Washington Union Station, known locally asUnion Station, is a majortrain station, transportation hub, and leisure destination inWashington, D.C. Designed byDaniel Burnham and opened in 1907, it isAmtrak's second-busiest station and North America's13th-busiest railroad station. The station is the southern terminus of theNortheast Corridor, anelectrified rail line extending north through major cities includingBaltimore,Philadelphia,New York City, andBoston, and the busiest passenger rail line in the nation. In 2015, it served just under five million passengers.[7]
Anintermodal facility, Union Station also servesMARC andVREcommuter rail services, theWashington Metro, theDC Streetcar,intercity bus lines, and localMetrobus buses. It carries theIATA airport code of ZWU.[8]
At the height of its traffic, duringWorld War II, as many as 200,000 passengers passed through the station in a single day.[9] In 1988, aheadhouse wing was added and the original station renovated for use as ashopping mall. As of 2014, Union Station was one of the busiest rail facilities and shopping destinations in the United States, visited by over 40 million people a year.[10] TheCOVID-19 pandemic and other factors caused a sharp decline in retail and dining; by late 2022, more than half its commercial space was vacant. Amtrak took control of the station in 2024 and is working on a major renovation and expansion. On August 27, 2025, theTrump administration announced it would negotiate to resume direct federal management of non-railroad areas.
Before Union Station opened, each of the major railroads operated out of one of two stations:
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line ran east on D Street NE across North Capitol Street, then north on Delaware Avenue NE. It divided into two lines. The Metropolitan branch continued north on 1st Street NE, turning east on New York Ave NE and continuing north throughEckington. The other line turned east onto I Street NE up to 7th Street NE where it headed back north on what is today West Virginia Avenue running next to theColumbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb (nowGallaudet University).[12]
When thePennsylvania Railroad and theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad announced in 1901 that they had agreed to build a new union station together, the city had two reasons to celebrate.[13] The decision meant that both railroads would soon remove their trackwork and terminals from theNational Mall. Though changes there appeared only gradually, the consolidation of the depots allowed the creation of the Mall as it appears today. Secondly, the plan to bring all the city's railroads under one roof promised that Washington would finally have a station both large enough to handle large crowds and impressive enough to befit the city's role as the federal capital. The station was to be designed under the guidance ofDaniel Burnham, a famed Chicago architect and member of the U.S. Senate Park Commission, who in September 1901 wrote to the Commission's chairman, Sen.James McMillan, of the proposed project: "The station and its surroundings should be treated in a monumental manner, as they will become the vestibule of the city of Washington, and as they will be in close proximity to the Capitol itself."[14]
After two years of complicated and sometimes contentious negotiations, Congress passed S. 4825 (58th-1st session) entitled "An Act to provide a union railroad station in the District of Columbia" which was signed into law by 26th PresidentTheodore Roosevelt on February 28, 1903.[15] The Act authorized theWashington Terminal Company (which was to be jointly owned by the B&O and the PRR-controlledPhiladelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad) to construct a station "monumental in character" that would cost at least $4 million (equivalent to $117 million in 2024[16]). (The main station building's actual cost eventually exceeded $5.9 million [equivalent to $173 million in 2024[16]].) Including additional outlays for new terminal grades, approaches, bridges, viaducts, coach and freight yards, tunnels, shops, support buildings and other infrastructure, the total cost to the Terminal Company for all the improvements associated with Union Station exceeded $16 million (equivalent to $468 million in 2024[16]). This cost was financed by $12 million (equivalent to $351 million in 2024[16]) in first mortgage bonds as well as advances by the owners which were repaid by stock and cash.[citation needed]
Each carrier also received $1.5 million (equivalent to $43.9 million in 2024[16]) in government funding to compensate them for the costs of eliminating grade crossings in the city. The only railroad station in the nation specifically authorized by theU.S. Congress, the building was primarily designed by William Pierce Anderson of the Chicago architectural firm ofD.H. Burnham & Company.[17][18]
Though the project was supported by the federal government, there was opposition at the local level. The new depot would displace residents and cleave new neighborhoods east of the tracks.
