Next stop Lyons?

A group of Wayne County residents and local leaders are renewing calls for an Amtrak station to be built in Lyons.

Lucas Quagliata, a senior at Lyons High School, wants the passenger station to built sooner rather than later. He plans on going to a university in Philadelphia in the fall.

“I would really like a way to get there easily without having to drive five hours or without having to take a flight," he said.

And other local leaders say it would bring tourists to an area filled with attractions.

“We can go south to our wineries, or we can go north to Lake Ontario where we have fishing tours and bed and breakfasts," said Brian Manktelow, a Lyons Town Councilman.

Hopes of having a train stop for passengers have been fading since 1990 when local officials met with train company representatives for the first time to discuss a stop in Lyons.

But in the past 17 years the project has hardly moved forward from the planning stages.

“Part of it's the funding and part of it is getting the partners to come together and wanting to do this," Manktelow said.

Those partners are CSX, who owns the tracks, Amtrak and state and federal leaders.

According to the county planner, Sharon Lilla, officials spent about 180-thousand dollars to draw up a design in 2002. At the time, State Assemblyman Bob Oaks and Senator Mike Nozzolio received a $1 million grant for the project. But when the ground-level station plan was submitted to CSX, officials said it didn't meet requirements.

Passengers aren't allowed to cross the tracks at ground level, so a design for the station would require an overpass, and it would have to be equipped with elevators. A project like that could cost around 7 million dollars, according to Lilla.

The county tried to get the project back on track in 2005 with another design that met the requirements, but the cost to build a station with overpasses and towers was just too high.

“If we can get the funding, which I think we can do, I think it will be a great benefit," Manktelow said.

“Anything that we need to do we would do to be able to get this train station," Quagliata said.

A representative from CSX sent News 8 Now the following statement:

CSX informed Lyons almost two years ago that it was prepared to review station plans once they were received.  At this point, we have yet to receive plans for the station; however, we continue to stand ready to review them. It is difficult to offer any position on a station in Lyons until the plans have been reviewed and operational details discussed between and among the station proponents, CSXT and Amtrak.