Amtrak: designs for a new Elyria train station in the works

A long-stalled plan to relocate the Elyria Train Station to the Lorain County Transportation Center is still underway, with design plans already in the works. The transportation center, at 40 East Ave., is in the former passenger station of the defunct New York Central Railroad system. Mayor Kevin Brubaker, Lorain County Commissioner Dave Moore and Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari all confirmed that discussions on the move are ongoing. "I have reached out to Amtrak, they've not committed to doing it but we have had conversations," Brubaker said. "The Transportation Center is owned by Lorain County, so it would take some collaboration with them, and I have been in contact with Commissioner Moore in regard to the next steps." Magliari said on Thursday that the process has actually reached the point that some design work was already being done. The existing Elyria Train Station at 410 East River Road is little more than a concrete slab and a small plexiglass-covered seating area. A full station at the site burned down in 2013 and was never replaced. As early as 2015, Amtrak, the city and the Lorain County Commissioners had discussed the idea of relocating the train station to connect with the transportation center. Magliari said that Amtrak had never abandoned the idea after it stalled in 2018 due to lack of funding. Disagreement on the project between the county and city contributed to the lack of progress since then. But now, Brubaker, the county and Amtrak have a renewed commitment to at least consider the possibility. Moore confirmed that he had been involved in discussions on moving the station to the center. He said the plan was still early in the process and he could not provide many details on Thursday. "I'll tell you this, the idea is alive and well," Moore said. "It's a slow process, slower than I'd like." Progress The Elyria project is not mentioned by name in Amtrak's 2025 budget ask to Congress, but Magliari said it is included in the $25 million that the agency requested for its Great Lakes Station Improvement initiative. Ultimately, that initiative is projected to cost $300 million and would include station constructions and renovations across the Great Lakes region. For 2025 though, Amtrak has requested $25 million that would be used on projects in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana. Proposed station work in Ohio includes projects in Cleveland, Sandusky, Toledo, Bryan and "other stations." Elyria is included under other stations, Magliari said. He added that despite not being included by name in the budget, the proposed Elyria project was actually the furthest along of the Ohio projects. "The fact is the Elyria project has advanced, in some ways, beyond some of these others because we're already doing design work," Magliari said. "(The designs are) shy of halfway done, but they're in progress." The tracks in Elyria are raised above the transportation center, so a vertical access system would have to be built to connect them to the center. Additionally, the section of railroad itself is owned by Norfolk Southern, so Magliari said Amtrak and local officials also need approval for the move from Norfolk Southern. "Of course, they would have to sign off on whatever plan takes place, but those conversations are ongoing, too," he said. The need Magliari said that the current Amtrak station in Elyria is "safe and accessible and well lit," but admitted it would be much nicer for customers to have access to an indoor stop. "Having visited the Elyria station, which is basically a bus stop-style shelter on the elevated tracks, certainly moving into the transportation center would be a huge improvement in our facilities in Elyria," he said. Brubaker said that the current station is not the most comfortable or appealing option for either visitors to Elyria or residents heading elsewhere. "Obviously, the Amtrak train currently stops in the wee early hours of the morning in a secluded location, let's just call it what it is," Brubaker said. "I'm excited about having these conversations with Amtrak about bringing stops to downtown Elyria and potentially getting that station open again." Magliari also mentioned the time that Amtrak trains stop in Elyria, which usually falls sometime between 1 and 5 a.m. "Keep in mind the time of night we go through Elyria, (the transportation center) would certainly be a more welcoming place for customers to either board the train, disembark or pick up people who are disembarking from the train," he said. A new station is not the only ongoing discussion related to Elyria rail travel, though, Magliari said. He said that Amtrak was working with the state Rail Development Commission and the Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) of both Toledo and Cleveland to increase rail service on corridors running from Buffalo through Ohio to both Michigan and Chicago. "Those are ongoing, live discussions," Magliari said. Funding for research on those corridors is being pursued through the Federal Rail Administration's Corridor Identification and Development (ID) program. Increased service on the corridor from Cleveland to Toledo would run through Elyria, increasing Lorain County's passenger rail traffic and possibly leading to stops during daytime hours. All the officials who spoke to The Chronicle on Thursday said that a move to the Lorain County Transportation Center was still in the early stages of planning and would be contingent on funding being approved. No cost estimate for the project was available on Thursday. But with designs already in the works, it is possible that Elyria could once again be not just a stopover for passenger rail travel, but a destination. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.