What makes a well located Amtrak station? Which stations well located

[Chessie]

The worst located station thread got me thinking about this. So what are some of the elements you think would make a station well located?

My idea:

For a city station or high density areas:

• Put it right in downtown or the most densely populated area
• Close to, better yet, directly connected to the local public transportation station
• Presumably convenient to Taxi, Uber, etc.
• I am debating if proximity to airports is a good thing. It will make long term parking or car rental easy but it kind of defeats the purpose of having convenience to downtown, which often is an advantage rail travels have that air travels cannot match. I suppose if a downtown location is impossible, proximity to airport is better than nothing.

For a suburban station or mid density areas:

• Ideally connected to a large, secure, and reasonably priced parking lot with car rentals on site (like an airport).
• Close to the local public transportation if any is available

In rural, remote area or low density areas:

• Not sure. As long as the trains stops there, I suppose.

After looking at Google map, I think Chicago seems like a particularly well located station for a large city. Philly station is also pretty good.

For a suburban station, I am only familiar with NJ stations and I think New Brunswick has a small downtown location and Metropark isn't bad with its huge parking lot. Princeton Junction leaves a lot to be desired but it is the only place that can connect to Princeton.

What other stations do you think are well located?

 

[greatcats]

Flagstaff is in the traditional location, right in the middle of town. It is staffed, but most of the building is taken up by a visitor center, with Amtrak occupying the smaller end. There is parking available at a lot about 2 blocks away, but I would not feel comfortable leaving my car there for a long period. Another disadvantage is the idea of calling a cab or Uber to my home to be picked up at 4am, which makes me nervous. Otherwise, the location is great. ( I have on several occasions left my car at a friend's house about a half mile from the station. I live 5 miles away. )

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

Los Angeles. Right across the street from Olvera Street, and just a short Red or Gold Line hop over to the real downtown. San Diego too, with trolleys (or trollies?) bringing you to downtown & Gaslamp Quarter. Just a short walk away from the USS Midway, and the 992 bus to the airport!

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Wilmington, DE is in a good location, has two parking garages next to it, has lots of taxis waiting, at least during the day and early evening. Well staffed.

Greyhound is across the street. Several hotels nearby - walkable for some people, bus or cab for others. Local buses that run out to the burbs. Car rentals.

 

[Acela150]

Betty the only reason those cabs wait is because people will hands down use Uber or Lyft these days. There have been times where the line of cabs waiting at 30th street is well over 150 cabs. I have been in the area of 30th street not looking for riders there and someone will need a ride from there.

But yes 30th Street is in a ideal location for Philly. It's about a 5 minute drive from City Hall, everything is accessible.

Suburban type stops for vote goes for Route 128. 128 has a massive parking garage, a news stand and a small cafe upstairs. Although I've never been there when that cafe is open. Right next to 95/128 and easy access to Route 1. Easy commute to Foxboro for an event. And it's the second stop after leaving BOS. So normally good seats are still open.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Betty the only reason those cabs wait is because people will hands down use Uber or Lyft these days. There have been times where the line of cabs waiting at 30th street is well over 150 cabs. I have been in the area of 30th street not looking for riders there and someone will need a ride from there.

But yes 30th Street is in a ideal location for Philly. It's about a 5 minute drive from City Hall, everything is accessible.

Suburban type stops for vote goes for Route 128. 128 has a massive parking garage, a news stand and a small cafe upstairs. Although I've never been there when that cafe is open. Right next to 95/128 and easy access to Route 1. Easy commute to Foxboro for an event. And it's the second stop after leaving BOS. So normally good seats are still open.

I'm going to say this, without know when Uber and Lyft started. I THINK they've had plenty of cabs at WIL even before Uber & Lyft. These cabs are independently owned. I've seen them being used. Probably mostly for short trips up to the downtown offices or hotels.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Portland and Seattle both have excellent locations for their Stations, even though the connections to the Light/Commuter Rail could be better located.

In Seattle's case, the Old Union Station would have been a better choice than King Street Station.

Dallas and Ft Worth's Stations both have excellent locations and connectivity to other Transportation.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

New York Penn Station. Its awful but can't argue with its location.

 

[JayPea]

Spokane's station is ideally located but its lousy middle-of-the-night service helps to negate the positives, however.It shares quarters with the intercity bus service, not to mention a police precinct station. In addition to the municipally owned parking lot at the station, there are several other lots nearby. If there were daytime service in Spokane, the fact that the station is located right on a busy city bus route with service to the airport and is located just a few blocks from many hotels would be a huge plus. There are however cabs available at all hours. Many of my Amtrak trips include a flight one way and Amtrak another. I use a parking service near the airport which provides shuttle service not only to and from the airport but to the Amtrak station as well.

