Pattye Benson

Community Matters

Paoli Train Station Back on Track with $7.5 Million from SEPTA!

Looks like the Paoli Transportation Center just took a step forward!

According to Anthony Campisi of PlanPhilly, the SEPTA board has

” . . . approved a nearly $7.5 million contract to Gannett Fleming Inc. for design of a new Paoli regional rail station. Long a priority of Tredyffrin Township, the Chester County municipality where the station is located, the current plan would involve building a new station 80 feet west of the current location that better connects with SEPTA and private buses and involves a reworking of a nearby Amtrak interlocking, as well as the installation of high-level platforms.”

This is exciting news for the community — we all know this project has been in limbo with virtually no movement. At the risk of sounding too enthusiastic, I think the next move on the project was funding from SEPTA.  With the design team for the project named, maybe now the project will get back on track.

Former State Rep Paul Drucker championed the Paoli Transportation Center project during his tenure in the PA State House.  After losing his re-election bid to Warren Kampf in 2010, Drucker has continued to stay involved in the Paoli Transportation project as a private citizen.

So . . .  was it just coincidence that Drucker officially declared his 2012 candidacy for another run against Kampf, the same week that SEPTA awarded the design contract for the train station?  What’s the saying about there are no coincidences in life.  Kampf sent out notification of the SEPTA contract award via his Facebook page.

Looks like the 2012 match-up between Drucker and Kampf could once again place the Paoli Transportation Center squarely in the center as a campaign issue.  If nothing else, the use of the train station as a campaign issue may keep the transportation project moving forward.  Here’s hoping . . .

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  1. can someone explain the “coincidence”? based on Pattye’s question in italics? Maybe I am missing something. (again?)

  2. While it is hard to imagine what the connection could be for the next race, I will again ask this forum to help me understand why this project is something so many support? I look at Ardmore and 69th Street as varying levels of transportation centers, and I see no development around them to suggest they serve as a catalyst. There are more empty storefronts in Ardmore than in Paoli. (and plenty of municipal parking lots) I understand we need to plan for the future, but is the infrastructure required to support a transit center likely to produce “middle class” jobs? Since we do not have a tax in place that relies on sales or income generation, where’s the beef? I’m not challenging it — I am genuinely asking….because I just don’t see it making things better….different and more crowded, but better? Mr. Yang got beat up in Berwyn — hardly a metropolis….does urbanization always bring prosperity? Are we sure this is a direction that will serve our community, and not just some landowners in Paoli?

  3. Yes, drucker announced his candidacy this week to remind people he gave his campaign donor a million dollars of taxpayer money. I m sure that is what he wanted.

  4. Here’s the irony of that money — the “project” associated with it, to my understanding, was in Duane Milne’s district — and he had done the leg work to get the grant. It was simply politics that Drucker appeared because it was with Dwight Evans. I may be incorrect, but it was about grant money I think. The Septa money has been actively sought for several years.

    Anyway — I have asked and haven’t seen any answers to WHY this project is so beloved? Since I don’t like it, I sort of need to understand what about it besides Paoli residents wanting change? A transit center is where people park to get on trains and buses. I’m asking?

  5. June 2010: from Pattye’s blog referring to the $1,000,000:
    “The solar component of this initial phase, funded by these dollars, reflects the opportunity for our community to reclaim an otherwise unusable contaminated soil containment cell for use as a 400,000 watt solar power generation facility.”

    The solar portion was and is in Duane Milne’s district.

  6. Don’t hold your breath the station isn’t getting built anytime soon……..”SEPTA’s fiscal budget for 2012-13 lists the Paoli Transportation Center project construction project as a capital project for 2016-23 and it is, at this time, a proposal. But that’s when the dirt would finally move.”

  7. I will be retired before this is ever built. Sure, Paoli Train Station is a dump, I’m there everyday 2x’s, but not sure that a transit center will actually bring jobs to the local economy. At worst, it will bring losers and punks to the area.

  8. Why should we think negative? When money is sanctioned, there is a hope and be optimistic , the station can be brought to its earlier condition . For political twists and turns let’s sit and enjoy.

  9. Well it seems that the plan is to build a better connectivity for the county in totality. If they are planning to connect the buses and other connections with the rail it is very good but then there should also be consideration for congested traffic at the location.
    If someone is responsible or can take credit for a job well done (may be it involved others effort but they are not willing) nothing wrong in it.

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