Chicago Union Station, busiest outside the Northeast. Photo by Vincent Desjardins.

As a follow-up to Monday’s map of Amtrak stations by ridership, here are the 10 busiest, ranked in order. Although it’s not surprising that New York, Washington, and Philadelphia are the top 3, it is pretty surprising that 2 of the top 5 and 4 of the top 10 are nowhere near the Northeast.

Number 1: New York Penn Station
8,995,551 boardings/deboardings per year.

Number 2: Washington DC Union Station
4,850,685 boardings/deboardings per year.

Number 3: Philadelphia 30th Street Station
3,872,392 boardings/deboardings per year.

Number 4: Chicago Union Station
3,393,695 boardings/deboardings per year.

Number 5: Los Angeles Union Station
1,606,121 boardings/deboardings per year.

Number 6: Boston South Station
1,360,162 boardings/deboardings per year.

Number 7: Sacramento Valley Station
1,175,046 boardings/deboardings per year.

Number 8: Baltimore Penn Station
953,170 boardings/deboardings per year.

Number 9: Albany-Rensselaer Station
769,626 boardings/deboardings per year.

Number 10: San Diego Union Station
753,739 boardings/deboardings per year.

The rest of the top 25 includes most of the secondary stations in the northeast, like Wilmington (12), BWI Airport (17), and Harrisburg (21), plus 6 more stations outside the northeast. Those are Seattle (14), Portland (15), Irvine (16), Milwaukee (19), Emeryville (20), and Bakersfield (24).

It’s common knowledge that the Northeast Corridor is Amtrak’s best line, but the northeast is not the only place in the US where a lot of people ride intercity trains. This map by Michael Hicks shows that California, the area around Chicago, and the Pacific Northwest also stand out as high ridership areas.

In the map, each circle represents one Amtrak station. The larger the circle, the more riders there are at that station.

Image by Michael Hicks on flickr.

Note: Map creator Mike Hicks updated the map to remove Amtrak bus connections, and add Canadian cities where Amtrak trains end. This post has been updated with the new map. He also supplies the first draft of a separate close-in map of the Northeast. – February 6, 2013

Railroads and the Making of Modern America has a really interesting series of maps up, illustrating how long it took to travel across the country at various times in American history.

In 1800 it took 4 days to get from DC to New York. By 1830 it took only 2, and by the 1850s it could be done in less than 1.

Here’s the first map, but take a look at them all.

Amtrak’s current Virginia map.

America’s passenger rail network may still be decades behind Europe and Asia, but real progress is being made. Virginia in particular is in the midst of a big expansion in service, with at least 4 major improvement projects:

1. 2009 Lynchburg extension: Starting in 2009, some Northeast Regional Amtrak trains running between DC and Boston began going south to Lynchburg, doubling the Amtrak service from Lynchburg to DC.
2. Washington-Richmond track improvements: With help from federal stimulus funding, additional tracks are being added on the busy DC-to-Richmond line. The tracks are currently shared with freight trains and are at capacity, so new tracks will allow more (and faster) passenger trains to run.
3. Norfolk extension: For decades the only Amtrak service to the Norfolk metro area ended at Newport News, well north of the region’s population centers. Starting in just a few days, on December 12, Amtrak will initiate a new route extending from Richmond’s Staples Mill Station (unfortunately not the more convenient Main Street Station) south to downtown Norfolk, with an intermediate stop in Petersburg.
4. Roanoke extension: Starting in 2018, the Lynchburg-DC-Boston train will be extended to Roanoke, which is currently the largest metro area in Virginia without rail service.

These improvements won’t make Virginia the next Japan, but they are solid investments that mark an important return of rail service to key Virginia cities.

In my humble and possibly biased opinion, Washington Union Station is the best train station in the US. A strong case could certainly be made for New York’s Grand Central, and there are plenty of other good ones around the country. But neither our Union Station, nor Grand Central, nor any of America’s largest or most active train stations, have a great train room. There are some small US stations that still have train sheds, such as Harrisburg, but they aren’t grand public spaces like in Europe.

But soon that will change. Denver is building a new train shed on the back of its historic Union Station, in support of a massive regional light rail and commuter rail expansion. And it’s going to be super cool. Construction has been ongoing for quite a while, but over the last week crews have started to put up the train shed itself. You can watch them at work and keep up with progress using the construction webcam.

Here’s what the train room will look like when done:

Image from the Denver Union Station Project Authority.

And here’s their construction progress, as of this morning:

Webcam image from Kiewit Construction.

