Major Stations Under Construction

[NEW RIVER GEORGE]

Don't forget about Battle Creek and Pontiac.

Relative to CUS, I don't think the Chicago work will take place anytime soon, for for an update, there is a link to the newly released long range plan in the recent Trains Magazine newswire. They are talking about some short term renovations to the station tracks, adding two new tracks on the river side of CUS. Eventually they want to make the platforms a little wider by eliminating some of the old mail loading areas.

Of all of Amtrak's hundreds of stations and "am-slabs," Chicago is in the worst shape, with chunks of concrete falling from the ceilings on a daily basis.

 

[Notelvis]

Regarding Raleigh, NC -

Plans are on the drawing board and some $60 million dollars in various federal grants have been secured to convert this empty warehouse into a new rail passenger station. Bids for contracts could open as soon as this fall (2013) and the place could be open by 2017. The building is about 125 yards northwest of (and clearly visible from the platform) the existing Raleigh Amtrak station. The passenger platform would be located at the far right side of this image. The biggest issue is that it sits inside the active wye used to turn the trainsets for the Piedmont passenger trains.

In this rendering, the 'new' Raleigh station appears in the lower left of the image - the existing Raleigh Amtrak station is at the lower right.

Finally - a link with more information and renderings for this project -

http://www.penc.org/getdoc/4f4f62fb-66ab-4238-8de7-da2c49513c75/Planning-for-Raleigh-s-Union-Station.aspx

 

[VentureForth]

$60 Mil for a temporary solution... :unsure:

 

[Train Rider]

Another station slated to undergo future renovation/reconstruction is MKE. The trainshed/platform area will have significant work performed on it at some point (this project has been delayed time and time again so it is hard to say just when it will get underway).

I recall when the Milwaukee station was new in around 1967 or so. I believe it was the last 'major' railway station built in the US prior to Amtrak....

You are correct and it was the ugliest station in the history of railroading. The main part was remodeled in 2007 to a completely new appearance and include bus service. The train shed and underground tunnels to different platforms requires renovation for ADA compliance.

 

[Notelvis]

$60 Mil for a temporary solution... :unsure:

No. This would be THE Raleigh station for the foreseeable future....... 40 - 50 years anyway.

The plan for the warehouse was kind of a compromise backing off from a much grander and more expensive earlier proposal 8-10 years ago when it was believed that a high speed rail line to the northeast over the abandoned SAL right-of-way north of Raleigh was just 'around the corner'.

 

[Nathanael]

$60 Mil for a temporary solution... :unsure:

No. This would be THE Raleigh station for the foreseeable future....... 40 - 50 years anyway.

The location inside the wye allows it to serve trains going on any possible route (with added platforms). That was actually one of the considerations.

 

[afigg]

$60 Mil for a temporary solution... :unsure:

What is temporary about the new Raleigh NC station? It is designed to be used as the intermodal station for Raleigh with a future bus terminal and as a stop on the planned light rail line. The new station is also planned to be used for the SE HSR line (whenever it gets built) with a platform on the NW side of the large wye. In 10-15 years, it could be a significant station in the intercity rail system.

 

[VentureForth]

You're right. I was confused with the Union Station temporary proposal from 2010 which was identified on slide 34 which was said to cost $34 Mil then "To be removed later". The Boylan proposal would spend $60 Mil and open the first phase by 2017. It would include provisions to accomodate HSR by 2040 through phase 2 of the project (which doesn't have funding estimates yet).

 

[Notelvis]

Here is yet another link - this one from the NCDOT - about the Raleigh Station project. This one states that construction could begin in 2015 as design work will not be finalized until late 2014. It also includes several links for various renderings along the right sidebar.

The biggest issue, it appears to me, will be digging underpasses for pedestrians and vehicles on the east leg of the wye.

Note that this 'Greenfield Siding' project appears to be a new passing track just southeast of Raleigh on the former Southern Railway line headed out to Selma.

http://www.ncdot.gov/projects/raleighunionstation/

 

[Nathanael]

The original topic here was "Major Stations Under Construction".

Right now I count these:

Seattle King St. Station

Denver Union Station

Sacramento Valley Station

Chicago Union Station

So anyway, has anyone seen any progress in Chicago in the last six months? When I was there last August, it looked like they'd already gutted the location where the new Metropolitan Lounge was supposed to move, and it looked like they were doing all manner of other minor work (electrical? HVAC?) around the edges of the Great Hall. That sort of work can continue over winter, so I'd expect there to have been some progress.