On January 10, 1902, representatives of the railroads presented preliminary plans for the construction of theUnion Depot (Union Station) to representatives of the District of Columbia. They proposed to build tunnels under the tracks for K, L, and M Streets NE and to closeH Street. The street would be closed 300 feet (91 m) on both sides of Delaware Avenue (for a total of 600 feet [180 m]). If a tunnel was to be built for H Street NE, the cost would be an extra $10,000 (equivalent to $292,000 in 2024[16]).[19]
Three days later, officers and members of the Northeast Washington Citizens' Association expressed their outrage to representatives of Congress and the railroads at an Association meeting at theNortheast Temple on H Street NE. The president of the Association claimed that the Pennsylvania Railroad controlled Congress; a member of the Association threatened to take the matter to court. The Association declared unacceptable the loss of a major access road to downtown for the residents of Northeast; the loss of millions of dollars of business properties and of the business it represented; the closure of a vital streetcar line used by commuters, considering the alternative cost of building an access across the tracks.[20]
At the association's March 10, 1902, meeting, its president told the audience that the District Commissioners had heard their complaints, and that H Street would remain open with a 750-foot (230 m) tunnel running under the tracks.[21]
More than 100 houses were demolished to make way for the station and its tracks. The demolition erased the heart of an impoverished neighborhood called "Swampoodle" where crime was rampant. It was the end of a community but the beginning of a new era for Washington, D.C.[citation needed]Tiber Creek, which was prone to flooding, wasput in a tunnel. Delaware Avenue disappeared from the map between Massachusetts Avenue and Florida Avenue under the tracks. Only a small section remains, next to the tracks between L and M Streets NE.[22]
The first B&O train to arrive with passengers was thePittsburgh Express, at 6:50 a.m. on October 27, 1907; the first PRR train arrived three weeks later on November 17. The main building itself was completed in 1908. Of its 32 station tracks, 20 enter from the northeast and terminate at the station's headhouse. The remaining 12 tracks enter below ground level from the south via a 4,033-foot twin-tube tunnel passing under Capitol Hill and an 898-foot long subway under Massachusetts Avenue, which allow through traffic direct access to the rail networks both north and south of the city.[23][24][25][26]
Among the new station's unique features was an opulent "Presidential Suite" (aka "State Reception Suite") where the U.S. President, State Department and Congressional leaders could receive distinguished visitors arriving in Washington. Provided with a separate entrance, the suite (which was first used by 27th PresidentWilliam Howard Taft in 1909) was also meant to safeguard the Chief Executive during his travels in an effort to prevent a repeat of the July, 1881 assassination of 20th PresidentJames A. Garfield in the old formerBaltimore and Potomac Railroad Station.[26][27] The suite was converted in December 1941, duringWorld War II, to aU.S.O. (United Services Organization) canteen, which went on to serve 6.5 million military service members duringWorld War II. Although closed on May 31, 1946, it was reopened in 1951 as a U.S.O. lounge and dedicated by PresidentHarry Truman as a permanent "home away from home" for traveling U.S. Armed Services members.[28][29]
On the morning of January 15, 1953, the Pennsylvania Railroad'sFederal, the overnight train fromBoston,crashed into the station. When the engineer tried to apply thetrainline brakes two miles out of the platforms, he discovered that he only had engine brakes. A switchman on the approach to the station noticed the runaway train and telephoned a warning to the station, as the train coasted downhill into track 16. TheGG1 electric locomotive, No. 4876, hit thebumper block at about 35 miles per hour (56 km/h), jumped onto the platform, destroyed the stationmaster's office at the end of the track, took out a newsstand, and was on its way to crashing through the wall into the Great Hall. Just then, the floor of the terminal, having never been designed to carry the 475,000-pound weight of this locomotive, gave way, dropping the engine into the basement. The 447,000-pound (202,800 kg)electric locomotive fell into about the center of what is now thefood court. Remarkably, no one was killed, and passengers in the rear cars thought that they had only had a rough stop. An investigation revealed that an anglecock on the brakeline had been closed, probably by anicicle knocked from an overhead bridge. The accident inspired the finale of the1976 filmSilver Streak.[30] The durable design of the GG1 made its damage repairable, and it was soon back in service after being hauled away in pieces to the PRR's main shops inAltoona, Pennsylvania. Before the latter action was undertaken, the GG1 and the hole it made were temporarily planked over and hidden from view due to the imminent inauguration ofGeneralDwight D. Eisenhower as the thirty-fourth President of the United States.[31]
