Los Angeles Union Station is the mainrailroad station inLos Angeles, California, and the largestpassenger rail terminal in theWestern United States.[7] It opened in May 1939 as theLos Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, replacingLa Grande Station,Central Station, andSalt Lake Station.
Approved in a controversial ballot measure in 1926 and built in the 1930s, it served to consolidate rail services from theSanta Fe,Southern Pacific, andUnion Pacific railroads into one terminal station. Conceived on a grand scale, Union Station became known as the "Last of the Great Railway Stations" built in the United States. The structure combinesArt Deco,Mission Revival, andStreamline Moderne style. It was placed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Today, the station is a major transportation hub forSouthern California, serving almost 110,000 passengers a day.[8] It is by far the busiest railroad station in the Western United States; it is Amtrak's fifth-busiest station, and is thethirteenth-busiest railroad station in North America.
Four ofAmtrak's long-distance trains originate and terminate here: theCoast Starlight to Seattle, theSouthwest Chief andTexas Eagle to Chicago, and theSunset Limited to New Orleans. The state-supported AmtrakPacific Surfliner regional trains run frequently to San Diego and also to Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. The station is the hub of theMetrolink commuter rail system and is a major transfer point for severalMetro Rail light rail and rapid transit lines. ThePatsaouras Transit Plaza, on the east side of the station, serves dozens ofbus lines operated byLos Angeles Metro and several other municipal carriers.[9]
The city council of Los Angeles had desired since the 1910s to construct aunion station to replace the existing three terminal stations in Los Angeles: theSanta Fe'sLa Grande Station, theSouthern Pacific'sCentral Station, and theUnion Pacific'sSalt Lake Station. As the proposed station would be built and owned by the city and open to all prospective railroads, it threatened to break these three railroads' control over rail traffic into and out of the city. Their opposition led to a series of legal cases that were still not resolved by 1925, when the railroads offered a compromise solution. The Union Pacific's Salt Lake Station had burned down in 1924, forcing it to rent space in the Southern Pacific's Central Station. The railroads proposed to make this arrangement permanent, reducing the number of terminals to two, while also constructing a large network ofelevated tracks at their own expense, to be used by them and thePacific Electric. Not only would the new electrified tracks link the two terminals, but they would eliminatestreet running on some of the busiest streets in Los Angeles.[10][11]
The railroads' proposal immediately generated public controversy for and against the proposal, and in February 1926 the council agreed to place a non-binding question on the ballot asking voters whether they were in favor of the city council's union station proposal or the railroads' elevated railway plan. Proposition 8 asked "Shall a Union Railway Passenger Terminal for all steam railroads be established in the City of Los Angeles?", while Proposition 9 asked whether the proposed station should be built in Los Angeles Plaza. The issue became extremely heated, with both sides fiercely arguing their point. Elevated railway proponents, such as theLos Angeles Examiner and the Greater Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, pointed to the safety benefits of the elimination of grade crossings and the benefits to businesses of reduced traffic congestion, as well as claiming that the proposed union station site would cause heavy road congestion. Union station proponents, such as theLos Angeles Times and many homeowner associations, claimed that elevated railways harmed property values, made streets dangerously dark, produced unacceptable levels of noise, and were less safe than other forms of railroad. As the Los Angeles Plaza was near Los Angeles'original Chinatown, the debate took on racial connotations as well, with theExaminer claiming that being near Chinatown would mean that visitors to the city would receive a bad first impression, and theTimes countering by arguing that the construction of the station would allow for urban renewal that would "spell the passing of Chinatown".[10][11]
When the two propositions were finally put to a vote, both passed; Proposition 8 by a 61.3 to 38.7 percent margin, and Proposition 9 by a much smaller 51.1 to 48.9 percent margin. However, largely due to the efforts of preservationistChristine Sterling andLos Angeles Times publisherHarry Chandler, Union Station would not replace the Plaza, but be built across the street in Chinatown,[citation needed] which was demolished for the project.[12] During the construction process of Union Station, archaeological remains from theTongva village ofYaanga were uncovered.[13] Researcher Joan Brown summarized this in 1992:
Previous archaeological studies conducted at and near Union Station indicate that buried intact prehistoric and historic deposits exist in-situ beneath and in the vicinity of Union Station. The extent of the archaeological deposits is unknown at this time. Union Station was constructed on three to twenty feet of fill dirt placed over the original Los Angeles Chinatown. Chinatown, in turn, had been built over the remains of an Indian village, tentatively identified as the village of Yangna.[13]
The glamorous new $11 million station (in 1939 dollars)[14] took over fromLa Grande Station which had suffered major damage in the1933 Long Beach earthquake andCentral Station, which had itself replaced theArcade Depot in 1914.
