Preserving Central New York Railroad History through equipment and station restorations and educational programs since 1940
We write this in support of a recent letter from Congressmen Brandon Williams to Governor Kathy Hochul concerning rail transportation serving Syracuse. In it, the Congressman points out a three-track ”bottleneck” for Empire Corridor traffic created by freight and passenger tracks merging at Syracuse. He also notes the low clearance under the Park Street bridge and a need to replace this bridge with a new five track span. His comments cite need for improvements because of planned development of the huge Micron computer chip manufacturing plant in our area.
While agreeing with Congressman Williams, we also point out those remedies to issues he cites were in place years ago. A bridge to add a second passenger track to the Syracuse intermodal passenger terminal was ready for installation more than a decade ago. It would have cleared a traffic jam for passenger trains by giving Amtrak access to both sides of the existing platform. This track was also intended for use by the OnTrak service that once served Syracuse, connecting passengers with downtown and Syracuse University.
That bridge could also have been utilized as a “shoo-fly” run-around track to allow reconstruction of the Park Street overpass. Both Conrail and CSX fought construction of this bridge as work on its piers caused the existing Park Street bridge to “sink” about a quarter inch.
At the time, Onondaga County leaders did not pursue or pressure the freight railroads to allow this needed bridge structure. The County ended up placing the bridge in “storage” years ago, if it even exists any longer.
We note that new passenger facilities have been built across the state in Niagara Falls, Rochester, Schenectady, and Rensselaer that address platform access. But Syracuse is left with only one passenger track in a station that relegates train passengers to a waiting area located in what amounts to a hallway.
Meanwhile, the state continues to tout Central New York’s impending growth due to Micron, all while access to passenger trains is sub-par, and over height trucks – many doing business in the new Amazon warehouse in Liverpool — continue to strike the Park Street bridge.
It is indeed time to step up and fix Syracuse’s railroad problems cited by Congressman Williams.
For the CNY Chapter, National Railway Historical Society,
-Philip A. Edwards, President
