Washington DC Union Station facilities, convenience and experiences

[yuzu]

I wonder if you could expand on this. From my map reading, it seems like the end of the Streetcar route is Union Station, not inside but at the intersection of H Street and Capitol Street, which google maps says is a 9 minute (1/2 mile) walk from the exit of Union Station. Once aboard the Streetcar, your ride to the H Street Coridor would be direct and take a couple of minutes.

From the Streetcar to Union Station is completely unintuitive:

The end of the streetcar is in the middle of a busy street with fencing everywhere. To enter Union Station from the streetcar, you have to get from the streetcar in the middle of a street to a parking garage on the other side:

https://goo.gl/maps/hgJkw5LBfA1kwvVX6
There is nothing about the parking garage that indicates it serves as the entrance to a train station. The signage indicates "PARK," "Buses," "Rental Car Returns," etc., but has no mention of Union Station.

https://goo.gl/maps/3GFsphH6jmEF3gSn7
You then have to walk through a parking lot of buses until you get to the main bus terminal area, from which there is another set of corridors that take you to the train station.

Going the other way is unintuitive as well:

From the train boarding area, if you want to get to H Street/Streetcar, you don't follow the normal exit signs. Instead, you have to follow the sign "Buses, Parking Garage, Car Rental," which makes no mention of an H Street exit or streetcar service:

https://goo.gl/maps/Ds7sRoLqpEf2w5yU9
It is only once you are nearly to the bus terminal that you see any mention of the streetcar:

https://goo.gl/maps/nztJkTvbDhDsqxEV9
And you still have to walk through an unattractive corridor, through an unattractive parking garage, down a busy street, and to the fenced-in median of the busy street to wait for the streetcar.

 

[joelkfla]

Going the other way is unintuitive as well:

From the train boarding area, if you want to get to H Street/Streetcar, you don't follow the normal exit signs. Instead, you have to follow the sign "Buses, Parking Garage, Car Rental," which makes no mention of an H Street exit or streetcar service:

https://goo.gl/maps/Ds7sRoLqpEf2w5yU9It is only once you are nearly to the bus terminal that you see any mention of the streetcar:

There's a sign over the east passageway from the Great Hall. I didn't know WashDC had a streetcar until I saw that sign and asked someone about it.



I agree, though, that the walk to the streetcar stop is neither attractive nor obvious.

 

[daybeers]

And who wants to use it anyway? The X2 bus is more frequent, more reliable, and faster. Even walking is quicker than the streetcar.

 

[Anderson]

And who wants to use it anyway? The X2 bus is more frequent, more reliable, and faster. Even walking is quicker than the streetcar.

I think there are two problems with the streetcar. First is that it doesn't connect very well with anything else (as indicated in this thread). Second is that it's really too short to be "a thing".

If the line were extended to the west to at least Metro Center (I might want to extend it to meet up with one of the Metro lines across the river as well, but I don't know how "bad" that area is), if not all the way to Georgetown, it might serve a more clear purpose. But as things stand, it's something of an isolate in the "system".

[This is a running problem with "modern streetcar" services - they're often either (1) isolated or (2) oddball stand-alone spurs rather than being properly integrated into systems. The fact that Seattle's streetcars are separated (the **** got integrated with the light rail "after the fact" while the other line...really doesn't connect smoothly with anything IIRC) is probably emblematic of that. But in general, as someone else put it, streetcars seem to be treated like "transit toys".

 

[flitcraft]

Amusing that your reference to what I assume is the South Lake Union Transit streetcar got asterixed for the acronym. But on the substance, both lines--the South Lake Union and the First Hill lines do connect to the Link Light Rail System, and the First Hill line connects to the Sounder commuter trains and to Amtrak's King St Station as well. Eventually, in a few years, when the connector between the streetcar lines is finished and all the streetcar lines are in dedicated lanes rather than in traffic, as is now the case, they will be an essential adjunct to the rest of the transit system in Seattle.

 

[jis]

[This is a running problem with "modern streetcar" services - they're often either (1) isolated or (2) oddball stand-alone spurs rather than being properly integrated into systems. The fact that Seattle's streetcars are separated (the **** got integrated with the light rail "after the fact" while the other line...really doesn't connect smoothly with anything IIRC) is probably emblematic of that. But in general, as someone else put it, streetcars seem to be treated like "transit toys".

I would say that the poor planning of streetcars and transit in general is a North American problem and much of the major transit using nations of the rest of the world do not suffer from such derangement.

