Amtrak connections to local rail transit - Is Chicago the worst?

[MARC Rider]

This topic comes to mind because it's getting close to my quasi-annual trip to a conference in Rosemont, IL. When I arrive in CHI, I need to ride the Blue Line L train to get to the hotel. This involves a walk down Clinton to the subway stop, and then manhandling my roller bag down a flight of steps and through the turnstile. At least there's an escalator to the platform. And there's an escalator at the other end in Rosemont. The trip back to Union Station involves hauling the damn suitcase up the steps at Clinton. It finally hit home to me I was getting older when, a few years ago, someone offered to help me with the suitcase as I was taking it up the steps.

OK, so I'm a wimp who is too used to the easy pickings of the DC Metro, where you leave WUS, and it's all escalators or elevators (and inside, too) right until you leave the destination station, but it seems to me that Chicago has some of the lousiest connections of any big city with rail transit between the Amtrak station and the transit system. The only one that's worse is my native Baltimore, and even they have a light rail stop (even if it doesn't go anywhere) at Penn Station. Perhaps I've missed some other cities with poor connections, but as I tick them off in my mind, NY, Boston, LA, San Diego all have the metro/light rail right at the station. Philadelphia, you have to go outside, and I don't know if they have an elevator or escalator. (They sure didn't in the early 70s when I was using it a lot.) Miami has pretty lousy connectivity, but they are working on it. Is there any large city with the connectivity as bad as Chicago?

Now, Illinois and Chicago are reasonably rail-friendly at the state and local level, would it be too much of an expense to make the Clinton stop an "accessible station?" While they're at it, if they could put in an elevator at the Quincy L stop on the Loop, that would help people arriving by Amtrak to ride to the North, West, and South Side. I know there's an elevator at the Washington/Wells stop, because I used it last year for the Gathering, but it seems kind of tacky to require people with luggage to walk the extra blocks, especially considering the kind of weather that is common enough in Chicago. I know this isn't some sort of shiny new toy like High Speed Rail, but it's a lot cheaper, and it would do a lot to make using Union Station easier.

 

[Ryan]

I'll nominate Atlanta, where the only way to transfer from Amtrak to MARTA is via bus.

 

[Long Train Runnin']

I'll nominate Atlanta, where the only way to transfer from Amtrak to MARTA is via bus.

beat me to it I was going to say Atlanta.

What about Boston South Station? It's been a while since I've been there but can you catch anything aside from the Sliver line there? That's the only connection I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[jis]

I'll nominate Atlanta, where the only way to transfer from Amtrak to MARTA is via bus.

beat me to it I was going to say Atlanta.

What about Boston South Station? It's been a while since I've been there but can you catch anything aside from the Sliver line there? That's the only connection I can think of off the top of my head.

The historical Red Line is what most use from South Station. Silver Line is mostly good for just going to the airport.
And from the Red Line you can connect to almost everything else in the T system.

 

[MattW]

Boston South has the Red Line.

Atlanta is easily the worst, the bus only comes once every 15 minutes during the week, unless the Crescent is late in which case you're stuck waiting as much as 30 minutes if you came in on #20. The weekend is every 20 minutes.

 

[fairviewroad]

The only one that's worse is my native Baltimore, and even they have a light rail stop (even if it doesn't go anywhere) at Penn Station.

Well, it goes into downtown Baltimore. And you can easily transfer to the rest of the system. The chief problem with the Baltimore/Penn Station light rail is the infrequency of the service (30 minute or more headways even during weekday rush hour).

Philadelphia, you have to go outside, and I don't know if they have an elevator or escalator.

There is an elevator at the 30th Street subway station, at least to the Blue Line platform. (The Green Line is not "accessible" at all)

To your main point, Amtrak-to-light rail in Seattle is an unfriendly connection, especially for first-time visitors. (Contrast that with PDX, where the light rail is directly across the street.)

