When was this work started? When I was last in Washington, in September, I did not use the lower level at all. I was glad to see that the passenger carts had been repaired so I was able to ride (last spring, it was either wheel chair oruse my walker).
Johnny
“Things of quality have no fear of time.”
Station claims that renovations to lower level access will be finished by the end of this year. 2018 Typo ?
Doug Allen, Chief Executive Officer
Work continues on upgrades to passenger areas of Washington Union Station. The improvements will accommodate Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express passengers who access the lower platforms via Gate L, Tracks 23 to 28. Once the project has been completed, customers will access new escalators, an elevator, and refreshed platforms. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.
Construction of a new elevator leading to the platform
Announcing new, more detailed, color-coded Train Talk e-mail alerts. The new format for Train Talks allow for deeper explanations on a number of issues, offer helpful reminders, and provide links to related topics. Plus, the color coding and subject line naming convention will enable riders to quickly recognize the time sensitivity of a message.
Thank you for your generous Toys for Tots donations this morning! The Marines had to make two trips to collect the toys, and monetary donations totaled over $15,000!
CEO Doug Allen with Marines collecting Toys for Tots donations
Have ideas, likes or critiques on the contents of RIDE Magazine or the RIDE E-Newsletter? Give us your input.
General inquiries? Submit a Form, e-mail gotrains@vre.org, or call 703-684-1001.
Read this month's full issue online, or grab a magazine on board. This e-newsletter provides abbreviated articles and updates.
ABOUT VRE: Virginia Railway Express (VRE) began its service in 1992 for commuters in the Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. area. VRE’s routes include the Fredericksburg and Manassas lines running parallel to the I-66 and I-95 corridors. VRE focuses on providing safe, cost-effective, accessible, reliable, convenient, and customer responsive services to its riders. VRE is a joint project of its two parent transportation commissions, the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) and the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission (PRTC).
The secret is to get old. I used to do the cattle call at Washington, but once I turned 62, I made sure my ticket said "senior" on it, and I make use of the "senior boarding" and get to the train ahead of the rush.
I have always liked the setup of LA Union Station everything flows very smoothly there and its very airy and easy to get to where you need to go.
All doors open and run to whatever the proper platform and any train door is open and have conducter collect tickets on the train seems to be the Europeon model. Better yet have each seat have a bar code and RFID reader and passenger taps there ticket or device on the reader. This lining up like cows has to go.
We really need to look at the passenger traffic today as opposed to the past. Some one who has the resources is that we need to get a breakdown on traffic paterns, For each RR LD passenger terminations, LD connecting, commuter traffic.Number of trains etc. Many posters have stated that WASH traffic today is highest than even WW-2.
It is obvious that the traffic mix taday is much different than the past. The new layout of the station will meet that different mix without changing the needs of Amtrak. The addition of a middle of the train concourse will speed loading and unloading.
Making the platforms wider will also help. The main problem is PRR extending the concourse by shortening upper platforms about 2 car lengths. That shortsighted change will cause a very expensive construction to extend the platforms and having to move and add another set of slip ( puzzle ) switches.
Therefore the track portion of the addition could not be financially feasible to be built in the same style.
D.CarletonThere was no food court back then.
I don't know about a food court but there was a coffee shop or dining facility. Back in 1954, my high school senior class trip was by B&O from Cincinnati on a special train ( believe it was dispatched as second section of #12 and had classes from all the Cincy area schools. My graduating class had about 30 on the trip had 1/2 of a coach and I believe the train had about 15 cars including an obs lounge car. Our tour disembarked at Wasington Union Station where we had breakfast before reboarding another train for Baltimore. We had four nights in a hotel in Washington, bus tour from Baltimore and through Washington and all meals for about $52. As a railfan, I have many fond memories. I won't go into them here.
Deggesty CandOforprogress2 I am hopeing for something more classical. Now I have been downstairs the to food court and see the track numbers and blocked off holes for the platforms but how did the passengers flow upstairs was there a ramp of some sort? As I recall, passengers did not go downstairs but proceeded from the waiting room through the concourse to the upper level tracks or to the stairways to the lower level tracks.There was no food court back then. At least a part of the downstairs held the baggage room (which is where the runaway engine in 1953, landed). Since I never checked any baggage to Washington back then, I donot know how the system worked.
CandOforprogress2 I am hopeing for something more classical. Now I have been downstairs the to food court and see the track numbers and blocked off holes for the platforms but how did the passengers flow upstairs was there a ramp of some sort?
I am hopeing for something more classical. Now I have been downstairs the to food court and see the track numbers and blocked off holes for the platforms but how did the passengers flow upstairs was there a ramp of some sort?
As I recall, passengers did not go downstairs but proceeded from the waiting room through the concourse to the upper level tracks or to the stairways to the lower level tracks.There was no food court back then. At least a part of the downstairs held the baggage room (which is where the runaway engine in 1953, landed). Since I never checked any baggage to Washington back then, I donot know how the system worked.