Passenger service was provided by theSanta Fe,Southern Pacific, andUnion Pacific, as well as local lines of thePacific Electric Railway andLos Angeles Railway (LARy).[15] The famedSuper Chief luxury train carried Hollywood stars and others toChicago and thence the East Coast. Union Station saw heavy use duringWorld War II, but later saw declining patronage due to policy shifts on the state and federal levels promoting the use of air travel and automobiles over passenger rail.
In 1948, the Santa Fe'sSuper Chief lost its brakes coming into the station, smashed through a steel bumper and concrete wall, and stopped with one third of the front of the locomotive dangling over Aliso St. No one was killed or injured, but the engineer lost his job.[16]
The station was designated as a Los Angeles Historic–Cultural Monument No. 101 on August 2, 1972, and placed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1980.[6]
The first commuter rail service to Union Station was the short-livedCalTrain that began operating on October 18, 1982, between Los Angeles andOxnard. The service faced economic and political problems from the start and was suspended in March 1983. The next attempt at commuter rail came in 1990 with the launch of theAmtrak-operatedOrange County Commuter. The once-daily round-trip served stations between Los Angeles andSan Juan Capistrano.
In December 1989, the Santa Fe Pacific Realty Co purchased Southern Pacific's shareholding in the station, followed in January 1990 by Union Pacific's 22% and Santa Fe's 34%.[17]
Metrolink commuter rail service began on October 26, 1992, with Union Station as the terminus for theSan Bernardino Line, the Santa Clarita Line (later renamed theAntelope Valley Line) and theVentura County Line. In January 1993, Metro'sRed Line subway[18] began service to the station, followed by Metrolink'sRiverside Line in June. TheOrange County Commuter train was discontinued on March 28, 1994, and replaced by Metrolink'sOrange County Line. In May 2002, Metrolink added additional service to stations in Orange and Riverside counties with the opening of the 91 Line (now the91/Perris Valley Line.)[19]
Light rail service arrived at Union Station on July 26, 2003, when Metro'sGold Line began operating to Pasadena from tracks 1 and 2. The line was expanded south over US 101 in November 2009 with the opening of the Gold Line Eastside Extension.
In February 2011, the board of Los Angeles Metro approved the purchase of Union Station from Prologis andCatellus Development (a descendant of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads) for $75 million. The deal was closed on April 14, 2011.[20][21] Since taking over ownership of the station, Metro has focused on increasing services for passengers at the station. One of the most noticeable changes is the addition of several retail and dining businesses to the concourse.
Amtrak opened a Metropolitan Lounge at Union Station on September 23, 2013.[22] The lounge is open to Amtrak passengers traveling in sleeping car accommodations as well as someAmtrak Guest Rewards members (Select Plus and Select Executive levels only).[23] The lounge features a staffed ticket counter, complimentary refreshments, complimentaryWi-Fi, and a conference room. Passengers using the Metropolitan Lounge receive priority boarding.