 

[fairviewroad]

What about Boston South Station?

As others have noted, you can catch the Red Line there. But it's almost a moot point, since unless you are specifically heading to a Red Line station, most Amtrak-to-T passengers will make the connection at Back Bay station.

 

[SarahZ]

The CTA has been pouring money into improving several stations that are in even worse shape than Clinton, but most of their money is currently dedicated to improving the tracks. The Brown Line in particular has lots of "slow zones"; you have to remember the L dates back to the 19th Century. I imagine the people who live/commute there are more interested in fast, reliable service than anything else.

Additionally, even the stops with escalators sometimes have to shut down the escalator for repairs. The Chicago weather that you mentioned takes a toll on the escalators. I was shocked when the escalator was on at the Chicago Red Line stop. I hadn't seen it operating in about a year (or maybe I just picked the wrong weekends to visit).

I agree that they need escalators and/or elevators at every stop, but it becomes a question of: do we fix the tracks, the crumbling stations, the elevators, or the escalators first? And then, once those issues are fixed, where do we decide to install escalators and elevators first?

Here is the current list of Improvement Projects:

http://www.transitchicago.com/news_initiatives/projects/default.aspx

And here is the list of studies, mostly having to do with possible service expansion:

http://www.transitchicago.com/news_initiatives/planning/default.aspx

 

[Bob Dylan]

I agree with Atlanta being the worst but Boston screwed up the North Station transfer by not having the T Station be inside North Station when the Station and the Garden were rebuilt!!I agree Seattle could have done a much better job of connectivity @ Union and King Street Stations!

Austin is on a fast track to being the next Atlanta while "vehicle" cities like Dallas and LA are really getting their act together when it comes to Mass transportation!

My favorite is still Washington, I watched the Metro go from a small Red Line to a real useful and convienent system, but since I'm retired I don't get there much anymore!

I like the Chicago system myself but as was said, its more geared to getting the riders to/ from the burbs/airports as opposed to looks or convienence but for a corrupt city they do pretty well!

 

[afigg]

Now, Illinois and Chicago are reasonably rail-friendly at the state and local level, would it be too much of an expense to make the Clinton stop an "accessible station?" While they're at it, if they could put in an elevator at the Quincy L stop on the Loop, that would help people arriving by Amtrak to ride to the North, West, and South Side. I know there's an elevator at the Washington/Wells stop, because I used it last year for the Gathering, but it seems kind of tacky to require people with luggage to walk the extra blocks, especially considering the kind of weather that is common enough in Chicago. I know this isn't some sort of shiny new toy like High Speed Rail, but it's a lot cheaper, and it would do a lot to make using Union Station easier.

I took Amtrak to CHI in July and encountered the same hassles carrying or pulling my luggage along that you did. There are modernization projects for the L which are repairing/replacing line segments and upgrading some stations with escalators & elevators. For the elevated loop stations, they are supposed to build a new station on Wabash Ave/Washington that will replace the 2 loop stations on either side which will have elevators and escalators.

Without having dived into the long range plans for the L, I expect there are plans to modernize the Blue Line Clinton and Quincy loop stations. But if only a couple of stations are modernized at a time in 1 to 2 year projects it will take a long time for a system the size of the L with 145 stations to complete upgrading of all the stations. Perhaps it is an item that gets addressed as part of a major Chicago Union Station improvement project.

As for 30th Street, it does provide easy access to the SEPTA regional rail system. It is not a long walk to the Market-Frankford line station and there is an elevator down to the mezzanine (pretty sure about that). However, there is an planning process underway to study development potential and improvements around 30th St station. IMO, as part of any major 30th St improvement project, they should restore and rebuild the pedestrian tunnel to the Market-Frankford station with a wider, safer tunnel.

