Airport Corridor and thats going to be very very drawn out, as it may require turning the reconstructing the track along the dismantled NYCentral but in all fairness…the International Railway Bridge to Canada is in severe need of replacement which would necessitate a rethinking of freight rail along this route to Canada from the Central Terminal and the southern routes.
1) There are actually two existing train stations in Buffalo. The first is the DL&W (missing its concourse but easily reconstructed and would extend canalside all the way to Michigan but even so it cant return to being a passenger rail center but it could make a great dock for great lakes cruise ships and light rail hub). The second is the Central Terminal.
2) The Exchange Street Station was never a desired even in its day because trains could not pass thru. They had to pull into the station and then back out. It would hardly be appreciated today more than it was in the past.
3) Downtown needs density. An exchange street station is going to accomplish nothing but a million plus terminal and a million plus parking garage. Plus it still leaves all the lancaster, airport, galleria, larkin district and ECC downtown traffic unconnected. Leaving these growth centers unconnected continues the devastating disconnect to downtown that is hardly outwayed by a new exchange street station.
4) Yup, bringing passenger rail back to the Central Terminal would change the entire dynamic of the eastside. Combining the Central Terminal passenger rail with a (relocated from downtown) combined Central Terminal Bus Station would have an even larger impact. Add in a Light Rail Connection with an transfer to either the Galleria, Airport, Lancaster Corridor or a reactivated Beltway to Buffalo State, Culturals, D’Youville University, HealthNow and the impact would be ENORMOUS!
5) OF COURSE THE BIGGIST SHORT TERM IMPACT WOULD BE MOVING THE NFTA OFFICES INTO THE CENTRAL TERMINAL TOWER OR BAGGAGE BUILDING.
6) LETS ALSO NOT FORGET THAT THE NFTA MAY NEED AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE CURRENT MAINTENANCE SHEDS AT THE DL&W OR TO RELOCATE THEM. THE ONLY OTHER LOCATION IS THE CENTRAL TERMINAL.
7) The NFTA has already recommissioned their consultants to update their study on the viability of extending the Light Rail. Of that study, the airport corridor has always been #1
9) The bridge to the Passenger Concourse would have to be reconstructed and the existing track bed lowered and thats going to require its own set of complicated negotiations with CSX.
ON THE WHOLE…THE CENTRAL TERMINAL FITS SUPREMELY IN JUSTIFYING LIGHT RAIL, PASSENGER RAIL, FREIGHT RAIL, BUS, PARKNRIDE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN WAYS THAT A DOWNTOWN STATION AT EXCHANGE COULD NEVER EVER REMOTELY ACCOMPLISH.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:20 am
If the Central Terminal could get commitments from the NFTA and the GBNRTC to sign on as long term tenants, then they could get a developer for the Central Terminal Tower, Mail and Baggage Buildings.
Another thought, if downtown Buffalo really wants to redevelop the DL&W then the Central Terminal is the only alternative location for the DL&W maintenance sheds.
Another thought, the Central Terminal is also a great location to move the downtown Bus Terminal if it were reactivated as a passenger rail center and was light rail accessible.
3 more things to consider.
April 13th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
No matter how you look at it, it’s a twisted mess of bureaucratic red tape. Central Terminal is the best location for the proposed intermodal hub! Let’s hope that all parties involved will give it favorable consideration.