Niagara Falls station (New York)

Niagara Falls, NY
The new station in July 2017.
Other names Niagara Falls Station and Customhouse Interpretive Center
Location 825 Depot Ave West, Niagara Falls, New York
United States
Coordinates 43°06′35″N 79°03′19″W / 43.10972°N 79.05528°W / 43.10972; -79.05528Coordinates: 43°06′35″N 79°03′19″W / 43.10972°N 79.05528°W / 43.10972; -79.05528
Owned by City of Niagara Falls
Line(s) Empire Corridor (Niagara Subdivision)
Platforms 1 side platform
Tracks 2
Bus operators Route 50
Discover Niagara
Construction
Parking Free
Bicycle facilities Yes
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Station code Amtrak code: NFL
History
Opened December 6, 2016
Traffic
Passengers (2017) 31,169[1] Increase 5.13%
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station
TerminusEmpire Service
toward New York
Maple Leaf
U.S. Customhouse
U.S. Customhouse in May 2018 after construction of the railroad station.
Location 2245 Whirlpool St., Niagara Falls, New York
Area less than one acre
Built 1863
NRHP reference # 73001227[2]
Added to NRHP July 16, 1973
Location
Niagara Falls, NY
Location within New York

The Niagara Falls Station and Customhouse Interpretive Center is an intermodal transit complex in Niagara Falls, New York. It serves Amtrak trains and Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority buses, and houses U.S. Customs and Border Protection offices servicing the Canada–United States border, and a museum on the Underground Railroad.[3][4]

It is the western terminus of Amtrak's Empire Corridor and serves two Empire Service trains in each direction (terminating westbound) and one Maple Leaf in each direction daily. The station also provides a connection to NFTA Route 50 and the Discover Niagara Shuttle buses.

The facility consists of a complex built around the historic U.S. Customhouse, originally designed to service the U.S. side of the Niagara River border crossings from Canada. Completed in July 2016, the facility replaced Amtrak's former Niagara Falls station for passenger rail service on December 6, 2016.[5]

U.S. Customhouse

Whirlpool Street (West) Elevation, View Taken From Southwest

To handle the large amount of goods exchanged over the border, the Lewiston customs house—the primary customs for the Niagara region—was relocated from Lewiston, NY to the Niagara Suspension Bridge in 1863.[6][Note 1] The customhouse served inspectors for the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge, Niagara Cantilever Bridge, Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, and Michigan Central Railway Bridge at various points in its history. With Niagara Falls receiving the second highest amounts of American imports at one point, the customhouse was once a very busy post for its inspectors. In 1911 the building was partially destroyed by fire but later rebuilt. Remaining in a US Customs capacity until the 1960s, it was sold to several different commercial owners before it was originally abandoned in 1998.[9]

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, the building is now owned by the city of Niagara Falls who purchased it in 2003. State and local governments later incorporated the customhouse into plans to build a new multi-million dollar train station and intermodal transportation center called the Niagara Falls Station and Customhouse Interpretative Center. The customhouse was restored over a 5-year period and built into the station.

The second floor of the customhouse is occupied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection which uses it as a processing facility for passengers coming from Canada on the Maple Leaf. The first floor contains a museum on the Underground Railroad called the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center in honor of the former original bridge close by that took slaves from the United States into Canada in the 19th Century. The museum opened May 2018 and includes such exhibits as "One More River to Cross" featuring the history of the Underground Railroad in Niagara Falls, the role played by the location and geography of Niagara Falls, and the actions of residents particularly African-American residents. Other exhibits include a recreation of the Cataract House, a Niagara Falls hotel that employed an entirely African-American wait staff, who helped numbers of former slaves to freedom in Canada and a recreation of the International Suspension Bridge, built in 1848, and rebuilt in 1855 to incorporate rail traffic, where Harriet Tubman and other former slaves crossed into Canada. The museum is sanctioned by the National Park Service.[10][11]

