(The Associated Press circulated the following story on December 24.)
PHILADELPHIA — “Next stop will be Benjamin Franklin Station … Benjamin Franklin station is next!”
Those might be the words heard on Amtrak trains as they pull into Philadelphia if the Pew Charitable Trusts gets its way.
Pew president Rebecca W. Rimel has asked Amtrak to rename 30th Street Station for one of the city’s most famous residents to honor the 300th anniversary of Franklin’s birth.
The railroad is “continuing to consider the idea,” Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said.
The request was made in an Aug. 24 letter from Rimel to Amtrak chairman David M. Laney. In the letter, which was obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer for a story in Sunday’s editions, Rimel said Pew would consider paying for the new signs the station would need.
Pew spokeswoman Deborah L. Hayes would not discuss whether the organization was seeking the change.
The station has been known as 30th Street Station since it was opened by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1930s. The name distinguished it from the since-demolished Broad Street Station and the North Philadelphia station, which is still in use by Amtrak and commuter rail lines.
David Gunn, who was Amtrak’s president until he was fired last month, described the idea as “nuts.”
“I’ve never been a fan of fooling around with the names of stations. It tends to be done by people who don’t ride the system,” Gunn said.
John Gallery, head of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, said the city has enough things named after Franklin already. Those include the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the Franklin Institute science museum and Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania.
“If we wanted another, why not one that has a direct association with Franklin, or institutions Franklin initiated?” Gallery said. “Renaming 30th Street Station seems neither appropriate nor a fitting way to commemorate Franklin.”
But some people like the idea, such as Mike Ruggieri, a 19-year-old Drexel University student working at a pretzel stand in the station.
“It fits in with the city’s identity and makes it more personal to Philadelphia,” Ruggieri said. “Ben Franklin did so much for the city. It’s fitting.”