$40 million train station planned for northern Delaware

The new Claymont Regional Transportation Center will replace the existing Claymont station, parts of which were built in the early 1900’s.

The new train station will be integrated into the redevelop of the 420-acre former Evraz Claymont Steel facility. The project will cost $40 million. Construction is expected to start in March 2018 with the first trains rolling through in May of 2020.

“Claymont has waited long enough for a new station,” said U.S. Senator Chris Coons. “To the folks who for years have taken the train from the Claymont station and have had to put up with flooding in tunnels crowded parking, getting on a train that’s on a tilt, believe it Claymont. Your time has come. Your train is arriving.”

The project will be funded in part with a $10 million TIGER grant from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation. Other funding sources include another $13 million in federal funding, plus $16 million from DelDOT.

“The regional transportation center will improve the mobility of travelers in a region growing economically and demographically,” said DelDOT Secretary Jennifer Cohan. The new station will include more parking, better access for both pedestrians and bicycles. “The new multi-modal center will be accessible to the growing number of residents and visitors to the area.”

Currently about 1,200 riders use the existing station on weekdays, with about 100 passengers using it on weekends.

The station will be integrated into the redevelopment work at the old Claymont Steel site. The steel mill closed for the final time in 2013 after several reductions in staffing. When it closed, 375 workers were out of a job. “The folks in Claymont could have given up, they could have said ‘that’s it,’” said U.S. Senator Tom Carper. “They refused to give up…we’re going to have a world class train station in Claymont Delaware.”

The steel plant redevelopment includes a mixed-use campus with office, commercial, and light industrial sites.