John A. Droege, Passenger Trains and Terminals, pg. 117The larger part of the basement of the station is devoted to the handling of baggage. Teaming space is provided at this level and such baggage as is checked in the baggage checking room is brought down on an elevator provided for that purpose. There are four trucking subways giving access to the train platforms. Two of these, 16 ft. wide, extend the whole length of the station. The other two are transverse subways; one 60 ft. wide, is at the station end; the other from 20 to 42 ft. wide, is at the other end of the platforms and gives connection with the express building, 420 ft. by 60 ft., which is beyond the northeast corner of the station.
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
Thats more like what we need tired of shopping malls
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Train_concourse,_new_Pennsylvania_Station_4a23931v.jpg
CandOforprogress2 Please contact your congressperson to stop this desecration of our temple http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2016/03/amtrak-unleashes-plan-to-expand-cramped-union.html#i1
Please contact your congressperson to stop this desecration of our temple
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2016/03/amtrak-unleashes-plan-to-expand-cramped-union.html#i1
The plan for expansion of the "Claytor Concourse" isn't all that bad: http://nec.amtrak.com/sites/default/files/WAS2C%20Concourse%20Modernization%20Factsheet_FINAL.pdf
As mentioned by others the waiting area gets rather crowded these days; especially when you are denied used of the lounge f.k.a. Metropolitan because a former female Secretary of State happens to be riding that day but I won't mention any names.
When one looks back at all the open waiting space that was lost the whole thing becomes ironic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Train_concourse,_new_Pennsylvania_Station_4a23931v.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USO_Lounge_Union_Station_Washington_D.C._ppc.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:21_interior_waiting_room_union_station_030030pu.tif
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:29._apparently_ca._1915_INTERIOR,_WAITING_ROOM_030038pv.jpg
But if you think the new expansion is a desecration, just wait until you see the what they have in mind for the future: http://www.wnyc.org/story/286851-pics-heres-what-a-revamped-d-c-union-station-would-look-like/
Southwest, the nations largest air doesn't assign seats either. Its cheaper, and certain more efficient than the traditional air lines. If you want to have more control of where you sit on SWA, you up grade ( ie pay more ) no one in the air line industry can aurgue that SWA doesn't have the shortest dwell time and some if the best utilization numbers for its fleet.
Travel has changed its all about making it quick and easy. Amtrak could offer some reserved seating as an up grade. But perhaps its a north east thing. Its how they load long distance, corridor and commuter trains. If your not comfortable with that, Upgrade to first class or business class. If not you get the SWA travel experience. Which works well for them.
traveling has changed. Its no longer a grand journey which took days at a time. People dont dress up to catch s flight. Many folks want to spend as little time as possible at the station or air port. Stations like air ports are no longer the great cathedral's they use to be. Just beginning and end points, not a destination upon themselves.
Just saying, my take on life in 2016.
Dave Klepper: DB's ICE-3 trains in Germany can carry up to 441 passengers. Sometimes two are combined. Yet they seem to manage to stop, unload and load, all in 2-3 minutes. Platforms are often packed with passengers awaiting the arrival. They line up at the denoted location on the platform opposite the car their seats are in. Disembarking passengers step down and off, and then the embarking ones board. Thus, there is frequently an exchange of several hundred people. Having all doors open automatically or by touching a green pushbutton helps. There is no rational reason why a similar system could not work here.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Yet transit/subways use their platforms for simultaneous deboarding and boarding every day multiple times a day with many more people.
It seems a lack of common sense to jam up station interiors with the cattle call lines.
What we need is something more classical to match the rest of the station with Terra-Cotta Columns and Greek Statues of chizled half naked Greek gods and goddeses... Since Amtrak is Goverment does there archetecture have to be as blaa and brutalist as other tasteless Gov buildings (Like the FBI headquarters). How long wil the Sani-White Color scene of the proposed concorse last before it turns into a pudding yellow?
schlimm Union Station and Ogilvie Center in Chicago are both very busy. Yet passengers can go to the platform for commuter trains before it arrives.In Germany, all stations permit/require passengers to go to the platform before the train's arrival. Since often there is only 2 minutes' dwell time, you need to line up on the platform where you coach will be or else you would miss the train. I really do not see any valid reason why we need cattle call lines.
Union Station and Ogilvie Center in Chicago are both very busy. Yet passengers can go to the platform for commuter trains before it arrives.In Germany, all stations permit/require passengers to go to the platform before the train's arrival. Since often there is only 2 minutes' dwell time, you need to line up on the platform where you coach will be or else you would miss the train. I really do not see any valid reason why we need cattle call lines.
My thoughts exactly.
