Passenger Trains > Amtrak to renovate Camden SC train station, grounds

Amtrak to renovate Camden train station, grounds
Chronicle-Independent.com
July 24, 2014

> After decades of requests from residents and years of negotiation
> with city officials, Amtrak is announcing that it will renovate its
> station in Camden and the surrounding property. Work will begin Aug.
> 4, and -- according JarVor Williams, an Amtrak construction engineer
> overseeing the project -- make the facility compliant with the U.S.
> Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
>
> Williams, and Amtrak Director of Government Affairs Todd Stennis,
> appeared with other colleagues at a Camden City Council work session
> Tuesday afternoon, all of whom mentioned that they had recently
> “acquired” Camden as one the station in their territory.
>
> After a brief introduction from Stennis, Williams spoke first,
> thanking the city for recently completed work making improvements to
> the entrance to the station off West DeKalb Street at Chesnut Ferry
> Road Ext...
>
> ...He said work on the building will meet the station’s “historical
> aspects,” in an attempt to make it as “close to perfect as the
> station was originally built to.”
>
> He said CSX Railroad, which actually owns the property, has already
> been contacted about the project. Williams also gave an estimate of
> September 30 for the first phase of work to be completed.
>
> At that point, Williams said, Amtrak plans to move on to the
> interior of the station in an attempt to make the facility ADA
> compliant.
>
> “We’ll start from the parking lot,” he said. “It’s basically going
> to encompass … accessibility from the parking lot to the platform,
> from the platform into the station, from the station into the
> restrooms, back out and, obviously, on to the train.”
>
> Part of that project, Williams said, will renovate the restrooms,
> making them ADA compliant as well.
>
> “Essentially, an entire gutting of the of the interior that’s
> currently in use in order to meet ADA compliance,” Williams said...
>
> ...Williams noted that a small patch of area that needs to be paved
> is not included in either phase, but that Amtrak “will have it
> completed” once the entire project is done.
>
> “Prior to us walking away from this project, the paving will be
> complete, the accessibility from the parking lot … will be complete,
> the restrooms, the access, the roof, canopy, floors and windows will
> be complete. And we should have us a beautiful station restored back
> to ‘like new,’” he said.
>
> Stennis...explained why it has taken so long for Amtrak to get around
> to fixing up the Camden station.
>
> “We’re making an investment in a building that we don’t own,” he
> said. “At the end of the day, the structure is still owned by CSX.
> What everybody needs to understand is that … when you have a limited
> amount of resources, you literally have to pick and choose where to
> spend those dollars in each respective fiscal year. We’re certainly
> glad to be in a position to be able to do it here in Camden, now.”

Full story:

Amtrak to renovate Camden train station, grounds

Good to see, I suppose, even though the average passenger count per train is only 5. Of course, 91/92 call in the middle of the night, and the current station has no restrooms, no pay phone, and no ticket kiosk. But it does have a parking lot (paved, more or less) and a covered platform. Camden itself is tiny but Kershaw County has 60,000 residents.

Conspicuously absent from the news item is any mention of SCDOT.

I think what's driving the project is the ADA mandate.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/14 10:02 by GenePoon.

I hope they are going to keep the platform canopy.

As a Camden resident, I'm glad to see this project move forward. The city owns the entrance and park like setting along the long driveway to the station. This has been repaved, attractive lighting installed, as well as landscaped. CSX owns the station and track side property. While the station is structurally sound with its brick construction, all the trim needs to be replaced/repainted, and the canopy has to be almost totally redone as it's close to collapse. The restroom is used when the station is unlocked prior to train time but the entire interior needs to be redone. It was also agreed that the station/canopy work will be restoration rather than replacement. While small, the station is architecturally significant (has Historic Register status), built in the mid 1930's, and was designed by the architect who worked on the Williamsburg, VA station. That is appropriate since both cities have a strong colonial heritage.

It would be nice,though, if train service would revert back to its schedule in the late 60's with service north and south in the early evening. No doubt that will have to wait for the faster transit times when/if the Seaboard line in NC is restored as part of SEHSR.

Assuming any of us lives long enough to see SEHSR in operation, I don't expect the train times for 91 and 92 at CAM to change much. 91 would probably depart NYP when it does now; it would just get to CAM at (roughly) 11 pm instead of 1 am. 92's schedule might not change at all. If 97 and 98 are rerouted via Columbia -- don't get too excited about that possibility -- then 98 would reach CAM at roughly 11 pm and 97 in the middle of the night.

I run this line, cant believe we are going to dump $$$ into this stop. Its hardly worth an Amshack yet alone a full station. Guess ADA requirements trumps all....

KV1guy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I run this line, cant believe we are going to dump
> $$$ into this stop. Its hardly worth an Amshack
> yet alone a full station. Guess ADA requirements
> trumps all....

One of the provisions of ADA is that if federal money is going to be used on any remodeling or updating of an existing facility, it has to be compliant with the rules at the end of the process. Ironically, it may cause some places to be shut down rather than bring them to minimum standards.

Which doesn't help disabled people, elderly folks, etc. Just makes the service even less accessible and farther away.

Even when a station is on the national list of historic places, there's a whole work around that has to be deployed to make the station compliant.