In the DC region, we are fortunate in that all 4 Amtrak stations are co-located with Metro stations with generally easy access between the two. The only one that is somewhat awkward, the Alexandria VA station with the sidewalk under the bridge, will have a new pedestrian tunnel built under the Metro and CSX tracks with elevators leading right up to the Alexandria/VRE platforms. It will make it very easy to transfer between the stations for anyone towing luggage or with kids in a stroller. Construction of the tunnel is supposed to start by end of this year or early 2015, the last I heard.

Good topic!

 

[PerRock]

Detroit only has one bus route stopping at the station proper (there are a few others less then a block away). Which has a bus run (it looks like) every 10mins.

peter

 

[Railroad Bill]

I will nominate Cleveland since it has a Rapid Station right next to the Amtrak station, but no trains run in the early morning hours when the Amtrak trains arrive. It certainly would make for a nice connection to downtown Cleveland, the airport, the Shaker Rapid, bus system and Greyhound station if they ran the line down to the lakefront at late/early hours.

 

[guest]

I will nominate Cleveland since it has a Rapid Station right next to the Amtrak station, but no trains run in the early morning hours when the Amtrak trains arrive. It certainly would make for a nice connection to downtown Cleveland, the airport, the Shaker Rapid, bus system and Greyhound station if they ran the line down to the lakefront at late/early hours.

Yeah but Amtrak is so late that often the light rail is running when the trains pass through.

 

[SteveSTX]

I nominate Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States, which probably the worst of the large cities when it comes to mass transit. Our idea of mass transit is a mass of cars transiting slowly down a freeway.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I nominate Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States, which probably the worst of the large cities when it comes to mass transit. Our idea of mass transit is a mass of cars transiting slowly down a freeway.

True this!!!( Sadly Austin, the 11th Largest is trying to imitate them!)

 

[neutralist]

remember that the city of Chicago and State of Illinois are rail-friendly, they are considered near-bankrupt entities. too bad we did not get the Olympics. It will be a lifesaver if we do. Atlanta is a great example.

 

[NorthShore]

Quincy is considered an historically accurate station. So I doubt it will ever get an elevator.

Clinton is on an odd space with a small footprint. In order to expand to use elevators and escalators it would take a major reconstruction. Unfortunately, I think it is still seen as the poor, bastard stepchild of a station, akin to what Grand and Chicago on the Blue Line were twenty years ago, before the neighborhoods revived and they reopened beyond rush hours.

 

[SanDiegan]

Oakland and Emeryville: Bus only. BART is not even close.

 

[GG-1]

Las Vegas is the worst!

Aloha

 

[Orie]

I definitely second Cleveland. The trains depart between 2-5 am, the station is in a very bad neighborhood, the only safe way to get there is to take a cab.

 

[SubwayNut]

I don't agree with Oakland and Emeryville. Those individual two stations are bad but Amtrak California is well served with BART connections by Richmond to the North and the Oakland Coliseum Station to the south.

Charlotte, NC needs to be mentioned, there's no crosswalk to safely cross the nearby street and leave the station to reach the nearest bus stop for the mile and half ride reach the LYNX light rail.

St Paul, MN (until 2014)

 

[afigg]

Detroit only has one bus route stopping at the station proper (there are a few others less then a block away). Which has a bus run (it looks like) every 10mins.

The subject of this thread is connections to local rail transit. Since Detroit doesn't have (yet) rail transit beyond the people mover, it barely qualifies. I think the issue is really about connections at the Amtrak stations for cities that have at least a minimal level of rail transit, be it a light rail line or streetcar lines that are useful, or all the way up to the NYC subway system. The good news for Detroit is that the M-1 streetcar will have a stop at the train station. Hopefully it will be designed to have reasonably convenient access between the streetcar stop and the Amtrak station.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Atlanta isn't a major city. It's in Georgia. It can't be major.

 

[neutralist]

Atlanta isn't a major city. It's in Georgia. It can't be major.

Major enough to join the league of cities that have hosted the summer Olympics.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

It's still a Rebel city. It don't count.