Parkesburg Officials Visit Refurbed Elizabethtown Train Station

Expanded and improved parking, elevators and new platforms are among the improvements to the Elizabethtown Train Station Parkesburg Borough officials saw Tuesday night.

Parkesburg's borough government took an all expense paid junket Tuesday evening to exotic downtown Elizabethtown, Lancaster County.

All seven members of borough council along with Mayor John Hagan, Borough Manager Jim Thomas, Secretary Wendy Keegan and Solicitor John Carnes traveled by train to see Elizabethtown's newly refurbished and restored train station.

The trip, arranged and paid for by PennDOT and Amtrak, gave borough officials a chance to talk to their Elizabethtown counterparts as well as PennDOT, Amtrak, and Norfolk Southern officials and project managers about the 2009 project that saw the Elizabethetown station transformed from an all but abandoned, boarded up shell to the crown jewel of Amtrak's Keystone line.

According to Etown's mayor, Roni Ryan, the refurbished train station serves as not just "a transportation tool" for Elizabethtown, "but as an economic tool and a redevelopment tool" as well.

Parkesburg Council president Mel Keen was impressed by what PennDOT and Etown officials showed her.  Mel noted how the Etown station and the surrounding parking lots integrated beautifully with the surrounding historic Etown neighborhood.  The parking lot, she said, were nicely laid out and had attractive lighting, grass strips and landscaping everywhere.  The station itself, she noted, had an open, airy feel to it and the smooth sidewalks gave everyone open access to the trains, station building and the parking lot.

The next step in the process to create a master plan for Parkesburg's train station will be to convene a group interested citizens and train riders to discuss design options and make recommendations to Parkesburg Borough Council. 

The first planning meeting will happen in the next couple of weeks and then meet again several times over the next three to four months.  The group will discuss topics such as signage, parking, what to do with the Culvert Street underpass and access to either side of the tracks.  PennDOT hopes to have a final plan developed and presented to Parkesburg Borough Council no later than December 2010.

Anyone interested in participating in the planning sessions should contact Borough Secretary Wendy Keegan at 610.857.2616 for details.

Read more about Elizabethtown's train station here and here or watch a video here.