Louise M. Slaughter Rochester Station
Rochester is a station on the Empire Corridor (Empire Service) Amtrak line, located in Rochester, New York.
All trains currently use the platform adjacent to the station building, meaning both eastbound and westbound trains must switch to the southern track. This can cause conflicts with other passenger and freight trains and lead to delays. The current station building in place is a temporary station until the new station is completed in 2017.
The current station does not have high-level platforms, meaning passengers must climb several steps to board trains.
History
This station site in Rochester has a long history of train stations. The first major Rochester station was built in 1905 by the New York Central Railroad. That station would be demolished and replaced in 1914 by a more famous New York Central station designed by Claude Fayette Bragdon.[2] The 1914 station was mostly demolished in 1965 after a sale to private owners except for the run down westernmost portion which served as the station in the interim which was demolished to make way for the 1978 Amtrak facility. The 1978 structure was an Amshack style station that long outdated was demolished in late 2015 to make way for the current station being constructed.[3]
The passenger, baggage tunnels and platform canopy of the original 1914 building were the last remaining remnants of the previous 1914 station however the tunnels were recently filled in during the construction of the new station, the westernmost part of the canopy remains.
Future
The construction of a new multimodel transit center is currently underway set to be opened by 2017. The project has been allocated by The City of Rochester, State of New York, and Amtrak US$26.5 million (later US$29.5 million) for construction, and broke ground on October, 28th 2014.[4] [5] The new two floor station will be designed to look like the original 1914 station and will be updated with raised center platforms with a tunnel underneath the tracks connecting the tunnel with the station building.[6] The new station will also allocate parking for Greyhound and Trailways buses, which currently stop at a temporary facility across the street, and will be built with accommodations for the possible high-speed rail service on the corridor in mind. [4]
Service
The following trains stop at Rochester multiple times each day, for a total of eight daily departures:
Immigration Checkpoint
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents[7] board the trains at Rochester and inquire of the passengers their citizenship and right to be in the US. Those passengers who cannot suitably prove their right to be in the US will be removed from the train and taken into custody. Although the law is that these encounters are "consensual conversations[8]" and that you can tell the agent you do not wish to talk to him or to answer any questions, the more aggressive agents will take this refusal to be "probable cause[9]" for removal from the train and detention, no matter your citizenship and/or immigration status.
References
- ^ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2015, State of New York" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2015. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
- ^ http://www.rochester.lib.ny.us/rochimag/architecture/LostRochester/NYCRR/NYCRR.html
- ^ Rochester, New York (ROC) Great American Stations (Amtrak)
- ^ a b Orr, Steve (October 29, 2014). "Ground broken for Amtrak station". Democrat & Chronicle. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
- ^ "Officials will break ground on Rochester train station in August". Democrat and Chronicle. April 3, 2013. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
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- ^ "Officials will break ground on Rochester train station in August". Democrat and Chronicle. April 3, 2013. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
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- ^ "Border Sweeps in North Reach Miles Into U.S.," by Nina Bernstein (New York Times: August 29, 2010)
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
External links
Media related to Rochester Station at Wikimedia Commons
- Rochester, NY – Amtrak
- Rochester, NY – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
- New York Central Railroad Station, Rochester
- Rochester Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide – Train Web)
- Intermodel Transportation Center DOT Project
- Intermodel Transportation Center DOT preliminary Project
- Rochester, NY (ROC) (Amtrak's Great American Stations)