(rshsdepot) Greensboro, NC

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

From today's Greensboro News & Record.

Bernie Wagenblast
Editor
Transportation Communications Newsletter
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/

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Amtrak returning service to historic depot


By MATT WILLIAMS

Passenger train service will return to downtown`s historic train station in 
August, leaving behind a tiny building in a freight yard that has greeted 
visitors for decades.

The City Council voted Tuesday to lease the main hall of the former Southern 
Railway station to the state on behalf of Amtrak. The building, known as the 
J. Douglas Galyon Depot, was renovated by the city into a bus station and 
office space.

Officials hope that passenger trains will begin making their stops downtown 
in August.

The centerpiece of the main hall is a 15-foot mural of Southern Railway`s 
passenger network as it was in 1927 when the building opened. This fall, 
presidential hopeful John Kerry held a rally in the space, giving it 
national exposure.

The state will pay $105,000 a year on behalf of Amtrak for the 
16,000-square-foot space. It will also pay for any costs to outfit the 
station for use by the national passenger railroad. Earlier plans had Amtrak 
using a smaller space in the building that once housed the black waiting 
room in the segregated station, saving the main hall for another use.

When the Depot`s renovation was being planned, officials hoped the hall 
would be used by a business or as a theme restaurant.

But the expectation that businesses would flock to the downtown building has 
yet to materialize. Officials hoped that companies would pay market rates 
for the main hall and other space in the building, money that could be used 
to pay for upkeep and utility costs.

So far, the city and regional bus systems, Greyhound, and Amtrak are the 
only tenants, with 40 percent of the building vacant.

The council allowed a model railroad group to use space in one building for 
a nominal rent until a commercial tenant could be found. Renting out the 
building`s signature space to Amtrak may signal that there is little hope of 
finding another tenant.

Mayor Keith Holliday said he reluctantly supported Amtrak`s move to the 
larger space but regretted that it may not get much use from the few people 
who still use the train to travel.

``I`m afraid we`re going to see that big, huge, beautiful hall with 15 to 20 
people a night, but otherwise its going to be empty,`` Holliday said.

Councilman Tom Phillips, who has been a persistent critic of spending 
taxpayer money to renovate the building, said he was merely glad the state 
was willing to pay the city more than $100,000 every year in lease payments.

``Pigs must be flying outside that we`re actually going to get some revenue 
out of this building,`` Phillips said with a laugh .

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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