Until intercity passenger rail service was taken over by Amtrak on May 1, 1971, Union Station served as a hub for theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad,Chesapeake and Ohio Railway,Pennsylvania Railroad, andSouthern Railway. TheRichmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac provided a link toRichmond, Virginia, about 100 miles (161 km) to the south, where major north–south lines of theAtlantic Coast Line Railroad andSeaboard Air Line Railroad provided service to the Carolinas,Georgia and Florida.[32] World War II was the busiest period in the station's history in terms of passenger traffic, with up to 200,000 people passing through on a single day.[9]
In 1967, the chairman of theCivil Service Commission expressed interest in using Union Station as a visitor center during the upcomingBicentennial celebrations. Funding for this was collected over the next six years, and the reconstruction of the station included outfitting the Main Hall with a recessed pit to display a slide show presentation. This was officially the PAVE (Primary Audio-Visual Experience), but was sarcastically referred to as "the Pit". The entire project was completed, save for the parking garage, and opening ceremonies were held onIndependence Day 1976. Due to a lack of publicity and convenient parking, theNational Visitor Center was never popular. Financial considerations caused the National Park Service to close the theaters, end the slideshow presentation in "the Pit", and lay off almost three-quarters of the center's staff on October 28, 1978.[33]
During this time a replacement station for Amtrak had been built behind the Union Station concourse and under a parking garage. Two traffic lanes were planned but were actually only wide enough for 1-1/2 lanes.[34] On observing its low ceiling and plastic chairsNew Yorker magazine editorE. M. Frimbo described it as "...a bad small town bus terminal." Train passengers had to walk 1,900 feet from the front door to the tracks. The most common question asked at the Visitor Center was, "Where are the trains?"[35]
After the leaking roof caused the partial collapse of plaster from the ceiling in the eastern wing of the building, the National Park Service declared the entire structure unsafe on February 23, 1981, and sealed the structure to the public.[36]
The 1981 ceiling collapse deeply alarmed members of Congress and officials in the newReagan administration. On April 3, despite a budget austerity push, administration officials proposed a plan to appropriate $7 million (equivalent to $20.4 million in 2024[16]) to allow the Department of the Interior to finish its authorized $8 million (equivalent to $23.3 million in 2024[16]) roof repair program. In addition, the government of the District of Columbia would be permitted to reprogram up to $40 million (equivalent to $116 million in 2024[16]) in federal highway money to finish the parking garage at Union Station.[37] On October 19, administration officials and members of theUnited States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation agreed on additional aspects of the plan. Up to $1 million (equivalent to $2.91 million in 2024[16]) would be authorized and appropriated to fund a study on needed repairs at the station and a second study on the feasibility of turning Union Station into a retail complex. The Department of Transportation (DOT) was authorized to sign contracts with any willing corporation to construct a retail complex in and around Union Station.[38] DOT was also authorized to spend up to $29 million (equivalent to $84.4 million in 2024[16]) in already-appropriated money from its Northeast Corridor rail capital building program on Union Station repairs.[39] The revised bill also required DOT to take control of Union Station from the Department of the Interior,[38] and for DOT to buy out its lease with the station's private-sector owners. The buy-out would be spread over six years, for which $275,000 a year (equivalent to $8.01 million in 2024[16]) was authorized and appropriated.[39] The bill required DOT to operate Union Station as a train station once more, complete with ticketing, waiting areas, baggage areas, and boarding. Although no statement was made in the bill, Senate aides said the intent was to have Amtrak tear down its 1960s-era station at the rear of Union Station and move its operations back inside.[38] The Senate passed the bill unanimously on November 23.[40] The House approved the bill on December 16.[39] President Ronald Reagan signed the Union Station Redevelopment Act into law on December 29.[41][42]
As a result of the Redevelopment Act of 1981, Union Station was closed for restoration and refurbishing.Mold was growing in the leaking ceiling of the Main Hall, and the carpet laid out for anInauguration Day celebration was full of cigarette-burned holes. In 1988,Secretary of TransportationElizabeth Dole awarded $70 million (equivalent to $160 million in 2024[16]) to the restoration effort. "The Pit" was transformed into a new basement level, and the Main Hall floor was refitted with marble. While installing newHVAC systems, crews discovered antique items in shafts that had not been opened since the building's creation.[citation needed]
