Alexandria Union Station
Alexandria Union Stationis a historicrailroad stationinAlexandria, Virginia,south ofWashington, D.C.To avoid confusion with nearbyWashington Union Station,the station is often referred to as simplyAlexandria.[3]ItsAmtrakcode is ALX.[4]
The station is located on Callahan Drive in theOld Townsection of the city. It is served by bothAmtrakintercity andVirginia Railway Express(VRE)commuter raillines. The station serves as an alternative stop for Amtrak riders traveling through the Washington area, analogous to the roleNewark Penn Stationplays in the New York area.
It is located directly across the tracks from theKing Street–Old Town stationof theWashington Metro.Since the opening of the Metro station in 1983, the city has touted the station as anintermodalhub for regionalmass transit,linking Amtrak, VRE, and Metro with a number ofAlexandria DASHandMetrobuslines.[5]TheVirginia Department of TransportationandNorthern Virginia Transportation Authorityhave plans to build a pedestrian tunnel between Union Station and King Street-Old Town; presently, those transferring from Amtrak to Metro must walk about 600 feet (180 m) along King Street.[6]
The original passenger terminal, a one-story brick building completed in 1905, is still in use. Unlike most stations from the era, it was built in theFederal Revivalstyle. The station was extensively renovated in 1982, with further improvements in the mid-1990s. The stone and concreteVeterans of Foreign Warsmemorial was constructed at the station in 1940.[7]
History
[edit]
In the late 1840s, the city of Alexandria invested in at least five major railroad projects to link the city with other commercial centers in what proved to be the forlorn hope of competing withBaltimoreas a regional industrial and trade center. The numerous competing lines resulted in a mishmash ofrailsandyardsrunning through the city amidst various railroadmergersand failures.[7]
In 1901, the railroads serving the region, led by thePennsylvania Railroad,Chesapeake and Ohio Railway,andBaltimore and Ohio Railroad,formed theRichmond-Washington Companyto manage traffic betweenRichmondand Washington and build a consolidated railyard,Potomac Yard.The company's plans included construction of a new passenger terminal west of the city, in what was then part ofArlington County—Alexandria did not annex the land until 1915.[7]
Alexandria Union Station was opened on September 15, 1905, and served passenger trains of the C&O,Washington Southern Railway,Southern RailwayandRichmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroaduntil 1971, when ownership of the station building was assumed by Amtrak, while C&O (nowCSX Transportation) bought the tracks.[7]The City of Alexandria took ownership of the station in 2001.[8]
Since the 1970s, Union Station has been the focus of Amtrak's regional services into Virginia. In 1976, Amtrak began running theColonialfrom Washington through Alexandria toNewport News.It continues today as aNortheast Regionalrun.
On October 1, 2009, Amtrak began running twoNortheast Regionalsto and fromLynchburg,making stops in the state that include Union Station.[9]This was followed by an additional extension toRichmondin 2009,Norfolkin 2012 andRoanokein 2017.
References
[edit]- ^"Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2023: Commonwealth of Virginia"(PDF).Amtrak.March 2024.RetrievedJune 30,2024.
- ^"Weekly list of actions taken on properties: 2/25/13 through 3/01/13".National Park Service.March 8, 2013.Archivedfrom the original on March 11, 2013.RetrievedMarch 14,2013.
- ^Alexandria Station,Virginia Railway Express,archivedfrom the original on January 12, 2016,retrievedJanuary 7,2016
- ^Alexandria,Amtrak,archivedfrom the original on January 2, 2018,retrievedJanuary 1,2018
- ^"Bus Service from King St-Old Town"(PDF).WMATA.Archived(PDF)from the original on 23 February 2018.Retrieved17 December2017.
- ^"Alexandria Pedestrian Tunnel".VRE.Archivedfrom the original on 23 February 2018.Retrieved17 December2017.
- ^abcdAl Cox (1996)."The Alexandria Union Station"(PDF).Historic Alexandria Quarterly.Vol. 1, no. 1. Office of Historic Alexandria.Archived(PDF)from the original on 2017-02-14.Retrieved2018-01-02.
- ^Hamilton, Ellen (10 June 2015)."Alexandria, Column: Steam Engines and Parking Lots".Alexandria Gazette Packet.Archivedfrom the original on 13 July 2018.Retrieved13 July2018.
- ^Page, Kevin (December 16, 2009)."Amtrak Virginia Update"(PDF).Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT).Archived(PDF)from the original on February 8, 2017.RetrievedDecember 19,2017.
External links
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Media related toUnion Station (Alexandria, Virginia)at Wikimedia Commons
- Alexandria Union Station – Amtrak
- Alexandria Union Station – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
- Alexandria Union Station – VREArchived2008-10-25 at theWayback Machine
- Alexandria Amtrak-VRE Station – USA Rail Guide (TrainWeb)
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Administered by theNorthern Virginia Transportation Commission&Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commissionand operated byKeolis•Italics indicate future station | |
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| Other lists | ||
- Union stations in the United States
- Amtrak stations in Virginia
- Virginia Railway Express stations
- Railway stations in the United States opened in 1905
- Former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway stations
- Former Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad stations
- Transit centers in the United States
- Bus stations in Virginia
- Transportation in Alexandria, Virginia
- Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
- National Register of Historic Places in Alexandria, Virginia
- 1905 establishments in Virginia
- Brick buildings and structures in Virginia