Focusing back on the DC Streetcar situation the original plan was for it to be connected to transit at the other end, but the whole plan never got funded, another typical thing in the US where funding has to be obtained piecemeal "as and when we canly" rather than as a part of a rationally packaged project. But all this is, strictly speaking as subject of a different thread as this thread is about Washington Union Station.

 

[joelkfla]

From the train boarding area, if you want to get to H Street/Streetcar, you don't follow the normal exit signs. Instead, you have to follow the sign "Buses, Parking Garage, Car Rental," which makes no mention of an H Street exit or streetcar service:

Just returned from a trip to WashDC. Also spotted this sign, which is at the entrance to the Amtrak concourse from the platforms exit, just after you make the left turn around Pret:



If you click on the photo, and perhaps zoom in, you can see that the next sign points to the Parking entrance for the streetcar.

 

[joelkfla]

I just returned from a trip, and IMHO the rumors of Union Station's demise are greatly exaggerated (sorry, Mr. Clemens.)

True, there are a number of food stands closed and dark, especially on the Food Court level, but there are still quite a few open, including local establishments like Crepe Lena and national chains, and every one that was open was doing good business on both the Food Court & Concourse levels both Friday & Saturday. I didn't go upstairs, but I could see people dining in Uno overlooking the Great Hall.

There's a large UNIQLO store at the east end of the Great Hall. It wasn't exactly crowded, but it wasn't empty either. Walgreen's, which is off in a far corner of the Food Court and takes some effort to get to, had 2 registers open with customers in line.

I suffered uninvited contact by panhandlers twice, but I just said no and kept walking with no problems. I did not witness any aggressive behavior or people acting crazy.

Union Station may be unsuccessful as a mall, but most malls are unsuccessful these days. I think it functions quite well as a train station, with a range of food options and enough retail to meet the needs of travelers. I would agree that seating for Amtrak passengers not eligible for the lounge needs improvement, but the lounge is fine, if not the best in the system (and BTW, they now do allow food to be brought in.)

ETA: forgot to mention: the lounge got a new coffee machine . Still no working ice machine, though.

 

[dlagrua]

We haven't been to Union Station in about four years and back then it was a very busy place. There were a large number of food places open on the ground level; coffee, espresso, deserts (at Starbucks and Laduree) a full food court downstairs and at the end of the great hall you could order some ethic dishes and really good sandwiches. Sadly today its far less than that and the mall section is nearly empty. My opinion is that Covid was the death knell for many of the businesses. Ridership plunged and has not yet returned to pre-covid levels. With time I believe that the food businesses will return but the mall stores may not.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

With time I believe that the food businesses will return but the mall stores may not.

I agree completely. Travelers may want to get something to eat before their train journey or to take on the train with them. But there’s no need for them to buy anything else. An exception might be the drugstore for toiletries, etc., forgotten while packing.

 

[Widfara]

I agree completely. Travelers may want to get something to eat before their train journey or to take on the train with them. But there’s no need for them to buy anything else. An exception might be the drugstore for toiletries, etc., forgotten while packing.

In my case, almost always, nail clippers. I will likely die with 50 pairs.

I've had two change trains visits to Union Station in the last few years, 1 pre-covid, and it was busy and bustling. During covid it was a tomb.

The lounge was okay, but I shifted chairs several times to find a comfy one. Designer chairs often aren't comfy.

 

[MARC Rider]

I just returned from a trip, and IMHO the rumors of Union Station's demise are greatly exaggerated (sorry, Mr. Clemens.)

True, there are a number of food stands closed and dark, especially on the Food Court level, but there are still quite a few open, including local establishments like Crepe Lena and national chains, and every one that was open was doing good business on both the Food Court & Concourse levels both Friday & Saturday. I didn't go upstairs, but I could see people dining in Uno overlooking the Great Hall.

There's a large UNIQLO store at the east end of the Great Hall. It wasn't exactly crowded, but it wasn't empty either. Walgreen's, which is off in a far corner of the Food Court and takes some effort to get to, had 2 registers open with customers in line.

I suffered uninvited contact by panhandlers twice, but I just said no and kept walking with no problems. I did not witness any aggressive behavior or people acting crazy.

Union Station may be unsuccessful as a mall, but most malls are unsuccessful these days. I think it functions quite well as a train station, with a range of food options and enough retail to meet the needs of travelers. I would agree that seating for Amtrak passengers not eligible for the lounge needs improvement, but the lounge is fine, if not the best in the system (and BTW, they now do allow food to be brought in.)

