By Paul Wisniewski
DEPEW — After years of fencing, crumbling concrete and missed timelines, work crews are finally on the platform at the Buffalo-Depew Amtrak station. The question now is how much of the platform they are actually going to fix.
A crew from Ideal Concrete was sealing cracks in the platform on Monday, Oct. 26, with a CSX flagger stationed nearby, WKBW-TV reported. The flagger had been the holdup. CSX shares the tracks with Amtrak, and construction near the rails could not safely start without one.
For Gregory Rabb, the Buffalo rail enthusiast who has complained about the platform for years, the sight of a work crew was enough.
“I came up here just to look because I was thrilled,” Rabb told the station. “I was so excited. I wanted to do a little dance.”
A fall on the platform
Rabb went public in September after he fell stepping off a train returning from Baltimore, WKBW reported at the time.
“I handed my bag to the car attendant and then before I knew it I stepped down and hit my knee. For some reason I fell on my left knee. Hit the concrete and blacked out. Next thing I knew, the car attendant was helping me get up,” Rabb said.
He was not seriously hurt. But much of the platform had been blocked off for years, a temporary fence was up in at least one spot, and Rabb could wiggle the rail of the old fence by hand.
“You can see over here that that concrete is ready to collapse,” Rabb said then. “I think this whole thing should be closed, but then you wouldn’t have train service in Depew.”
He was careful to spare the people who work there. “The staff at the station, they’re wonderful people. I love them. But look at this,” he said.
Missed dates
The repairs are late by Amtrak’s own earlier estimate. Two years ago, Amtrak told the Buffalo News that repairs would begin by the middle of 2025, WKBW reported.
When WKBW asked in September what was holding things up, CSX pointed to the flagger and gave a date.
“We recognize the importance of this work and anticipate flaggers to be available to assist with this project in early October,” CSX said in a statement to the station.
Early October became late October, but the flagger arrived. The office of Rep. Tim Kennedy had also made inquiries about the repair plans, according to WKBW.
“Miracle of miracles, I think in part because of what you’re doing and what Channel 7 is doing and then the congressman’s office, we finally got it going,” Rabb said. “I’m really excited.”
Sealing cracks, or starting over?
What Rabb has asked for is bigger than crack sealing.
“I want the platform completely redone and restored so people can get on and off the train easily, especially visitors, not just locals, and I want it to be improved to make Buffalo look good because right now it makes Buffalo look terrible,” he said in September.
Neither WKBW’s reports nor any public Amtrak statement the Chronicle could find says whether the work underway is a stopgap or the first stage of a full rebuild. Other details are also missing from the public record: what the contract is worth, how long the crew will be on site, whether the fenced-off sections will reopen to passengers, and whether the platform will meet current accessibility standards for travelers who use wheelchairs or have trouble with steps.
Those are fair questions for a station that serves as one of Buffalo’s front doors by rail. Rabb’s family has its own ties to it: his father worked for New York Central and later Amtrak, and the family helped raise money for the buffalo statue in front of the station, WKBW reported.
“I mean, it’ll make it safer and nicer for everybody, and it’ll make Buffalo look better when people come from out of town,” Rabb said.
The Buffalo Chronicle is seeking details from Amtrak on the scope, cost and schedule of the work, and will update this story with any response.
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