Author: Randalle Reade
Proposal: Have the NFTA sell the maintenance yards at the old DL&W terminal and move them to the Central Terminal, restore the Central Terminal Amtrak service, and extend the LRRT to the Airport. This will tie all the region’s major transportation hubs together with downtown and Larkinville.
Costs: TBD. However, by using primarily existing railroad right of ways and existing infrastructure, this proposal could be implemented fairly quickly and cheaply, more so than other grand proposals.
Project: NFTA Yards – Currently the NFTA maintenance yards for the LRRT trains is located at the old DL&W terminal at the foot of Main Street. In recent years, this part of downtown has become a highly sought after place for business development and recreation. It no longer makes sense to cut off prime waterfront property for a utility service.
Moreover, that land is far to valuable now for mere maintenance service. The yards can be sold at a premium to private developers, opening it up for many more workers, tourists and visitors.
NFTA can then use the funds from selling the property to rehab the baggage storage areas at the Central Terminal. This way, the maintenance is out of the public way and off of land that can be used to higher purpose. Part of the funds from the sale could be used as seed money for a full restoration of the Central Terminal.
Amtrak Stations: Currently, Amtrak operates two Buffalo areas stations, one at Depew and one downtown at Exchange Street. Exchange Street is rarely used, and is only suitable for trains traveling to and from Niagara Falls and Toronto. The Depew station is the de facto Buffalo train station for all other passenger service.
According to the most recent statistics available, the Depew station had 126,200 passengers, and Exchange Street had 41,200 in 2014. That is a total of 167,400 passengers.
Amtrak has been experiencing a steady rise in passenger service in recent years, and several trains have been sold out. Both stations are inadequate to handle this large number of passenger service. Worse, the Depew station can only allow boarding from a single track, resulting in enormous inconvenience to the freight trains that run on the same lines. As both freight and passenger service increase in coming decades, this will become a more intractable problem. Eventually the Depew station will need to be rebuilt so that passengers can board on different tracks.
Although Amtrak will only move back to the Central Terminal if it is restored, it may be persuaded if a solid restoration program, with seed money backing it is in place.
With regular train service reestablished at the Central Terminal, it would service at least 170,000 passengers per year. However, that does not count the many friends and relatives who wait at the station for an arriving train or see the passengers depart. If picking up a family member, most people will have to wait in the Terminal until the train actually arrives. Therefore, it is quite possible that the number of people walking in the doors of the Terminal could be double that. If 300,000 people pass through its doors, that is an average of about 820 per day as a starting point.
Additionally, the Terminal is often visited by tourists, and serves as part of Dyngus Day celebrations and volunteer meetups. If one puts together all the train traffic, the NFTA maintenance yards, the tourists, the volunteers, and other visitors, it becomes clear that the Terminal can be a hub of activity supporting at least one lunch counter or restaurant, and perhaps even a pub. That would pay rent to the Terminal, helping with restoration efforts.
Transportation Issues: With passenger service restored to the Central Terminal but eliminated at Exchange Street, there should be a way to connect passengers to downtown. If the NFTA has its maintenance yards at the Terminal, however, it would already have Metro service directly to the Terminal. Therefore, passengers would be able to disembark from the Terminal, and the board the LRRT and ride to downtown, or all the way to UB’s South Campus.
This line also passes through the revitalized Larkinville. Naturally, a metro stop would service that growing area.
Finally, the Buffalo Niagara International Airport is not very far from the Central Terminal. A railroad right of way still exists almost right to the airport terminal. NFTA could build the Metro line out to the airport without having to acquire any additional right of ways. This way, airport passengers could board a Metro and go directly to the Central Terminal, Larkinville, downtown and all the way to the South Campus.
Conclusion: This proposal’s strengths are that it uses only already existing right of ways and existing infrastructure to unite the major transportation hubs of the Buffalo region. It has the added benefit of tying the growing Larkinville to downtown, and will improve ridership on the entire Metro line. It has the added benefit of helping to create real economic activity at the Central Terminal, which we hope will spill over to the surrounding area. The cost ratio to impact is huge — we need no large scale projects such as a new train terminal, or whole new rail lines, and yet so much can be accomplished. It infringes upon no one’s existing property rights and also adds greatly to the waterfront for business development.
Image: Central Terminal