Union Station (Pittsburgh)

Penn Station
Penn Station
	<img class="mw-file-element" data-file-height="1920" data-file-width="2560" decoding="async" height="225" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/20070516_02_East_Busway_%40_Penn_Station%2C_Pittsburgh_%2821799659276%29.jpg/300px-20070516_02_East_Busway_%40_Penn_Station%2C_Pittsburgh_%2821799659276%29.jpg" width="300"/> East Buswaybuses in front of Union Station
General information
Location	East Busway at 12th Street; Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40°26′38″N79°59′30″W/ 40.4438°N 79.9918°W
Owned by	Pittsburgh Regional Transit(PRT)
Platforms	2side platforms(busway); 2side platforms(light rail)
Tracks	2
Connections	<img alt="Bus transport" class="mw-file-element" data-file-height="442" data-file-width="367" decoding="async" height="14" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Aiga_bus_trans.svg/12px-Aiga_bus_trans.svg.png" width="12"/>PRT:1, 6, 11, 15, 19L, 29, 31, 39, 40, 44, 86, 87, 88, 91, G31
Construction
Structure type	At grade
Parking	Yes, paid
Accessible	Yes
History
Opened	May 12, 1988
Passengers
2019	1,339 (weekdays)
Services
Former services
Location
Location
	<img alt="Map" decoding="async" height="200" src="https://maps.wikimedia.org/img/osm-intl,15,40.444444,-79.991667,270x200.png?lang=en&domain=en.wikipedia.org&title=Union_Station_%28Pittsburgh%29&revid=1256536178&groups=_bf0bf7eb9419fbeccbc87d9ee60072fef1aeb9ba" width="270"/>

Union Station
Pittsburgh, PA
Union Station; Pittsburgh, PA
	Union Station inPittsburgh,February 2007
General information
Location	1100 Liberty Avenue; Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania; United States
Coordinates	40°26′41.1″N79°59′31.7″W/ 40.444750°N 79.992139°W
Owned by	Amtrak
Line(s)	Norfolk SouthernPittsburgh Line(Keystone Corridor); Norfolk SouthernFort Wayne Line
Platforms	3 + 1 disused
Tracks	2 + 3 disused
Connections	East Busway(atPenn Station)Greyhound Lines(atGrant Street Transportation Center); Fullington Trailways(at Grant Street Transportation Center)
Construction
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Accessible	Yes
Architect	D.H. Burnham & Company
Architectural style	Beaux Arts
Other information
Station code	Amtrak:PGH
History
Opened	1903
Rebuilt	1954, 1988
Passengers
FY 2023	116,084 annually(Amtrak)
Services
Former services
	Canton 1971–1990 towardChicago
	Federal Street towardChicago
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Official name	Rotunda of the Pennsylvania Railroad Station
Designated	April 11, 1973
Reference no.	73001587
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Official name	Pennsylvania Railroad Station
Designated	April 22, 1976
Reference no.	76001597
Pittsburgh Landmark – PHLF
Official name	Pennsylvania Railroad Station Rotunda
Designated	1991
Pittsburgh Landmark – PHLF
Official name	The Pennsylvanian (Union Station)
Designated	2003
Location
Location

Union Station,also known asPennsylvania Stationand commonly calledPenn Station,is a historictrain stationinDowntown Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. It was one of several passenger rail stations that servedPittsburghduring the 20th century; others included thePittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Station,theBaltimore and Ohio Station,andWabash Pittsburgh Terminal,and it is the only surviving station in active use.

The historic station was designed by Chicago architectDaniel Burnhamand built from 1898 to 1904. The station's rotunda was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, followed by the entire building in 1976. In the 1980s, the Burnham station building was converted to apartment use, while Amtrak moved to an annex on the building's east side.

History

Union Station in 1875

The current station replaced the original Union Station which was destroyed in thePittsburgh railroad strike of 1877.^[4]

Unlike manyunion stationsbuilt in the U.S. to serve the needs of more than one railroad, this facility only served thePennsylvania Railroadand its subsidiary lines. Thus,Union Stationis a misnomer, for that reason, it was renamed in 1912 to match other Pennsylvania Stations. Other major passenger rail carriers served travelers at other stations. For instance, theNew York Centralused thePittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Station,theWabash RailroadusedWabash Pittsburgh Terminal,and theBaltimore and Ohio Railroadused both their ownBaltimore and Ohio Stationand the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie station.