ETA: forgot to mention: the lounge got a new coffee machine . Still no working ice machine, though.

This about correlates to my experience passing through a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't bothered by panhandlers, and when I was there, they were still using a substitute coffee urn, but otherwise, the description is spot-on.

One thing that may take it a while to fully recover is that there are still a lot of Federal workers working from home, so I expect the MARC and VRE loads are less than they used to be, and I'm pretty sure that most of the passengers passing through the station are MARC/VRE riders. Thus, there's just less foot traffic than there used to be, which can't be any good for the retail trade.

 

[Shortline]

I do miss the bar at Legal Seafoods, it was my hang out place between trains. Hopefully something else good goes in it's place as things pick back up. Now that the Crescent gets in so much later anyway, it's not that big of a deal, but my Crescent-Capitol trips I usually camped out at the bar there if the weather was not the best for the walk over to The Dubliner, or Kelli's Irish Pub. Now with only 2ish hours between trains, Uno's is my beer stop if there is time.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Restrooms by Gate A (Mens) and Gate G (Womens) will be refreshed. They will remain open but will have limitations.
https://www.amtrak.com/alert/washington-dc-union-station-claytor-concourse-restroom-refresh.html

 

[crescent-zephyr]

If you enjoy really good coffee... there is a Blue Bottle Coffee inside Union Station on the ground floor. I highly recommend it!

 

[MARC Rider]

I had some business in Washington today. Down and back on Amtrak, here are a few observations on what's happening.

I rode down on 151 in business class. Those 2x1 club cars at the end of the train really shake and shimmy. It was really exciting when whe went over a switch in Bowie at 100+ mph while passing a MARC train.

In Washington, when we arrived at about 0740, the Silver Meteor was sitting in the station with a motor attached. Not sure of the current schedule, but I assume it was operating more or less on time.

I'm coming home on Acela 2168. Fare is $27. The fare for business class on the regional leaving 10 minutes later was over $50. Go figure.

We were on track 20, so I was able to look at the lower level. The Cap was at the platform, and by 1340 hrs they were backing it out to the yard. This suggests that it arrived in Washington more or less on time. Two different Long distance trains operating on time at the same station on the same day!

Oh, and it looks like this Acela a cart service.

That's all for today.

 

[railiner]

I'm coming home on Acela 2168. Fare is $27. The fare for business class on the regional leaving 10 minutes later was over $50. Go figure.

You could have ridden on a MARC train for only $9...or less, if a senior? That would have been my choice, but YMMV....

 

[AmtrakBlue]

You could have ridden on a MARC train for only $9...or less, if a senior? That would have been my choice, but YMMV....

As you can see, his screen name is MARC Rider - he's well aware of taking MARC vs Amtrak.

 

[City of Miami]

We were on track 20, so I was able to look at the lower level.

Is that the new platform? Finally open? Never have I seen Acela on the lower level. Too often crowded as it is.

 

[jis]

Is that the new platform? Finally open? Never have I seen Acela on the lower level. Too often crowded as it is.

Acelas cannot operate from low level platforms. AFAIK there are still no high level platforms at the lower level.

 

[MARC Rider]

Is that the new platform? Finally open? Never have I seen Acela on the lower level. Too often crowded as it is.

No, track 2 is the last track on the upper level, and it has a high platform. The Acelas operate from a platform that handles Tracks 17 and 18, and another one that handles tracks 19 and 20. Track 22 is the new platform. I have no idea what happened to track 21. As Jis days, Track 22 has a low platform, and it isn't open yet, though it looks like it's close to being finished. I hope at some point they will put in at least one high level platform down in the lower level tracks. While low level platforms will still be needed down there for the Superliners of the Cap and the VRE gallery cars, there are an increasing number of Northeast Regionals through running to/from Virginia, plus the Silver Service/Crescent/Cardinal, not to mention some originating and terminating Northeast Regionals that use the lower tracks, and having a limited number of open doors and having to haul bags down or up the train steps is a pain in the neck.

 

[MARC Rider]

You could have ridden on a MARC train for only $9...or less, if a senior? That would have been my choice, but YMMV....

Well, yes, actually I can ride MARC for $4.50 as a Senior, but I don't go down to Washington every day now, I like to earn some AGR TQP, and I'd rather take a 30-40 minute ride in a comfy reclining seat than an hour ride with lots of stops. I did ride home on MARC earlier in the month, as I wanted to get out of town and there was a relatively long wait for the next Regional.

