Full steam ahead for Icicle Station

With hopes of building a new train station for Leavenworth next year, Leavenworth Mayor Rob Eaton is set to begin a capital campaign to help raise additional funds toward the project. Thus far, $720,000 has been appropriated for the Icicle Station, coming from the local, state and federal governments. Now Eaton is embarking on a campaign to raise $125,000 in the next several months.

Individual donations to the capital campaign already total $31,000, Eaton said.

"Bavarian River Haus owners, Lisa and John Clark, the co-chairs of the capital campaign, have donated $10,000. Harriet Bullitt has donated $10,000, and our other individual donations total $11,000 so far," he said.

A Web site, iciclestation.com, has been set up with information about the project and has donation forms available for download. Eaton has plans in the coming months to reach out even farther to potential project donors.

"We are setting up events in Leavenworth and Seattle that are educational in terms of the project," he said. "We'll talk about what the station can do for the community. Carl Thorpe will discuss the benefits of passenger rail to communities."

Eaton envisions they will have dinners and other social events where potential donors can be invited. He would also like to see general public participate and make a comfortable donation. The mayor calls support for the train station incredible so far.

Final cost estimates on the project are not available, Eaton said, until all of the design work is done on the station, platform and track.

Both Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) and Amtrak have approved the project. BNSF owns the railway and the property at the proposed stop, while Amtrak provides the passenger rail service on the Empire Builder route, which runs daily from Seattle to Chicago.

HNTB of Bellevue has been selected to design the new station.

"HNTB is now doing the design work for the site plan and the building," he said. "They have incorporated their design work into the overall master plan. We have presented the master plan to the railroad. They are looking it over in terms of freight and passenger operations."

The site selected for Icicle Station on North Road is currently a staging area for BNSF. So, the site plan has been drawn up to make accommodations for that.

"The staging area for the railroad for maintenance equipment will continue," he said. "BNSF likes the site plan design. They said it harkens back to way railroading used to be."

The site plan shows the Icicle Station abutting the railroad staging area. The entrance to the station would also be used by BNSF to access that area. Early on, Eaton said BNSF had severe concerns the station would delay rail traffic on the Steven Pass line, one of the busiest in the state. Through his research, Eaton was able to prove to BNSF that the two stops a day at the site would not delay the freight lines using the track.

Icicle Station is planned in a phased approach. The track work needs to be done before the station and platform can be built. Eaton said once the site plans are approved by BNSF and Amtrak, they can work on lease agreements for the land, go through the tracks use process and get the proper permits from Chelan County.

Eaton hopes all the processes converge in the next couple months. He would like see the track work done this year, but that is up to BNSF.

"We're at the mercy of the railroad," he said. "We have requested to be in their schedule for summer or fall. We hope to do the track work this year, but it could be pushed to March of next year."

The initial plan was to construct Icicle Station this year, but that was pushed back due a variety of issues.

"There were a lot of reasons for the delay," he said. "Getting everybody to the table. It's a big project. I thought it would be a lot easier. We needed to secure funding. There were mudslides in Oregon that caused problems for BNSF and used a lot of their resources."

Now, Eaton is hoping to break ground on the station in March 2009, with the station opening for operations later that year in September.

The train, the Empire Builder, would stop daily at Icicle Station. The westbound train stops at 6:17 a.m. and the eastbound at 8:17 p.m.

For Eaton, this process started five years ago. He said now he can see the end of tunnel.

"I had no idea it would take this long," he said. "But, it's going quicker than others. BNSF is a passenger friendly rail service, but they are not used making arrangements for new stops. Still, BNSF and Amtrak have been excellent to work with."

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or IanD@leavenworthecho.com.