The station building was designed by Chicago architectDaniel Burnhamand built between 1898 and 1904. The materials were a grayish-brownterra cottathat looked likebrownstone,andbrick.Though Burnham is regarded more as a planner and organizer rather than a designer of details, which were left to draftsmen likePeter Joseph Weber,the most extraordinary feature of the monumentaltrain stationis itsrotundawith corner pavilions. At street level, therotundasheltered turning spaces forcarriagesbeneath wide, low vaulted spaces that owed little to any historicist style. Above, the rotunda sheltered passengers in a spectacularwaiting room.Burnham's firm completed more than a dozen projects in Pittsburgh, some on quite prominent sites. The rotunda is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.^[2]Service began at the station on October 12, 1901.^[5]

On January 3, 1954, thePennsylvania Railroadannounced aUS$3,600,000(equivalent to $40,344,676 in 2023) in expansion and renovation for the complex. To the beginning of the 1970s, the station remained a major stop for several of the PRR's leading east–west trains:Broadway Limited(Chicago–New York),Manhattan Limited(Chicago–New York);Penn Texas(St. Louis–New York) andSpirit of St. Louis(St. Louis–New York).

PRR train at Pittsburgh Union Station, March 31, 1968

By the late 1970s the Penn Central Corporation was accepting bids for the complex and it was purchased by the US General Services Administration. There were proposals in 1978 to make the structure into a federal office building, a new city hall and a senior citizens apartment building. Amtrak proposed that the whole structure remain a train station and rail offices.^[6]In 1974, the County Council proposed having the station be the site of the then-plannedDavid L. Lawrence Convention Center.^[7]The Buncher Development Company had an option to buy the property as late as 1984.^[8]

A $20 million restoration of Union Station began in 1986 to convert the office tower into apartments.^[9]It is now calledthe Pennsylvanianand opened to residents on May 23, 1988. The concourse, which is no longer open to the public, was transformed into a lobby for commercial spaces on the ground floor and the paint cleaned off the great central skylight. The rotunda, which once offered shelter for carriages to turn around, is now closed to vehicular traffic; modern cars and trucks are too heavy for the brick road surface and risk caving in the roof to the parking garage below it.

Current passenger service

Union Station continues to serve as an active railway station, but through an annex on theLiberty Avenueside of the building. It is the western terminus ofAmtrak'sPennsylvanianroute and is along theFloridianroute. Until 2005, Pittsburgh was also serviced by theThree Rivers(a replacement service for theBroadway Limited), an extended version of thePennsylvanianthat terminated inChicago.Its cancellation marked the first time in Pittsburgh's railway history that the city was served by just two daily passenger trains.

Architecture

In September 1978,The New Yorkerart criticBrendan Gillproclaimed that Pittsburgh's Penn Station is "one of the great pieces ofBeaux-Arts architecturein America...[one of the] symbols of the nation. "^[10]

Pittsburgh Regional Transit

Bus Rapid Transit

Penn Stationis an at grade station operated byPittsburgh Regional Transit.The station is located on theMartin Luther King Jr. East Buswayand is served by busway routes P1, P2, P7, P10, P12, P16, P17, P67, P68, P69, P71, P76 and P78.

East of the station is a bus layover area and the East Liberty Garage used by routes 1, 6, 11, 15, 19L, 29, 31, 39, 40, 44 and G31. These routes serve the Penn Station busway stops immediately before going out of service and are the first stops they make as they go into service. Routes 86, 87, 88 and 91 stop just outside of the station on Liberty and Penn Avenues.

Light Rail Transit

There is also a seldom usedlight rail stationat the site. It opened in 1988 with regular shuttle service toSteel Plaza station,as well as two afternoon rush-hour trains on the 42S (now theRed Line).^[12]However, the station was difficult to integrate into other services, since it used a single-tracked formerPennsylvania Railroad tunnel.This tunnel travels beneath theUS Steel Tower,and the building's structural supports are on each side of the tunnel, prohibiting the installation of a second track.^[13]The shuttle service was discontinued in 1993, but the two 42S afternoon rush-hour trains continued to serve the station until 2007. Since 2007, the station has seen occasional use, mostly for charters or special events, such as part of the agency's detoured transportation routes followingSuper Bowl XLVon February 6, 2011, as part of the "Railvolution" transit convention in October 2018,^[14]^[15]and during concrete repair work in the downtown tunnels betweenSteel PlazaandGateway Stationin March 2023.^[16]