$3.9M In Repairs Sought or Leaky Union Station In Worcester

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester may soon start a nearly $4 million project to fix waterproofing problems at Union Station, which officials are calling "severe, significant and ongoing."

The Worcester Redevelopment Authority on Thursday morning voted on a plan to increase the budget of an ongoing MBTA platform project at the station by $3.9 million. That money would be used to fix water leak problems across Union Station, with 80 percent of the money coming from the Federal Transit Administration, and 20 percent coming from the WRA's budget.

The WRA vote signaled an intent to start waterproofing work, but the agency still has to wait for the Worcester City Council to complete work on the fiscal year 2023 budget to have its 20 percent share of the project. The council typically finishes the budget in May or June.

The need to waterproof areas of the 110-year-old train station were documented in 2015 by the architecture firm Lamoureux Pagano. The firm suggested three levels of fixes for the station starting at $6 million on the high end, and $1.3 million on the low end.

The MBTA this winter began building a new center platform at Union Station to allow multiple trains to board at once. Union Station is the only one along the Framingham-Worcester line that can only board one train at a time. About $3.2 million of the $45 million project will come from the WRA, but that would grow to $7.1 million with the new waterproofing costs.

Union Station was abandoned in the early 1970s with the cessation of passenger service. The WRA purchased and renovated the station and reopened it in 2000.