Metro plans to installBluetooth beacons in Union Station to enable sendingtext messages to travelers'smartphones.[24]
On March 15, 2021, it was announced that the station would serve as a joint venue of the93rd Academy Awards along with theDolby Theatre due to theimpact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema.[25] The ceremony was criticized for limiting access to the station and itsCOVID-19 testing site due to security measures mandated by the Academy.[26][27]
On October 19, 2022, Greyhound moved its primary Los Angeles station to the Patsaouras Transit Plaza at Union Station.[28]
Union Station was partially designed byJohn and Donald Parkinson, the father-and-son architectural firm who had also designedLos Angeles City Hall and other landmark Los Angeles buildings. They were assisted by a group of supporting architects, including Jan van der Linden. The structure combinesArt Deco,Mission Revival, andStreamline Moderne style, with architectural details such as eight-pointed stars, and even elements ofDutch Colonial Revival architecture (at the suggestion of the Dutch-born Jan von der Linden).[29]
Enclosed garden patios are on either side of the waiting room, and passengers exiting the trains were originally directed through the southern garden. The lower parts of the interior walls are covered intravertine marble; the upper parts have an early form of acoustical tile. The floor in the large rooms isterra cotta with a central strip of inlaid marble (including travertine, somewhat unusual in floors since it is soft). The ceiling in the grand waiting room has the appearance of wood, but is actually made of steel.[30]
The original ticket lobby has 62-foot (19 m) high ceilings and a 110-foot (34 m) counter. It is closed to the public, but occasionally rented out for film shoots or special events.[30][31][32][33]Public art has been added to the station including an aquarium with a wall featuring etchings ofTongva and Latino settlers such asPío Pico.[34]
Inside the grand waiting room is the Traxx restaurant and bar, which is Art Deco-themed, reflecting the history and architectural grandeur of its home. The restaurant opened in the late 1990s, and became a "top draw" at Union Station, according to the Los Angeles Times.[35] Traxx closed between May and September 2019 as ownership of the restaurant changed.[36]
Attached to the main building to the south is the station restaurant designed by the famed Southwestern architectMary Colter. It was the last of the "Harvey House" restaurants to be constructed as a part of a passenger terminal. The vast rectangular dining room has a rounded central counter, streamlined booths and inlaid cement tile floor in the pattern of aNavajo blanket.[37][31]
Colter also designed a sleek,Streamline Moderne cocktail lounge. The restaurant closed in 1967 and for decades remained largely empty, used only for the occasional film shoot or special event.[38] In October 2018, following a four-year renovation process, the dining room re-opened as the "Imperial Western Beer Co.," a restaurant and bar with its own attached brewery, and the cocktail lounge re-opened as "The Streamliner," a smallercraft cocktail bar.[38]
Even with its grand scale, Union Station is still considered small in comparison to otherunion stations.[39]
Although Union Station contains no distinct sculptures or artworks from its early years, Metro rail development in the 1990s funded the installation of a variety of notablepublic art murals and sculptural installations for the station's new subterranean lobbies, portals and subway platforms.[40] The following Union Station public artworks include murals, granite seating sculptures, electronic wall-mounted art, glass mosaics, and a river-themed sculptural installation incorporating found objects from the subway excavation and an aquarium of native sea life.[41]
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Union Station is located in the northeastern corner ofdowntown Los Angeles, on the property bounded byAlameda Street,Cesar Chavez Avenue, Vignes Street, and theHollywood Freeway. It is across Alameda Street from L.A.'s historicOlvera Street andEl Pueblo de Los Angeles State Historic Park. The historicTerminal Annex building is on the opposite side of the Chavez Avenue underpass.Chinatown andCivic Center are a short distance away.
ThePatsaouras Transit Plaza on the east side of Union Station hosts several connecting bus lines, including Metro Local, Metro Rapid and Metro Express lines, as well as downtownDASH shuttles, many municipal bus lines,FlyAway express bus service toLos Angeles International Airport,Greyhound buses, andUniversity of Southern California campus shuttles. The Transit Plaza is named afterNick Patsaouras, former RTD board member and advocate for public transportation.
The Gateway Transit Center includes the station itself and the Patsaouras Transit Plaza, both of which were designed byEhrenkrantz & Eckstut, along with the western terminus of the El Monte Busway, as well as Metro's headquarters building.
As of October 2019[update], Amtrak and Metrolink share 12 of Union Station's 14 outdoor tracks, with 94 trains departing on most weekdays (95 on Wednesday, 96 on Friday).[Note 1][50][51]
Union Station is the western terminus for four of Amtrak'slong-distance trains:
Amtrak California operates multiple-times-daily regional rail services to cities across the state:
The station is the hub forMetrolink and six of Metrolink's eight lines serve the station:
ThreeMetro Rail lines serve the station with about 300 Metro Rail trains departing every weekday. The B and D lines are heavy rail, and share a platform underground, while the A Line uses tracks one and two outside.
The Metro RailB andDsubway lines have their eastern terminus at Union Station and share two tracks below Union Station.[54][55] There are two entrances to the platform: one is located inside Union Station's main concourse on the west side of the complex, near Alameda Street, and the other is located near the Patsaouras Transit Plaza on the east side of the complex.