 

[neroden]

In rural, remote area or low density areas:

• Not sure. As long as the trains stops there, I suppose.

I can give you some advice on this. The traditional rural form is a lot of farms with "market towns" every so often. These towns are tiny, often only a couple of intersections, or only one, but it's where the local restaurant, bar, or post office is.
You put the train station at one of those.

The other rural form is the resort -- national park or ski resort -- and it's pretty obvious you want the platform right next to the resort hotels.

 

[neroden]

Washington Union Station is in pretty much the ideal location in DC, though Congress made a mess of it by prohibiting construction in several of the nearby blocks. But the location itself is perfect.

Boston North Station is in a pretty much perfect location. South Station, eh, it's OK.

In Chicago, arguably the former Central Station was the best location, but Chicago's spread west, so Union is in a decent location now. Ogilvie (Northwestern) station is good too. The L stations are better-located.

LA Union Station would be in a perfect location if not for the damn highway immediately south of it. Maybe they'll put a lid over that some day.

KC Union Station is actually in a great location too. They made a mess of KC with sunken highways, but the streetcar is amelioriating this somewhat.

Utica Union Station is perfectly located, though poor old Utica has fallen on hard times.

In Philadelphia, Reading Terminal (now Jefferson Station) is probably the perfect location, but 30th Street is pretty good too. And the center city tunnel really does help.

Denver Union Station is excellently located. Further south (near the state capital) would be better but impossible.

Grand Central Terminal is *ideally* located in NYC. Penn Station is OK, but GCT is perfect.

Atlantic Terminal is ideally located in Brooklyn, trouble is the LIRR ends there rather than continuing west

St Paul Union Depot is very well located in St. Paul, though I know many would prefer a station in Minneapolis.

Rochester, NY station is about as well located as is possible without bringing back the Rochester Subway

Toronto Union Station and Montreal Central Station are both extremely well located.

Tucson has an excellent centrally-located station.

These are all "city" stations, I haven't been able to think of a great "suburban" station...

 

[Seaboard92]

Clemson SC for a rural station is in a great location. It is at the main intersection in town, has three hotels within walking distance, has regular bus service at train time. Close to the police station, and several restaurants within walking distance. Within extended walking distance so ten minutes Clemson Universities campus.

 

[Chessie]

Thank you for the examples. I will be looking at them on maps. Sometimes the location is perfect, the train time is not.

New York Penn Station. Its awful but can't argue with its location.

I kind of wish it was closer to Grand Central.

In rural, remote area or low density areas:

• Not sure. As long as the trains stops there, I suppose.

I can give you some advice on this. The traditional rural form is a lot of farms with "market towns" every so often. These towns are tiny, often only a couple of intersections, or only one, but it's where the local restaurant, bar, or post office is.

You put the train station at one of those.

The other rural form is the resort -- national park or ski resort -- and it's pretty obvious you want the platform right next to the resort hotels.

Ah, I see. I can think of a few, Glenwood Springs and Truckee on CZ, Glacier park stations on EB. Any others that are close to resorts?

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

White Sulphur Springs, WV is next to Greenbrier, and the Winter Park station for the ski train is right next to the slopes. Oh, and Thurmond, WV too!

 

[unitedstatesfan]

For a rural station, Oceanside was very impressive when I used Amtrak in August 2016.

Since my last visit, a local diesel train two-car shuttle has commenced to Escondido along the median of a highway, and there is an excellent local bus terminal adjacent to the station.

Restaurants and the beach are each short walks away.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

Uhhhh Oceanside isn't exactly rural. . . it's more suburban or even a little urban. I do like nearby San Clemente, very close to the beach and the downtown (though it's a quite expensive area to be in)

 

[Thirdrail7]

The worst located station thread got me thinking about this. So what are some of the elements you think would make a station well located?

My idea:

For a city station or high density areas:

• Put it right in downtown or the most densely populated area
• Close to, better yet, directly connected to the local public transportation station
• Presumably convenient to Taxi, Uber, etc.
• I am debating if proximity to airports is a good thing. It will make long term parking or car rental easy but it kind of defeats the purpose of having convenience to downtown, which often is an advantage rail travels have that air travels cannot match. I suppose if a downtown location is impossible, proximity to airport is better than nothing.

For a suburban station or mid density areas:

• Ideally connected to a large, secure, and reasonably priced parking lot with car rentals on site (like an airport).
• Close to the local public transportation if any is available

In rural, remote area or low density areas:

• Not sure. As long as the trains stops there, I suppose.