Train station

Station under construction in 2015

After 30 years of effort to move Amtrak's Niagara Falls station to the Customhouse location, the Niagara Falls Station and Customhouse Interpretive Center complex was constructed in a three-phase rebuilding project estimated to have cost $44 million.[12] Construction on the project began in August 2010 and in October 2010, the US Department of Transportation released $16.5 million in funds from the TIGER program for work on the final phase of the International Station project.[13]

A construction contract was agreed upon between the City of Niagara Falls and a local construction firm in April 2014 after delay over price overruns. Work began in May 2014.[14] City officials said the construction would take 18 months to two years to complete. The project was completed in three phases including the stabilization of the existing customhouse building and upgrades to the nearby bridge. The station was completed in July 2016 and the completion was celebrated with a sneak peek of the station to the public during an event called "Niagara Falls Amtrak Community Day" on July 30, 2016.[15]

After a delay in a contract agreement between the city and Amtrak, a 20-year lease was signed on November 9, 2016.[16] Amtrak moved into the station on December 6, after the last train departed from the former Willard Avenue facility that morning.[17]

It is hoped that the new station and its closer location to the downtown area of the city will help spur public and private sector growth in the city.[18]

Station layout

Like the customhouse, the train station has two floors. The first floor at ground level contains the main concourse, an entrance to the museum in the customhouse and spaces for shops. Ticketing, a waiting room, and boarding of the trains is on the second floor which is accessed by stairs and elevator. The lawn in front of the customhouse can be turned into a theater and interpretive area. Trains call at a single high-level side platform serving one track which is on an embankment.

Platform at the Niagara Falls station
P
Platform level		 Street level Exit/entrance and station building
Side platform, doors will open on the left or right
Track 1 ← Empire Service alighting passengers only
← Maple Leaf toward Toronto (Niagara Falls, ON)
Empire Service, Maple Leaf toward New York City (Buffalo – Exchange Street) →
Track 2 No passenger service

Customs processing for the Maple Leaf

There are no pre-clearance facilities here or on the Canadian side. For passengers coming from Canada, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers handle passengers with processing through the station. For passengers going to Canada, Canada Border Services Agency officers process those passengers on board the train at the Niagara Falls railway station in Niagara Falls, Ontario, just over the Whirlpool Bridge.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The Niagara customs house was added to the list of National Register of Historic Places in 1973;[7] thirty-five years later, renovation was started to transform the building into a railway station and history museum for the region.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2017, State of New York" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  2. ↑ National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  3. ↑ Fischer, Nancy (25 June 2016). "$43 million train station gets ready to open in Niagara Falls". The Buffalo News. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  4. ↑ Fischer, Nancy (30 November 2016). "Amtrak service at new Niagara Falls station to debut on Tuesday".
  5. ↑ WKBW-TV (27 July 2016). "Lease agreement delays train service to new Amtrak Station".
  6. ↑ Brightly 1869, p. 468.
  7. ↑ National Park Service 2004.
  8. ↑ Gee 2008.
  9. ↑ "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)" (Searchable database). New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2016-03-01. Note: This includes Cornelia E. Brooke (May 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: U.S. Customhouse" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-03-01. and Accompanying three photographs
  10. ↑ "https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2018/02/17/niagara-falls-underground-railroad-museum-to-open.html". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2018-02-19. External link in |title= (help)
  11. ↑ Mroziak, Michael. "Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center opens for visitors". Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  12. ↑ "Niagara Falls gets $16.5M grant for Amtrak station". WCAX.com. 29 October 2010. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
  13. ↑ "USDOT doles out TIGER II grants for 75 transportation projects". Progressive Railroading. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  14. ↑ Besecker, Aaron (19 April 2014). "Falls train station is back on track".
  15. ↑ Hsieh, Cresonia (30 July 2016). "A look at the new $43 million Niagara Falls train station".
  16. ↑ Fischer, Nancy (9 November 2016). "Amtrak and Niagara Falls reach agreement on train station".
  17. ↑ "New Amtrak train station in Niagara Falls set to open". Niagara Gazette. December 6, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  18. ↑ Elzufon, Rachel (13 July 2015). "Structure up in new Niagara Falls Amtrak station".
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