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Bad weather delays start of Pennsauken train station

Bad weather has delayed the start of construction of a $40 million Pennsauken train station to link the Atlantic City Line and River Line. But behind the scenes, design work has continued, and the station is on schedule for completion by December 2012.

Bad weather has delayed the start of construction of a $40 million Pennsauken train station to link the Atlantic City Line and River Line. But behind the scenes, design work has continued, and the station is on schedule for completion by December 2012.

Construction permits were issued this month for the River Line portion of the station.

"As soon as we get a few consistently good days, the contractor will start activity," said Dan Stessel, spokesman for NJ Transit.

The Atlantic City Line part of the station is under design by NJT. The design is expected to be completed by March, and if it gets code approval, the construction contract is to be awarded this summer, Stessel said.

The new Pennsauken Transit Center will connect the east-west Atlantic City Line and the north-south River Line, allowing passengers to transfer directly between them. The two-level station will be built where the Atlantic City Line crosses above the River Line, near Derousse Avenue west of River Road.

The station also will be served by NJ Transit buses.

The project, to be paid for with federal stimulus funds, was launched with considerable fanfare in October, 2009, with local, state, and federal officials on hand for a ceremonial ground-breaking. Little work has been done at the site since.

Eventually, two 300-foot platforms will be built, one on each side of the Atlantic City Line tracks, with stairs and two elevators to provide access to the River Line below.

The work is to be done in two phases. First will come River Line elements of the project, including a 200-foot platform on the east side of the tracks. A $2.1 million contract for the work was awarded to Northeast Remsco Coast Inc. of Farmingdale, N.J., and Arora & Associates of Lawrenceville, N.J.

The second-phase contract will include the Atlantic City Line platforms, elevators, a 280-space parking lot, ticket-vending machines, passenger communication equipment, and resurfacing, curbing, and lighting improvements to Derousse Avenue.

Construction remains on track to be completed by December 2012, Stessel said. The station is expected to be open to passengers early in 2013.

Transit officials hope the station will boost ridership on the underused Atlantic City Line, which operates from Philadelphia with stops in Cherry Hill, Lindenwold, Atco, Hammonton, Egg Harbor City, and Absecon.

The light-rail River Line, which opened in 2004, makes 20 stops in towns along the Delaware River from Camden to Trenton.

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