Owned by CDTA Tracks 3 | Platforms 1 island platform Opened 1979 | |
 | ||
Location 332 Erie Boulevard
Schenectady, NY 12305 Line(s) Empire Corridor (Hudson Subdivision) Connections Capital District Transportation Authority Address Schenectady, NY 12305, United States Owner Capital District Transportation Authority Connection Capital District Transportation Authority Similar Albany–Rensselaer station, Saratoga Springs station, Union Station, Amsterdam station, Hudson station | ||
Schenectady is an Amtrak intercity train station in Schenectady, New York. The station is built under the railroad tracks with an elevator and staircase leading to a railway platform between the two tracks. The station is a popular railfan site.
Contents
History
Schenectady Union Station closed in 1969 due to low ridership and was replaced with Colonie-Schenectady near NY-155 several miles to the east in Colonie. The Colonie-Schenectady station was a small building with a parking lot.
In 1979, a new Schenectady station was built on the site of the former Union Station. It was made possible through a partnership among Amtrak, the State of New York and the City of Schenectady. The state funded the rehabilitation of the tracks at $3.9 million, while Amtrak paid two-thirds of the $881,000 cost of the depot with the state covering the rest. The city donated the land. Passengers were able to board at the new station beginning in October 1978, though no customer service agents were present until July 29, 1979, and the station did not fully open until August 8. The new station decimated ridership at Colonie-Schenectady, which was closed on September 9, 1979 to allow trains to operate at full speed between Albany and Schenectady.
Future
A replacement structure known as the Schenectady Intermodal Station is planned to be built on the site of the existing station. It will serve both Amtrak and local transit service. The Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) received a US $4.2 million grant for the construction of the planned structure in October 2010.
By 2014, funding from federal and state sources for the new station had reached $15 million and the CDTA had largely completed design work for a four story station building, though by 2015 it had been scaled down to two stories. Track construction was planned to begin in the spring of 2014, but was delayed until fall, with station construction to go out to bid in 2014 for completion in 2017. In August 2015, the Metroplex Development Authority sold Amtrak 2,400 square feet (220 m2) of parking lot that was intended to allow for construction of a temporary station to begin immediately, followed by the demolition of the 1979 building and construction of the replacement station.
In late March 2016, NYSDOT announced it would seek a second round of bids for building the new station, after the only bid from the first round was $24.9 million, far more than the budgeted $14.6 million. The decision delayed the estimated opening of the new facility to sometime in 2018. NYSDOT then paid a contractor $900,000 to redesign the station to reduce costs. In July 2016, NYSDOT announced that it would divide the project into two contracts for rebidding. Demolition of the existing station, along with repairs to the viaduct, will be bid in September 2016. Amtrak will provide a temporary station. Construction of the replacement station will be bid in Fall 2017 for completion at the end of 2018.
Station layout
The station has one low-level island platform. An additional track exists east of Track 2, which does not serve the station nor carry revenue passenger service.