Amtrak Buffalo Exchange Street Replacement

[Roadgeek Adam]

So, I went to an event this afternoon hosted by NYSDOT about the new Amtrak Exchange Street station renderings. To put it simply, they are building on place of the current station, the new depot will be much improved, a single side high-level platform with a new plaza to help get people from there to Erie Canal Harbor Station of the Metro Rail. I've got some more interesting news. The signage will be brown instead of Amtrak blue. I'm a little surprised by this and hoping it's a render's error. The depot will have a ticket window, Taste NY display, pictures of the older Exchange Street station before 190 was built, and what I believe is a photo of the Erie East Buffalo station. Strangely there is not a single picture of Buffalo Central Terminal in it. Also, unlike Rochester, which was rebuilt, the station will be accessible when trains are not arriving.













So that's the renderings. The back of the piece they gave us noted construction in the Fall of 2018 and completion by 2020.

[Mackensen]

Wow; that's a quantum leap over the current facility.

[Rockingham Racer]

Parking? I didn't see any that stood out.

[Roadgeek Adam]

Neither did I.

[SST]

In the second last picture from the OP, there is a parking garage across the street. Confirmed via Google street map. Maybe "arrangements" have or will be made with Amtrak or the city. haha Sure.....

[Roadgeek Adam]

Who knows, but we'll find out in 2020 I guess.

At least we've got something.

I forgot to mention, they are bringing the entire station to grade level. The current station goes down below street grade. The new one will be even with Exchange Street.

[XC Tower]

Hello,
Has work begun on a replacement for this station? If so, what is the status of catching a train out of downtown Buffalo currently?
Thank you for any information.


XC

[Roadgeek Adam]

The trailers are there and ready to go for when the station construction begins and the 1952 depot is razed. They won't be closing Buffalo Exchange during the construction.

You'll be fine.

[Jeff Smith]

https://news.wbfo.org/post/construction ... ak-station

If you happen to travel along downtown Buffalo's Exchange Street, the Amtrak train station is clearly visible. What's new is the construction swirling around a temporary station, perhaps 100 yards down the track.

The temporary station allows the current worn and outdated facility to be torn down and replaced with a new $25 million station. The demolition is expected to take place next month.
...
"The entire environment will be vastly improved," said Becker. "It will no longer be down in the hole like it is currently below Exchange Street. The new building will be level with Exchange Street. You will be able to pull up and walk directly into it from Exchange, walk through it, then down onto this new high-level platform which will ease boarding onto the train."
...
The New York Department of Transportation said the new station will open late next year.

[TrainDetainer]

I just caught this thread - the depot photo above the ticket window is a very stretched version of the street side view of Erie's Kensington depot. Was on the north side of Kensington Ave with a small freight house a couple hundred feet north (RR west). Lots of horse manure on the depot street in the pic. Depot is long gone in the 1927 aerials, probably razed when Kensington Ave overpass was built, if not before. Original pic's available in the LOC Haer collection. Trackside view shows trolley tracks on Kensington crossing the Erie, freight house, the factory that was behind the depot and an all-wood Erie boxcar with Fox trucks, where the school bus parking lot is now.

[Roadgeek Adam]

Kensington station was demolished on 9/21/26.

[gokeefe]

Good to see this project moving forward.

[Roadgeek Adam]

It's not everyday a temporary station is heads and tails better than the old station, but that seems to be what has happened.








Ultimately, it also means the end is near for the 1952 NYC depot. That's been fenced off and some of the signage in the windows was moved, but there's no demolition work yet.

[daybeers]

Ooo looks nice for a temporary station! Thanks for the great pictures!

[SST]

I haven't been paying much attention to the new Amtrak station and therefore didn't even realize the old one was torn down and the new one is being built. I had just put my truck back on the road and was cruising around with it and visited my marina. On my way home, I entered the I-190E and looked over the guardrail and was stunned to see it being built. I tried to pull over and stop while on the ramp but of course a car was behind me. Not the greatest picture but it'll do: