Rochester station (New York)

Rochester
An eastbound Empire Service pulling into Rochester
Location	320 Central Avenue Rochester, NY 14605
Coordinates	43°09′49″N 77°36′30″W / 43.1635°N 77.6082°W / 43.1635; -77.6082Coordinates: 43°09′49″N 77°36′30″W / 43.1635°N 77.6082°W / 43.1635; -77.6082
Owned by	Amtrak
Line(s)	Empire Corridor
Platforms	1 side platform (formerly also had 3 island platforms)
Tracks	2 (formerly 8)
Bus operators	RGRTA routes 37/37x Clinton and 41/41X Joseph Greyhound lines (planned) Trailways (planned)
Construction
Parking	Yes; free
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	ROC
History
Opened	Original depot: 1914 Amtrak facility: 1978
Rebuilt	2017 (Expected)
Traffic
Passengers (2015)	136,861[1]  2%
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station Buffalo-Depew toward Niagara Falls, NY Empire Service Syracuse toward New York City New York State Fair (Open only during the New York State Fair) toward New York City Buffalo–Depew toward Chicago Lake Shore Limited Syracuse toward New York City or Boston South Station Buffalo-Depew toward Toronto Maple Leaf Syracuse toward New York City New York State Fair (Open only during the New York State Fair) toward New York City   Former services   New York Central Railroad Cold Water toward Chicago Water Level Route East Rochester toward New York City Otis toward Niagara Falls Niagara Falls – Rochester Terminus Elmgrove toward Niagara Falls Falls Road Terminus Rochester – Oswego Otis toward Oswego Auburn Road Brighton toward Syracuse

Rochester is a station on the Empire Corridor (Empire Service) Amtrak line, located in Rochester, New York.

All trains currently use a temporary 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 temporary station does not have high-level platforms, meaning passengers must climb several steps to board trains.

History

Rochester has a long history of train stations. The first major Rochester station was built in 1845 by the New York Central Railroad on Mill Street by High Falls.

New York Central Railroad station, 1905 (Pre-1914 Bragdon) Rochester, N.Y.

In the 1880's the railroad tracks were elevated (having previously been at grade) and the station was relocated to the east side of the Genesee River close to the modern site on Central Avenue at St. Paul Street.

The 1914 New York Central Station in Rochester, New York.

That station would be demolished and replaced in 1914 at the modern site by the more famous New York Central station designed by Claude Fayette Bragdon. At the time the city of Rochester had four major train stations, The New York Central station, the since demolished Erie Railroad Depot, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Station that currently houses Dinosaur Bar-B-Que and the Rochester terminal of the Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh Railway which currently houses Nick Tahou Hots.^[2] The station often referred to as Bragdon Station was four stores with three high arching windows reminiscent of train driving wheels and a main room that was reminiscent of New York’s Grand Central Station complete with arched ceilings and a lunch counter. The station was seen as one of Bragdon's greatest architectural accomplishments. As was the case with several large union stations of the era with falling revenues and high maintenance costs and taxes of such a large facility the station was sold by the New York Central Railroad in 1959 to a private owner.

In a move that is largely considered today to have been a mistake the famed 1914 station was mostly demolished in 1965 after the sale to private owners except for the run down westernmost portion which served as the station in the interim (with the ticket sales at the entrance to the passenger tunnel). That section was demolished to make way for the 1978 Amtrak facility. The 1978 structure was an Amshack style station that was long outdated by the time it 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 to survive. The tunnels, long forgotten were re-discovered during initial surveying work for the currently under construction station.^[4] During construction of the new station the tunnels were filled in as part of the construction of a new tunnel for the 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.^{[5] [6]} The new two floor station is being designed to look like the original 1914 station and will have a high-level center island platform serving two tracks in each direction for Amtrak with two others on either side in each direction for freight traffic pass by. The platform will be connected to the station building via a tunnel underneath the tracks.^[6] The station will also contain a retail stand

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. ^[5] Rochester's station is being built at the same time as a new station in Niagara Falls.

Service

Mixed coaches in service in 2002

Amtrak

The following trains stop at Rochester multiple times each day, for a total of eight daily departures:

• Lake Shore Limited: two trains daily between Boston, New York City, and Chicago
• Empire Service (Amtrak): two eastbounds to Pennsylvania Station (New York City) and two westbound to Niagara Falls, NY.
• Maple Leaf (Amtrak/VIA): one eastbound to Pennsylvania Station (New York City) and one westbound to Union Station (Toronto).

Bus Connections

Intercity

The station is across the street from the Greyhound/Trailways station and phase 2 of the new station is to include the buses.

Public Transit

RGRTA service includes

• 37/37x Clinton
• 41/41X Joseph

All buses go to the nearby RTS Transit Center.

Immigration Checkpoint

In 2010 U.S. Border Patrol agents ^[7] boarded the trains at Rochester station and asked passengers for details of their citizenship. At that time passengers who were not able to suitably prove their right to be in the U.S. could have been removed from the train and taken into custody.

References

External links

Media related to Rochester Station at Wikimedia Commons

• Amtrak – Stations – Rochester, NY
• 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)