Washington, DC
SPRINGFIELD — With practiced alacrity, the crane swings over the waiting flatbed tractor-trailer parked outside Union Station.
Workers scramble, hooking chains to the huge chunk of concrete.
Like a NASCAR pit crew, they scatter when their work is done. The crane lifts, the chains go taut and the piece is lifted into place on the six-level, 377-space parking deck at the new Springfield Union Station Intermodal Transportation Center.
Eighteen to 20 pieces a day, five days a week from January until the garage was mostly completed, as noted with a “topping off” ceremony on Feb. 10.
The fast-rising parking deck fronting Main Street is the most visible sign that Union Station is nearing completion after years of frustrating false starts.
The Springfield Redevelopment Authority, which owns the station, expects it to be completed by December.
Built in 1926, Union Station was once the heart of Springfield’s civic life, bustling with traffic and home to lunch counters, a barber shop and other amenities. Servicemen left from Union Station to serve in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
But by the 1970s, train traffic had fallen out of favor and most of Union Station closed. Amtrak today uses just a small portion of the building on Lyman Street.
U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, announced his first campaign for city council from Union Station, and always made getting it repaired and reopened a priority as mayor and as congressman.
Today, the $88.5 million rehabilitation of Springfield Union Station is just months from completion. It is expected to reopen in December.
Besides finishing touches on the parking deck, workers are now:
- Attaching porcelain panels through welding and grouting on the retaining wall holding up the tracks.
- Completing work on the roof.
- Backfilling the new concrete in the ducts over the main tunnel under the railroad tracks. This tunnel will be open, allowing folks to walk from Lyman Street into the station.
- Reinforcing the passenger tunnel.
- Installing drain lines and piping for bathrooms.
- Installing water lines into crawlspace areas.
- Framing the bathrooms on the second floor.
When completed, the station will also have a 26-bay terminal for intracity buses operated by the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority and intercity buses operated by Peter Pan Bus Lines and others.
Inside, there will be waiting and ticketing areas and 10,000 square feet of retail space. Bids have just recently been submitted for that retail space. Possible tenants include grab-and-go coffee and danish stands, a newsstand, a gift shop and a sit-down restaurant with a bar.
Upstairs, there will be 57,000 square feet of office space that will be rented out, space that will come with access to the retail and food service amenities, transit options and parking.
The Redevelopment Authority estimates that the station will draw draw five million rail and bus passengers a year in its first year of operation, a number that could swell to eight million or more with more rail service.
The PVTA expects that its shift to Union Station will entice more people to take the bus because the central hub at Union Station will be new, clean, well-lit and have security.
Union Station will also be the site of Springfield’s 9/11 memorial. The city plans to build a monument around a section of structural steel from the twin towers donated to Spirit of Springfield several years ago.
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