After looking at Google map, I think Chicago seems like a particularly well located station for a large city. Philly station is also pretty good.

For a suburban station, I am only familiar with NJ stations and I think New Brunswick has a small downtown location and Metropark isn't bad with its huge parking lot. Princeton Junction leaves a lot to be desired but it is the only place that can connect to Princeton.

What other stations do you think are well located?

Your premise is highly subjective and it shows with your comment regarding PJC.

Putting a station in the most densely populated may work for some but it turns others off and has pushed people away from trains in the past. This is why suburban "beltway" stations started taking root and why they continue to thrive.

While PJC isn't a beltway station, you have to look at why it thrived. It captured riders in the rapidly expanding rural turned housing community. Additionally, it is located right off the Route 1 corridor, the route 33 corridor and interstate 295. This brought in a lot of Pennsylvanian traffic didn't want to be bothered with the train station right in the middle of downtown TRE (do you see how that works?)

As such, traffic levels got so high at PJC, they built Hamilton to ease the levels. Hamilton is another example of strategic location. It is also situated right off RTE 1, not too far from Route 33 and is right off Interstate 295. It also siphoned Pennsylvania passengers from PJC, TRE and even Levittown-Tullytown.

That is because. not unlike Metropark, BWI, NCR and RTE, these train stations are located near major arteries that feed the stationso it thrives as a park and ride.

 

[GaSteve]

Clemson SC for a rural station is in a great location. It is at the main intersection in town, has three hotels within walking distance, has regular bus service at train time. Close to the police station, and several restaurants within walking distance. Within extended walking distance so ten minutes Clemson Universities campus.

But closed for at least another year due to nearby road construction. Bused to/from Greenville Sc in the meantime.

 

[WICT106]

Some suggestions for well placed stations: Saint Cloud, MN, Red Wing, MN, and Wisconsin Dells, WI. Good parking is in close vicinity, the surroundings are well-lit, and all three are in the downtown business districts of their respective municipalities.

 

[jebr]

Minor correction: the St. Cloud station is about a mile east of downtown, and a bit further from the main university. It's about as good as you can get without a major reroute, but it's not as convenient as, say, Red Wing.

 

[jphjaxfl]

Keep in mind rail stations must be located on the rail line so it's not like you could locate a rail station anywhere in any city or town like could with a bus station or an airport. In some cities like Charleston, Charlotte and Savannah rail lines were moved somewhat and stations relocated. In Jacksonville, FL, Amtrak could not justify maintain the beautiful Union Terminal and it also required a lengthy backup move. When the railroads were built, most of the stations were convenient, but many cities and towns have had significant changes by the 21st centrury.

 

[Chessie]

Your premise is highly subjective and it shows with your comment regarding PJC.

Putting a station in the most densely populated may work for some but it turns others off and has pushed people away from trains in the past. This is why suburban "beltway" stations started taking root and why they continue to thrive.

While PJC isn't a beltway station, you have to look at why it thrived. It captured riders in the rapidly expanding rural turned housing community. Additionally, it is located right off the Route 1 corridor, the route 33 corridor and interstate 295. This brought in a lot of Pennsylvanian traffic didn't want to be bothered with the train station right in the middle of downtown TRE (do you see how that works?)

As such, traffic levels got so high at PJC, they built Hamilton to ease the levels. Hamilton is another example of strategic location. It is also situated right off RTE 1, not too far from Route 33 and is right off Interstate 295. It also siphoned Pennsylvania passengers from PJC, TRE and even Levittown-Tullytown.

That is because. not unlike Metropark, BWI, NCR and RTE, these train stations are located near major arteries that feed the stationso it thrives as a park and ride.

Opinions are meant to be subjective but I am all ears. Which station would be a beltway station?

I think one of the main reasons the PJC location is still well utilized is because of its connection to Princeton. I would think these days Hamilton would be more desirable for PA riders who do not want to bother with TRE.

 

[SanDiegan]

Fullerton CA is located in a suburban Downtown with a transportation center and plenty of long-term parking. Shops and restaurants are nearby. The only thing missing is a hotel !

 

[kbmiflyer]

Bloomington - Normal, Illinois is located right on the campus of Illinois State University. Since many students use Amtrak to get home for weekends, it is in a great location.

 

[Palmetto]

White Sulphur Springs, WV is next to Greenbrier, and the Winter Park station for the ski train is right next to the slopes. Oh, and Thurmond, WV too!

I inquired if Winter Park was also to become the stop for the California Zephyr, and the reply was "no, Fraser will remain the stop for 5/6." If so, I think that's a poor decision.