Passenger Trains > New Amtrak Platform at Tyrone, PA

New platform open at Tyrone, PA. First photo shows the temporary boarding platform, about 5 feet wide, crews had 
a challenge stopping on the mark to align the steps with the platform. New platform is poured concrete, new shelter, 
wheelchair loader shed. Very handicap accessible with ramps. Old shelter supposed to be used for a greyhound stop
about 500 feet north of the stop. 

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Not sure why the program is flipping the photos upside down.

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A few more shots

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Thanks for posting these photos.  My original hometown is State College and several times my parents dropped me off here when I traveled by Amtrak.

Several of the photos illustrate what I consider to be a sad irony.  In the background is a building which is designed to look like a railroad depot, but it does not provide any station function.  Instead, it is the Tyrone Historical Society Museum open on Wednesdays and Sundays from 1:00 - 4:00 pm.  Rather than spend the money for a separate shelter, the platform could have been extended to the museum building and, perhaps, arrangements could have been made to allow waiting passengers to use the building as is done in Lewistown and Greensburg.

I know it's not ideal, but would it have been problematic to have the platform on a curve?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/21 20:41 by RuleG.

Why does look dirty already and garbage on the ground??

Im not big on suburban bus shelters  for  intercity train stations.   Building in conjunctiuoin with what looks like a previous station, would have been nicer, IMHO.

Be nice if there was a Thruway van to State College to meet the trains. This place is as desolate as Borie, WY. 

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Be nice if there was a Thruway van to State
> College to meet the trains. This place is as
> desolate as Borie, WY. 

Yes.

Years ago, the Fullington Trailways ran a connecting bus up to State College.  I believe it was through ticketed for a while

pdt Wrote:
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> Im not big on suburban bus shelters  for 
> intercity train stations.  

In Europe, many stations don't have a waiting room, or much of one, because you go to the station at the time that your train is supposed to be there and it is there. We don't have that luxury in the US.

TAW

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Be nice if there was a Thruway van to State
> College to meet the trains. This place is as
> desolate as Borie, WY. 

No it isn't.  Tyrone is far more populated and developed than Borie.  Tyrone's main street, Pennsylvania Avenue, leads directly to the station.  Along Pennsylvania Avenue is the post office, the public library, a hardware store, barber shop, eateries and other businesses typically found on main streets in small towns.  On either side of the main street are residences.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> joemvcnj Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Be nice if there was a Thruway van to State
> > College to meet the trains. This place is as
> > desolate as Borie, WY. 
>
> Yes.
>
> Years ago, the Fullington Trailways ran a
> connecting bus up to State College.  I believe it
> was through ticketed for a while

Greyhound's State College - Pittsburgh local route serves Tyrone.  When I rode that route in my younger days to Altoona or Pittsburgh, the stop was at some small business on Pennsylvania Avenue in Downtown Tyrone.  I just checked the Greyhound website and saw that the stop is now shown as the Tyrone Historical Society building which I lamented above!

So now, there are two different intercity modes serving the same location, but no interior space for transferring passengers to wait!
 

RuleG Wrote:
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> So now, there are two different intercity modes
> serving the same location, but no interior space
> for transferring passengers to wait!

The left hand frequently does not know what the right hand is doing and vice versa. Missed chances for betterment are numerous.

Worse still, the entities with the position & power to make intelligent, civic-spirited plans that avoid such chaotic waste in the final product don't seem to care about the damage they inflict, or even realize that they could make things better than they are. These glaring mis-steps are really demoralizing.

anthracite Wrote:
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> RuleG Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So now, there are two different intercity modes
> > serving the same location, but no interior
> space
> > for transferring passengers to wait!
>
> The left hand frequently does not know what the
> right hand is doing and vice versa. Missed chances
> for betterment are numerous.
>
> Worse still, the entities with the position &
> power to make intelligent, civic-spirited plans
> that avoid such chaotic waste in the final product
> don't seem to care about the damage they inflict,
> or even realize that they could make things better
> than they are. These glaring mis-steps are really
> demoralizing.

The funding for these efforts likely comes from different buckets, with different objectives.

It would be interesting to know how many people use the bus and train, and if any connect modes.

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> The funding for these efforts likely comes from
> different buckets, with different objectives.
>

...and those are guarded by the owner of the funds. It is so frustrating to work on a multi-agency project that is blowing money because of my money, their money. Corporate America works the same way. Set up fiefdoms with supreme rulers who see to it that they succeed at others' expense. It's not US it's ME.

TAW

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Be nice if there was a Thruway van to State
> College to meet the trains.

From direct experience, I can tell you that offering $10 in gas money will make it very easy to find a ride between State College and your Amtrak stop of choice, be it Tyrone or Lewistown.

But yeah, it would be nice if there was a scheduled service connecting to the trains...AMTRAN in Altoona offers free rides systemwide to anyone with a Penn State ID, which makes it real easy to get to that campus.

Former Congressman Bud Shuster was a major player in securing federal transportation money to fund construction of the Tyrone History Museum.  As one of the most powerful elected officials in the transportation arena at the time, he should have insisted that the museum building including provisions for train and bus travelers.

Neither Bud Shuster, nor his son Bill are Congressmen any more.  However, PennDOT provides funding for the Pennsylvanian and I believe it also, through a federal program, supports operation of the Greyhound local service linking Harrisburg, State College and Pittsburgh.  Maybe there's a role for PennDOT to play.

PennDOT seems content to run their one train west of Harrisburg, subsidize some intercity buses, puts some Greyhound schedules in the Amtrak timetable, maybe combine the train and bus depot into one facility in some places, and that's about it for coordination. You  are on your own. There is not much consideration for "first mile" or "last mile" access to major offline points to make the rail service more useful, such as to Williamsport, State College, or Monroeville.