There are also quite a lot of stations which are supposed to be under construction but where there are no visible signs of work. St Paul (where the station is finished but the trackwork only just got approval) will presumably see work soon. Grand Rapids, I don't know what's holding it up. Albany NY, apparently there is a lot of behind-the-scenes drainage type work. Most of the stations from Harrisburg to 30th St are supposed to be reconstructed, several of them fully funded, but there seems to be little noticeable activity.

 

[John Bobinyec]

The biggest issue, it appears to me, will be digging underpasses for pedestrians and vehicles on the east leg of the wye.

Does that include the extension of West Street under the NS main line and the wye?

jb

 

[Notelvis]

The biggest issue, it appears to me, will be digging underpasses for pedestrians and vehicles on the east leg of the wye.

Does that include the extension of West Street under the NS main line and the wye?

jb

The long-range plans call for that to be done eventually but that part of the project is not yet funded......

 

[PaulM]

Thanks! Didn't know a thing about it (CHI lounge plan). I've not looked at the link yet, but I hope they don't do away with the 'bag checker' position in the new ML as a cost cutting measure.

If you are talking about temporily stowing luggage, of course I agree. But IMO the bag checker (the system, not the person) is a pain in the neck. I've never understood why CHI needs a bag checker when NYP and WAS do not.

 

[John Bredin]

If you are talking about temporily stowing luggage, of course I agree. But IMO the bag checker (the system, not the person) is a pain in the neck. I've never understood why CHI needs a bag checker when NYP and WAS do not.

I would imagine with the overall long-distance schedule at Chicago -- trains from the East arrive in the morning, trains to and from the West arrive and leave in the early afternoon, and trains to the East leave in the evening -- that, compared to WAS or NYP, there's a lot more people with:

(A) significant luggage (I would imagine most lounge users at NYP and WAS are Acela First Class with little or no luggage, while most lounge users at CHI are LD sleeper class), and

(B) layovers long enough to have time to leave the station and see the town.

In other words, the relative handful of passengers using unattended bag storage at WAS or NYP can be kept track of by the lounge attendant, while there'd be way too many people wandering flowing into and out of an unattended bag storage at CHI for the door checker to monitor properly, and too many bags would sprout the proverbial legs. As I recall, the one time I used the Acela Club at NYP, there were a handful of stored bags in a narrow room the size of a walk-in closet. The bag-storage room at CHI is much larger.

 

[Blackwolf]

If you are talking about temporily stowing luggage, of course I agree. But IMO the bag checker (the system, not the person) is a pain in the neck. I've never understood why CHI needs a bag checker when NYP and WAS do not.

I would imagine with the overall long-distance schedule at Chicago -- trains from the East arrive in the morning, trains to and from the West arrive and leave in the early afternoon, and trains to the East leave in the evening -- that, compared to WAS or NYP, there's a lot more people with:

(A) significant luggage (I would imagine most lounge users at NYP and WAS are Acela First Class with little or no luggage, while most lounge users at CHI are LD sleeper class), and

(B) layovers long enough to have time to leave the station and see the town.

In other words, the relative handful of passengers using unattended bag storage at WAS or NYP can be kept track of by the lounge attendant, while there'd be way too many people wandering flowing into and out of an unattended bag storage at CHI for the door checker to monitor properly, and too many bags would sprout the proverbial legs. As I recall, the one time I used the Acela Club at NYP, there were a handful of stored bags in a narrow room the size of a walk-in closet. The bag-storage room at CHI is much larger.

Absolutely. The Red Cap who serves as the baggage room attendant at Chicago's Metro Lounge is a very important cog in the machinery. If anything, the room needs to be even larger and better located (and it might be both when CHI's lounge gets moved in the near-future.) During the peak summer months/winter holidays when sleeper ridership is at it's highest, there can be as many as three people working the baggage room and they're all busy.

CHI would have a disaster on their hands if they got rid of a dedicated day-check attendant. And for the cost of employing a few more people with jobs, you have a much nicer experience for passengers. I, for one, like having this service and would be greatly annoyed with it being cut.

 

[ScottC4746]

Union Station in New Orleans has new Bathrooms and the Magnolia Room (there's no Magnolias there!

)is under going a remodeling!

When I was in the Mag Room a few years ago I vaguely remember a plaster wall hanging of Magnolias I think over the door on the inside. Tacky to go with the Magnolia Room decor at the time.