As Debate and Delay Over Paoli Transportation Center Drag On, Coatesville Gets Go Ahead

Development in and around the Paoli Transportation Center has been a hot topic of the campaigns for tredyffrin Board of Supervisor Candidates, both in the May primary and in the current fall campaigns.

On a normal weekday there are nine westbound Amtrak trains and four eastbound Amtrak trains scheduled to stop at Coatesville.  The are 14 Amtrak trains scheduled to stop in each direction in Paoli.

According to the website Great American Stations, 14,382 passengers used the Coatesville Station in the year ending September 30, 2010. By contrast, the Paoli Train Station handled 153,154 Amtrak Passengers. in the year ending September 30, 2010. That's more than 10.6 times the number of Amtrak passengers who use Coatesville and does not even include the hundreds of thousands of SEPTA passengers travel through Paoli by bus and regional rail.

SEPTA regional rail trains only go as far west as Thorndale and do not serve Coatesville.

Now there is potential new fodder for debate among the candidates in Monday night's Tredyffrin Board of Supervisors candidate's debate.  According to a report in the Chester County Daily Local News, the Coatesville Train Station will be the first in Chester County to be renovated with $16 million in state and federal grants.

Why is a station that's so much smaller than Paoli with one-tenth the Amtrak ridership ahead of Paoli on the list? Yes, there are issues about bringing Coatesville up to the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  That still leaves the question of just under one million dollars for "streetscaping" by the coatesville station. 

There are many questions surrounding Paoli's move down the list that candidates for the Board of Supervisors may well be asked or asking during the debate at 7 p.m. at the   The answers may actually be found in West Chester, Harrisburg and Washington.