The platform at NoMa Metro station is one of the best places in the United States to see passenger trains. Since NoMa is above ground just north of Union Station, visitors can see a steady stream of Amtrak, MARC, and VRE trains coming and going from Union Station. And with the US Capitol dome in the distance, there’s also the bonus of a nice setting.

A couple of weeks ago I happened to be there around rush hour, so I stuck around for 15 or 20 minutes and got a bunch of pictures. A few are shown here, with the full set of 24 on flickr.

	Acela.
	Amtrak Regional.
	MARC.
	VRE.

Last year about this time I visited Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver. I prepared a slideshow of transportation photos from the three cities to share with coworkers. It’s essentially a tour of rail, bus, and bike infrastructure within each city. Why not share it here too?

Click the image to download a pdf of the slideshow. It’s about 16 Mb. If you just want to see the photos in flickr without commentary, here they are.

Click to download pdf.

Starting today, Greyhound and Peter Pan buses that have traditionally used their own bus station at 1st and L St, NE will instead use the Union Station garage. The 1st and L site was sold for redevelopment, so the bus station building there will soon be no more.

It’s doubtful that anyone will shed a tear for the old bus station, which has about as poor a street presence as a transit station could possibly have, and which is obviously an under-use of its downtown land. But still, a transit station is a transit station, and I love transit stations. So bad as the building’s reputation may be, I do regret never visiting the place before it lost its transit.

Having never been inside, and being curious, I asked on twitter if anyone has photos of the place. Luckily, NoMa ANC Commissioner Tony Goodman was there today for the closing, and responded with a picture, copied below. Thanks Tony!

Bus station interior. My curiosity is satisfied.

The Long Bridge. Photo by Monika & Tim via flickr.

DC will soon kick off a new study, focused on potential replacement or expansion options for Long Bridge, the rail-only Potomac River bridge that carries Amtrak, VRE, and freight trains between DC and Virginia.

The bridge, which was originally built in 1904 and then substantially rebuilt in 1942, is a major bottleneck and capacity constraint on rail services in the region. It has only two tracks, which severely limits the number of trains that can move across the river. This study will be an opportunity to evaluate the need for more tracks, which if built could increase Amtrak and VRE service south of DC.

DDOT will also consider other modes. Would it make sense to add a bike trail to the bridge, or separate tracks for streetcars? DC and Arlington both have plans for streetcars near the river on either side of Long Bridge, so connecting them might make sense.

The study is just starting, so it will be a while before recommendations start to come out. But it’s definitely one to keep an eye on.

Amtrak made a big splash last month when they released plans to overhaul DC Union Station, but did you know that many other cities are also making big investments in their rail depots? The list, and the renderings, are pretty impressive.

Los Angeles Union Station opened in 1939 and is often referred to as “last of the great railway stations in America.” And for the past 3/4 of a century that superlative has been largely correct. As rail travel declined, so did rail station design. During the latter half of the 20th Century, many cities replaced their grand historic depots with so-called “amshaks”, cheap and awful buildings that have more in common with utility sheds than anything else.

But now that’s all changing, and soon Los Angeles will have to give up its title.

Look at all these plans from big cities around the rest of America:

New York Moynihan Station | project website This plan would shift New York’s Penn Station over one block, to reconceive the historic post office building next door as a station building.
Atlanta MultiModal Passenger Terminal | project website Future new intercity rail station.
Denver Union Station | project website Renovation of historic depot and addition of a new train room, service Amtrak, regional, and ski trains.
Miami Central Station | project website New multimodal station at Miami airport, integrating Amtrak with local rail. Not downtown, but will become the main transit transfer point in the city.
Seattle King Street Station | project website Major restoration of historic depot, which had degraded significantly.
Charlotte Gateway Station | project website New station integrating Amtrak with local rail.
Saint Paul Union Depot | project website Renovation of historic depot for Amtrak and local use.
Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center | project website Four-block project integrating Amtrak with local service. A series of new station buildings will be added surrounding the historic depot, which is used as Jacksonville’s convention center.
Raleigh Union Station | project website Adaptive reuse of a historic warehouse to become a new Amtrak station.
Thanks to the California High Speed Rail (CAHSR) project, that state has several major station projects in planning. Los Angeles Union Station | project website Expansion of existing historic station, to include a new train room for CAHSR. A final design has not yet been picked, so multiple options are still under consideration.
San Francisco Transbay Terminal | project website Reconstruction of an existing bus station to handle future California High Speed Rail, as well as local regional/commuter rail.
Sacramento Station | project website New station for CAHSR.
San Jose Diridon Station | project website New train room at existing station to integrate CA HSR with local rail.
Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center | project website New station for CAHSR.
Fresno Southern Pacific Station | project website New train room at historic depot for CAHSR.