Anybody ever ride Vancouver's Sea Bus. The cataraman Ferry that crosses Vancouver's harbor to North Vancouver. Arrives at the terminal, all doors (6) on one side open, and everybody exits, then the doors open on the other side and all the new passenger board. They seat 385 people plus standies. A very efficient operation. Crossing time is about 10 to 12 minutes and the turnaround time is about 3 minutes. They are scheduled for departure every 15 minutes. At each end are bus (diesel and trolley) terminals for multiple routes that fill these ferrys. If you are a transit fan, this is an operation to see.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeaBus
pajrr Another thing to remember is that at major stations, while several hundred people may be waiting to board, several hundred are getting off, too. Leaving the platform empty makes it easy to handle passengers who are disembarking. You can get them out of the way and then make the same platform available to the new group getting on. The train won't leave without you. Everyone is in too much of a hurry. Common sense has long been left behind.
Another thing to remember is that at major stations, while several hundred people may be waiting to board, several hundred are getting off, too. Leaving the platform empty makes it easy to handle passengers who are disembarking. You can get them out of the way and then make the same platform available to the new group getting on. The train won't leave without you. Everyone is in too much of a hurry. Common sense has long been left behind.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
So historically, did passenger always have to wait in the station area (and not on the platforms)? My local amtrak stations (on the Keystone Line) always seemed simple: you get your ticket, and go down and wait on the platform. Then you get to 30th street, and all the people are lined all over the place while the platforms sit empty between trains. Never made much sense to me.
I’m pretty familiar with Washington DC Union Station. As pointed out in one of the prior posts, the existing concourse area is nothing like the original concourse (except for the building shell). The interior is a jumble of inadequate waiting areas, shops and ticketing facilities all of which are modern. The original concourse area, in contrast was pretty much open. From the pictures, the WDC “modernization” plan appears designed to remove much of the existing jumble in favor of more open space and larger waiting areas, which would be more faithful to the original design of the building than what’s there now.
With respect to the suggestion that Amtrak use “assigned seating”, my question is what problem this would solve. As a practical matter, NE corridor regional trains are more like commuter trains than long distance intercity trains, with lots of people constantly getting on and off at intermediate stations. Throwing in assigned seating would simply increase station dwell times. If the goal is to reduce lines at major stations, there’s a much simpler solution that doesn’t require the complexities of seat assignments – boarding groups.
The airlines provide a good example of this. I fly pretty regularly (although not as regularly as I did before I retired). My experience is that Southwest Airlines, which does not use assigned seating, consistently boards aircraft much faster than airlines which use assigned seating. Southwest’s current procedure is to assign each passenger a number in 3 boarding groups (A1-60, B1-60 and so on), and the passengers line up one group at a time behind numbered pedestals. The system seems to work pretty well – most people stay seated until their group is called because there’s no advantage in getting into the boarding que first. The boarding numbers are generally assigned based on the order the boarding passes are obtained (Amtrak would have to use something else – perhaps ticket purchase time/date). More recently, Southwest has instituted options where, for an additional charge, a passenger can get a better boarding number (but not an assigned seat), an income opportunity which Amtrak could also use if it made use of a similar system. Another advantage to a system like this is that it would not have to be used at all stations or at all times
CMStPnPYou even had some saying the U.S. gave the missiles to the ME rebels.........also not possible since the missile is no longer in the U.S. Inventory.....obviously it came from another ME country like Saudi Arabia.
Obsolete (not in current inventory) US weapons are often given to other combatants by non-DOD US agencies.
In the late 1950's, I often came into WDC's Union Station from Connecticut to go to school and it seems to me that what is now the shopping/food court was the train concourse being very wide and having lots of room for passengers to sort themselves out as they headed to and from various tracks. While the US population is much bigger now, the percentage traveling by train was much larger than today and while today's most common WDC passenger is probably a commuter, back a few decades there were plenty of long haul passengers including many switching railroads for more destinations. Adding 20,000 sq. ft. is a symbolic improvement only: possibly adding another zero would make sense.
Deggesty
That is a good point. I have been on Amtrak trains from Florida, Tennessee and Wisconsin in the past 40 years . It is odd that there has never been assigned seating. It would make things a lot easier. By the way, All Aboard Florida plans to have assigned seats plus marked boarding points on the platforms (digital signs) for individual cars. I guess Amtrak really can't learn and improve in the modern age after all these years. It isn't just because of funding issues, it's lack of leadership. Why can't I take a train from Tampa to DC and know exactly where I will sit before I board?
In a word: Amtrak sucks. I hate to say it, but it's the truth. We need better. I hope AAF takes over passenger rail in Florida and brings us modern passenger rail service here.
JPS1The overwhelming majority of Amtrak's passengers don't travel first class. On my last trip from Philadelphia to New York, which was business class on a NE regional train last year, everyone lined up at the top of the stairs. The line snaked around the stairwell.
Philadelphia is a another station that needs rework. I took a train out of there about three years ago to D.C. Just like you described, line up the stairs then everyone runs to the train or walks fast like scared chipmunks running to their holes..........it was ridiculous. If I wanted that experience I would fly to Spain for the running of the Bulls.
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