The Metro RailA Line is a light rail line that passes through Union Station as it travels betweenPomona andLong Beach.[56] Trains use Tracks 1 and 2 of Union Station's 14 outdoor tracks. The platform is accessible viastaircase andelevator from the main passenger tunnel. From the Gold line's opening on July 26, 2003, until the segment to East Los Angeles opened on November 15, 2009, this station was the southern terminus. The platform features an art installation, entitledImages of Commonality/Nature and Movement, created byBeth Thielen.
The platform station was formerly served by theL Line, which permanently closed on June 16, 2023, for the opening of the Regional Connector. The A Line now services the tracks north ofLittle Tokyo/Arts District, including Union Station.[57]
OneMetro Busway bus rapid transit line makes a stop at thePatsaouras Transit Plaza. The Metro BuswayJ Line operates betweenEl Monte station,Downtown Los Angeles,Harbor Gateway Transit Center and select trips toSan Pedro using theEl Monte Busway andHarbor Transitway.
TheSilver Streak, abus rapid transit service operated byFoothill Transit running betweenPico station in Downtown Los Angeles and theMontclair Transit Center, makes a stop at the Patsaouras Transit Plaza.
Amtrak California operates several motorcoach routes under theAmtrak Thruway brand from Union Station using dedicated bus bays at the north side of the station.
Connections toGold Runner trains are provided through bus route 1 that travel to and from theBakersfield Amtrak Station.[58] Direct rail service to Bakersfield is not possible because passenger trains are not normally allowed on theTehachapi Loop near Bakersfield. When trains are not running during the overnight hours several bus routes provide service along thePacific Surfliner route (to Santa Barbara, San Diego and select intermediate stations) and theGold Runner route (to Fresno and select intermediate stations.):
While it does not stop on the Union Station property,Flixbus provides intercity service to destinations across the Western United States from a parking lot across the street from the station on the northwest corner of Cesar Chavez Avenue and Vignes Street.[59]
Greyhound Lines operates its main Los Angeles station from the Patsaouras Transit Plaza.[60] The station opened on October 19, 2022, replacing a station located at 7th and Alameda in the Arts District.[61]
Bus services using thePatsaouras Transit Plaza:
Bus services using the Union Station Patsaouras Bus Plaza station, which is located in the median of theEl Monte Busway next to US-101:
Bus services using the bus stop on Cesar Chavez Avenue & Vignes Street (northeast corner of station):
Bus services using the bus stop on Alameda Street & Los Angeles Street (outside western entrance):
Bus service using the bus stop on the west side of Union Station (near the taxi stand and the Mozaic Apartments):
With the number of trains using Union Station expanding, thestub-end layout of trackage is limiting the station's capacity. Trains can only enter or exit from the north side of the station.[63] The configuration forces trains without cab-cars to slowly reverse in or out of the station and trains heading to or from the south to make a near-180 degree turn. Compounding the problem, is that while the station has 14 boarding tracks, multiple trains must squeeze onto just 5 tracks.
Originally, there were more tracks at "the throat", but Metrolink had some removed to allow for faster speeds along the curves in and out of the station to improve efficiency as they enter or exit the station. This choke-point can delay arriving trains as they are forced to wait outside of the station to allow a departing train to exit the station. Departures are usually given priority, to free up platforms and to keep them from experiencing delays along their route.
Therefore, Metro has proposed the Link Union Station (Link US, formerly named Southern California Regional Interconnector) Project, which would extend tracks 3–10 as run-through tracks, which will exit Union Station and cross over theEl Monte Busway andUS Route 101/Santa Ana Fwy on a long, elevated "S-curve" that will tie into the existing tracks along the Los Angeles River. The plan also includes tracks along the river that would create a "loop" around the station allowing all trains (including those to/from the north or west) to use the run-though tracks.[64]
Metro authorized preliminary engineering for the project in July 2012. A Request For Proposals (RFP) for Link Union Station was being prepared as of June 2013.[65] The $31-million contract for the engineering work on the project was approved on April 24, 2014.[66] The project's estimated value is $350 million.[66][67]
During construction, several tracks may be taken out of service due to their extension. To make up for the temporary loss of those platforms, track 13 was revitalized for use and tracks 14 & 15 were re-constructed. The project was completed on October 17, 2012.[68] Once the Link US project is finished, the run-through tracks and tracks 13–14 will be in regular use (track 15 will be used for storage), resulting in a 40% increase in track capacity.
