Amtrak Completes $3.5M Huntingdon Station Improvements

USA: Amtrak has completed $3.5 million in improvements at Huntingdon Station in Pennsylvania, adding a new ADA-compliant boarding platform, passenger shelter and upgrades to lighting, drainage and pedestrian access.

The completed project covers seven areas of work at the station. Along with the new platform and shelter, Amtrak upgraded lighting and electrical systems, enhanced drainage and stormwater management, improved the pedestrian crossing, installed ADA-compliant signage and carried out additional site, utility and customer amenity work.

Platform and passenger access

The new boarding platform is the central physical element of the $3.5 million package. Amtrak says the changes are intended to make station access easier for passengers using mobility devices, people travelling with strollers and customers handling luggage.

Amtrak’s current Huntingdon station information lists an accessible platform, which it describes as a barrier-free path from the drop-off area to the train platform. The same station listing says Huntingdon has no high platform and that a wheelchair lift is available.

Amtrak has not published a platform length or height in its completion announcement, so those dimensions should not be inferred from accessibility work at other stations.

Don’t miss…Port of Tacoma Terminal Capacity Increase Targeted at 49%

What the $3.5 million covers?

The $3.5 million figure is given for the completed package as a whole. Amtrak’s announcement does not provide an itemized cost breakdown for the platform, shelter, electrical work, drainage, crossing, signage or other site improvements, and it does not identify a project-specific funding source.

That distinction matters because the announcement separately notes that the Pennsylvanian route serving Huntingdon is financed primarily through funds made available by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The statement describes route funding, not the funding source for this station project.

Huntingdon on the Pennsylvanian

Huntingdon Station is located approximately halfway between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh and sits alongside the former Pennsylvania Railroad depot built in 1872. The station continues to serve Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian route while the completed work changes the passenger-facing infrastructure around boarding, shelter, lighting, drainage and access.

News on railway transport, industry, and railway technologies from Railway Supply that you might have missed: