>> SPRINGFIELD'S HISTORIC UNION STATION RAILROAD DEPOT IS ABOUT
TO COME BACK TO LIFE IN THE NEW YEAR.
IT'S BEEN TOTALLY REMODELED AND NORTHERNIZED.
CONGRESSMAN RICHARD NEAL LED THE CHARGE TO GAIN THE FUNDING
NEEDED FOR THE UNION STATION PROJECT AND GAVE CONNECTING
POINT CORRESPONDENT CAROLEE MCGRATH A TOUR OF THE
REVITALIZED LANDMARK.
>> SO CONGRESSMAN, YOU WILL TELL US WHERE ARE WE STANDING RIGHT
NOW?
>> WELL, WE'RE STANDING JUST INSIDE OF WHAT WILL BE THE FRANK
B. MURRAY ENTRANCE, AND AS YOU LOOK ACROSS TO THE CONCOURSE
HERE, IT HAS BEEN RESTORED JUST THE WAY I REMEMBER IT, AND WHEN
YOU RECALL IT HAS BEEN CLOSED FOR 43 YEARS, YOU CAN UNDERSTAND
THIS IS SO SIGNIFICANT, IS THE CHALLENGE WAS, BUT YOU CAN ENTER
ON THIS SIDE AS WAS THE ORIGINAL.
YOU COULD MOVE FROM THERE TO LINE LEMAN'S CREEK, AND VICE
VERSA, AND I REMEMBER MY GRANDMOTHER TAKING ME THROUGH
HERE, TAKE THE TRAINS TO NEW YORK, WHICH WAS A BIG DEAL.
>> OH, YES.
>> AND YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO GO UP THE STAIRS, AND YOU WILL HAVE
A CHANCE TO SEE THOSE IN A MOMENT BUT THE TICKETING IS
GOING TO BE OVER HERE TO MY RIGHT, AND YOU ARE GOING TO SEE
OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY HERE AND ALSO ON THE
SICKENED AND THIRD FLOORS, AND EVENTUALLY THE ORIGINAL LIGHTS,
THEY HAVE BEEN RESTORED, AND ALMOST MOMENTARILY THE CLOCK IS
GOING TO BE BROUGHT BACK AND PUT IN PLACE.
>> IT'S THE ORIGINAL CLOCK.
>> RIGHT.
>> AND YOU KNOW, CAN WE JUST TAKE A SHOT OF THE FLOORS, SO
THESE ARE THE ORIGINAL FLOORS.
>> THESE ARE THE ORIGINAL FLOORS, AND WHEN THEY ARE
FINALLY CLEANED, IT WILL BE JUST AS YOU WOULD HAVE ENTERED HERE,
WHEN IT CLOSED MORE THAN FOUR DECADES AGO.
>> AND LOOK AT THE COLUMNS BEHIND, I KNOW, THIS, BEHIND ALL
OF THIS SHEETROCK IS WHAT, MARBLE?
>> THE ORIGINAL MARBLE THAT WAS HERE, AND IT'S ALL BEEN
RESTORED.
AND I THINK THAT IT -- IT HIGHLIGHTS AN IMPORTANT TIME IN
THE HISTORY OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS.
IT WAS A GLAMOROUS UNDERTAKING TO TAKE THE TRAIN.
AND YOU HAD THE CHARLES HOTEL RIGHT OVER HERE.
I ALSO WOULD CALL YOUR ATTENTION TO SOME OF THE ARTIFACTS THAT
HAVE BEEN RETRIEVED AND RETAINED, INCLUDING SOME OF THE
CARTS THAT CARRIED THE MAIL.
THOSE ARE GOING TO BE PART OF THE DISPLAY, AS WELL.
SO IT'S PRETTY NEAT.
>> NOW, THE PROJECT BACK IN 2008 WAS WHAT, AROUND 65 MILLION?
COST OVERRUNS?
>> WELL, IT WAS -- NOT JUST THE AGE OF THE BUILDING BUT LIKE ANY
PUBLIC WORKS' PROJECT, WHEN YOU FIND OUT WHAT'S HAPPENED TO A
BUILDING SITTING IN IDLE FOR 43 YEARS, THERE IS ALL SORTS OF
DAMAGES THAT TAKE PLACE THAT WERE NOT ANTICIPATED.
BUT ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE DID HERE THAT WAS VERY, I THINK,
SMART EARLY ON WAS SOME OF THE EARLY MONEY THAT WE WERE ABLE TO
APPROPRIATE IN CONGRESS.
WE USED IT TO RESTORE THE ROOF EVEN WHILE THE DEBATE WENT ON.
SO THAT MEANT THAT THERE WAS MINIMAL WATER DAMAGE TO THIBLE,
AND FOR ALL OLD BUILDINGS LIKE OUR HOMES HERE, IT IS WATER
DAMAGE THAT TAKE PLACE.
>> THIS IS THE ORIGINAL?
>> THE ORIGINAL STAIRCASE, AND THERE WILL BE ANOTHER ONE JUST A
FEW FEET FROM HERE UTILIZED ABOARD THE TRAINS, AND THIS
REMINDS US THAT THIS WAS THE CROSSROADS OF NEW ENGLAND, AND
MUCH OF OUR ECONOMY WAS BASED UPON SUCCESSFUL RAIL
TRANSPORTATION, AND I THINK THAT IF YOU WERE LOOKING AT THE
MODERN ARCHITECTURE, THERE IS NO WAY THAT A STAIRCASE WOULD HAVE
BEEN DESIGNED WITH THIS SIZE.
>> NO.
>> FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS, BUT NOT THE LEAST OF WHICH WHEN YOU
LOOK HERE YOU GET AN APPRECIATION OF THE SCOPE OF THE
BUILDING.
>> RIGHT.
>> AND PEOPLE WILL BE ABLE TO ENTER?
>> ON LINE LEMAN OR MURRAY, SO FOR ACCESS AND EGRESS IT WILL BE
AS IT WAS, IN THE CONCOURSE YOU GET AN APPRECIATION FOR THE SIZE
OF IT BACH YOU CAN ENTER AND EXIT OR VICE VERSA, AND THE
STAIRCASE OVER HERE, WHICH IS STILL ACTIVE, ALSO CALLS
ATTENTION TO WHAT THE STATION ONCE LOOKED LIKE AND MEANT.
>> AND WHAT DO YOU THINK NOW IT WILL MEAN?
SOME SAY, NOBODY TAKES THE TRAIN ANY MORE.
>> WELL, ACTUALLY, RIDERSHIP IS WAY UP.
AND I THINK THAT WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE OPPORTUNITIES, I
WAS ON THAT TRAIN, THE INAUGURAL TRAIN, AND WE WERE IN HAT IFS
FIELD, AND THAT HIT 70 MILES PER HOUR.
SO I THINK THAT CLEARLY THE NORTH AND SOUTH IS UNDERWAY EVEN
AS WE SPEAK.
AND I HOPE THAT EAST AND WEST WILL ACCOMMODATE THE
OPPORTUNITIES THAT THE STATION PRESENTS.
>> SO WE'RE OUT FRONT AND THAT IS THE ENTRANCE, THE MAIN ONE ON
THE FRANK B. MURRAY SIDE, AND THAT AWNING, VERY TASTEFULLY,
THAT'S THE ORIGINAL.
AND AS WE SUM UP THE PROJECT HERE, I THINK THAT YOU CAN SAY
THAT THERE ARE VERY FEW WORDS IN OUR LEXICON THAT ARE MORE
POWERFUL THAN THE WORDS, UNION STATION.