On July 27, 2019, the Metro board officially approved and certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the Link US Union Station run-through tracks project. The FIER has an expanded central concourse hallway to replace the new elevated concourse proposed in the Draft EIR, and also eliminated the loop tracks. These modifications reduced project costs while prioritizing rider convenience while transferring between trains.[69] A funding plan for the project was approved on April 21, 2020, with the project's Phase A completion targeted for 2028.[70]
In 2021, this project began construction, causing partial closure of platforms at this station.[71] As of October 2023[update], Metro estimates that the first phase of the project will open in 2028.[72]
Caltrans and theFederal Railroad Administration previously drafted a plan to create run-through tracks at Union Station, but the project involved just four tracks and lacked the station "loop" limiting usage of the tracks just to trains heading to or from the south.
The finalenvironmental impact report for the "Los Angeles Union Station Run-Through Tracks Project" was published by the FRA in November 2005.[73]
Union Station is planned to be a major hub for the futureCalifornia High-Speed Rail System. Upon completion, it is projected that passengers will be able to get from Union Station to theSalesforce Transit Center in the city of San Francisco in 2 hours and 40 minutes.[74]
As a part of its Master Plan, Metro studied how to best integrate tracks and platforms for high-speed trains arrival into Union Station. Options included an aerial structure above the existing platforms, an underground structure under Alameda Street, an underground structure under Vignes Street and an aerial structure east of Vignes.[75] All plans include a new concourse for high-speed rail passengers and three platforms with six tracks.
Since that time, theLink US project has resulted in changes to how High-Speed Rail (HSR) will be brought into Union Station. That project's Final Environmental Report (FEIR) released in June 2019 indicates that HSR will approach the station from the north, on tracks 3 thru 6, use rebuilt station platforms 2 and 3, then exit to the south onto a new viaduct over the El Monte Busway and Santa Ana Freeway, which curves east (over a rebuilt and relocated Commercial Street) to return to the existing rail corridor along the west bank of theLos Angeles River. Thus, only four tracks and two platforms at Union Station will be used for HSR, with the remaining six tracks being converted to thru status and using the new viaduct to be shared by Metrolink and Amtrak lines. Tracks 13 thru 15 will remain stubs, ending at the south side of the station.[76]
Construction on the run-through track is expected to start between 2023-2025 with a planned completion between 2028-2033.[77]
Metro selected Union Station as the eventual northern terminus of the plannedSoutheast Gateway Line in 2022.[78] The new light rail line will serve new platforms either at the Forecourt or behind the Metropolitan Water District Building and may open as early as 2043.
The Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit Project is a proposedaerial gondola connecting the station toDodger Stadium.[79]
The proposed Brightline West high speed line is scheduled to begin construction betweenLas Vegas andRancho Cucamonga in late 2023 and is expected to be operational in mid-late 2027.[80] It is planned to connect to Los Angeles Union Station via existing Metrolink services, though Metrolink schedules will line up with Brightline schedules to allow for transfers.[81]
Dreamstar Lines intends to launch an overnight passenger train service from Union Station toSan Francisco4th and King Street station in 2025.[82][83]
The facility served as a backdrop for the 1950 filmUnion Station,[84][85] which starredWilliam Holden andNancy Olson. It has since been used in numerous films as afilming location, typically as a stand in for other fictional locations,[86] including:
Union Station has been featured in numerous television shows, such asAdam-12,24,Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., andEuphoria.
It has also been featured in video games; Union Station, as it was in the late 1940s, appears inL.A. Noire, while a smaller fictionalized version of the station appears inGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas as Unity Station.
Union Station was featured inVisiting... withHuell Howser Episode 222.[94]
The music videos of Lifehouse's "You and Me",[95],Backstreet Boys' "Chances",Fiona Apple's "Paper Bag,"[96] "Drops of Jupiter" by American bandTrain, directed byNigel Dick;[97] and "Last Train Home" byJohn Mayer, directed byCameron Duddy; were filmed in Union Station.[98] A significant portion of the music video for "Vermilion" by the bandSlipknot was filmed within Union Station.[99]
...some characteristic items were unearthed during the building of Union Station in 1939, and considerably more... when the historic Bella Union Hotel was built [1870] [between Main and Los Angeles streets north of Commercial].
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