 

[jis]

A quick perusal of the Washington Union Station EIS (2019) suggests that in its final form the lower level is supposed to have two low level and two high level platforms i.e. 3 and maybe 4 low level platform tracks and 4 high level platform tracks. But at present we are very very far from getting there. Also, I believe the low level platforms are supposed to be raised to the entrance door level of the low level doors so that those step stools are not needed anymore.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Is that the new platform? Finally open? Never have I seen Acela on the lower level. Too often crowded as it is.

The new platform (not opened as of 10/26/23) is on track 22.

 

[JamesWhitcombRiley]

A quick perusal of the Washington Union Station EIS (2019) suggests that in its final form the lower level is supposed to have two low level and two high level platforms i.e. 3 and maybe 4 low level platform tracks and 4 high level platform tracks. But at present we are very very far from getting there. Also, I believe the low level platforms are supposed to be raised to the entrance door level of the low level doors so that those step stools are not needed anymore.

Thanks for bringing this up. I'm fascinated by the portals on the lower level, as seen in the picture below from Wikimedia Commons. I suppose the original station had access to the platforms from both the concourse one level up, and from here. I'd been under the misconception that the new plan for Union included a north-south concourse over the tracks, to H Street, but it's actually two parallel concourses under the tracks, and some cross passages. Expensive, but selling off air rights earlier this century did constrain what can be done now. So it's a revival of underground access to the platforms! But this time, also from H Street and from the Metro, midway. With retail throughout. The beautiful renderings of clean floorspace and sunlit canopies do not show these underground spaces, or even much of how to get to them.

The original D. H. Burnham 1903-1908 plans for WAS that are available online only show the main level. The rest of the plans are at the Library of Congress, but are not online, apparently or partially due to the LOC being careful about rights. Architectural drawings for a railroad station ("Union Station"), Massachusetts Avenue, N.E., Washington, D.C. (three drawings) and [Architectural and engineering drawings used in the construction of Union Station in Washington, D.C.] (616 drawings, prints and blueprints).

The air rights do not preclude a concourse over the tracks, which the 2019-2023 EIS's considered but rejected. Even the chosen alternative requires some eminent domain on the air rights. The air rights start 70 to 80 feet above the tracks. The rights in the west are private, and on the east are held by the federal government. The private rights extend far beyond H Street, to K Street. It's all a negotiation, with the private owner getting development variances, I'd guess. The 2019-2020 EIS is here, the 2023 changes are here.

The Wiki Commons category and subcategories have many great pictures, such as the 3mph speed limit sign; the 1976 Bicentennial pit; the historic main hall with seating and well-appointed rooms elsewhere; the vast concourse with no retail or other obstructions; the removal of the pit, which for years made a much bigger pit (how I first remember it); the big polished wooden cylindrical restaurant in the main hall until recently; the service road behind those portals on the lower level; the movie theater marquee; and restorers working on everything from sculptures to a clock.

In the end I wonder if a cheaper plan will come along. Perhaps a reasonably wide passage above the tracks to H Street, keeping the parking garage and bus station, and fixing the pedestrian-hostile H Street entrance. (No signs, as it would confuse drivers, pointed out by Yuzu above. DC is mostly a pleasant, walkable, city, but the nexus of First Street up to H Street is not. Yes, that's due to the massive parking garage, but it could be improved in normal ways, without demolishing.) There's work on the subbasement under the train tunnel southward that needs to be done in any case. As for the congestion in the concourses, especially snaking around seating to the lower level tracks, Union Station carries a lot of passengers these days, and while the population of the region is boundlessly higher than in 1906, the station has more room than it's presently using. It has the big empty historic main hall, the lower level food court in the picture in adjacent to the lower level tracks, and boxy, non-food retail everywhere it can get in the way. (I don't include the big drug store.) One of the Wiki pictures shows how some retail used to be display cases arranged in squares, like in a department store. I don't know about that.

The most financially valuable use of the air rights is mega development, popular with the up and comers of NoMa and the SW Waterfront, for example. So if we get the funding, we burrow into the ground. Chicago and Atlanta followed the ancient model of capping the old city and building a new ground level one floor up.

From the Streetcar to Union Station is completely unintuitive:

The end of the streetcar is in the middle of a busy street with fencing everywhere. To enter Union Station from the streetcar, you have to get from the streetcar in the middle of a street to a parking garage on the other side:

https://goo.gl/maps/hgJkw5LBfA1kwvVX6
There is nothing about the parking garage that indicates it serves as the entrance to a train station. The signage indicates "PARK," "Buses," "Rental Car Returns," etc., but has no mention of Union Station.