ROME, N.Y. — Amtrak service to the Rome, N.Y., station has been temporarily suspended after a portion of the station ceiling collapsed on Wednesday afternoon, the Rome Sentinel reports.
Only one person was in the station when the ceiling fell in about 3:15 p.m., the newspaper reports, and was not injured. The station has been closed for inspection. Amtrak officials told the paper that service to the station has been suspended through at least July 10, and are suggesting passengers use the Utica, N.Y., station, 14 miles away.
The Rome station was built between 1912 and 1914 for the New York Central, according to Amtrak’s Great American Stations website, and since 1988 has belonged to the city of Rome. The building underwent renovation between 2002 and 2004. It is served by the Maple Leaf and two Empire Service round trips per day.
Remember that expression “Fiddling while Rome burns” (pun intended) ? Well we have fiddling while Rome and all other railroad and transportation intrastructure collapses due to government inaction, debating where money should or should not be spent and putting our nose innto other hotspots of the world while our own country burns and collapses around our ears. What happened in Rome, NY shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone or even how Amtrak handles these situations. But then again this is another ulterior motive for Amtrak to slowly kill off routhes and trains upon orders from the higher ups in the federal government to use whatever means or methods to kill off train service. As Nero fiddled while Rome burned so Mr Anderson fiddles and doodles while Amtrak crumbles and eventually disappears. Nice job. A few more disasters a few more accidents and slow starvation of money and almost everybody will get their wish. Amtrak will be gone, passenger trains will no longer run and will just a distant memory that you will see only in museums or read in history books. “the straw that broke the camel’s back”
Mr. Quail: Thank you.
Even after the collapse, the tunnel looks better than it did when I lived in Rome in the 70s.
All roads lead there…
Because you can’ access the platform without passing through the station. The tracks are elevated as you can see in these photos.
http://www.trainweb.org/usarail/rome.htm
And why would you suspend service? You can close a station building and still serve a stop. Passengers would just not have the use of indoor facilities.
So this is how Rome fell… (sorry, couldn’t resist)
Amtrak simply lists all future trains from Rome as “Sold Out”, with no explanation. Can’t they post some explanation and an expected service resumption date?
Rome is the station closest to Joseph Boardman’s hometown.