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The station reopened in its present form on September 29, 1988.[43] The former "Pit" area was replaced with anAMC movie theater (later Phoenix Theatres), which closed on October 12, 2009, and was replaced with an expanded food court and aWalgreens store. The food court still retains the original arches under which the trains were parked as well as the track numbers on those arches. A variety of shops opened along the Concourse and Main Hall, and a newAmtrak terminal at the back behind the original Concourse. Trains no longer enter the original Concourse, but the original, decorative gates were relocated to the new passenger concourse. In 1994, this new passenger concourse was renamed to honorW. Graham Claytor Jr., who served as Amtrak's president from 1982 to 1993. The decorative elements of the station were also restored. The skylights were preserved, but sunlight no longer illuminates the Concourse because it is blocked by the newer roof structure built directly overhead to support the aging, original structure.[citation needed]
In July 2012, Amtrak announced a four-phase, $7 billion plan to revamp and renovate the station over 15 to 20 years. The proposed conversion would "double the number of trains and triple the number of passengers in gleaming, glass-encased halls". Then-Amtrak President and CEOJoseph H. Boardman hoped the federal government would finance "50 to 80 percent" of the project.[44]
In June 2015, the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation released a Historic Preservation Plan to guide preservation and restoration at the station complex.[45]
The cinema closed in 2009, B. Smith's restaurant[46] andBarnes & Noble in 2013,[47] and the latter's replacement,H&M, in 2019.[48]
Amtrak moved its headquarters offices from Union Station to a nearby building in 2017. That same year, the Trump administration listed an $8.7 billion expansion and refurbishment of Washington Union Station as an infrastructure funding priority.[49] In the early 2020s, the station saw a further decline in the number of restaurants and stores as a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic.
"A once-thriving terminal is now filled with vacant storefronts," theWashington Post reported in 2022. "Union Station had as many as 100 stores more than two decades ago. It’s down to about 40 retailers and eateries while more than half its commercial space sits vacant." The station continued to wrestle with issues stemming from homeless people camped around the station and relying on its waiting and restroom facilities.[47]Columbus Circle has been rebuilt to fix its deteriorated roadbed, adjust the passenger pickup/dropoff locations, streamline the taxi stand, and better accommodate tour buses.[citation needed]
In April 2022,Amtrak begancondemnation proceedings to take over the leasehold interest, saying that “poor maintenance and lack of capital investment” had “plagued” the station for years.[50] In the meantime, the agency described plans for a major renovation and expansion, which seek to triple passenger capacity and double train capacity by modernizing and expanding station facilities over 20 years.[51] The "Second Century Plan" accommodates Burnham Place, a planned transit-oriented, three million square-foot mixed-use development over the existing rail yard, that will connect the station complex to the burgeoning neighborhoods ofNoMa and theH Street Corridor.[52][53] The plan cleared a regulatory obstacle in March 2024, when the Federal Railroad Administration completed its final environmental impact statement.[50]
On April 17, 2024, U.S. District Court JudgeAmit Mehta ruled that Amtrak could seize the station’s commercial space througheminent domain, with the price to be set later.[50][54] Officials said the renovation could start as early as 2027.[50] Amtrak took over control of Union Station in late July 2024.[55][56] Though Amtrak agreed to pay $505 million for the station's leasehold in February 2025,[57][58] the station's former operator USSM sued to prevent the agreement from being approved.[59][60]
In August 2025, a former lower-level storage track (Track 22) was reopened as a platform track for Amtrak and VRE use.[61][62] On August 27, 2025, theTrump administration announced it would negotiate to resume direct federal management of non-railroad areas.[63]
ArchitectDaniel H. Burnham, assisted byPierce Anderson, was inspired by a number ofarchitectural styles.Classical elements included theArch of Constantine (exterior, main façade) and the great vaulted spaces of theBaths of Diocletian (interior); prominent siting at the intersection of two ofPierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's avenues, with an orientation that faced theUnited States Capitol just five blocks away; a massive scale, including a façade stretching more than 600 feet (180 m) and a waiting room ceiling 96 feet (29 m) above the floor; stone inscriptions andallegorical sculpture in theBeaux-Arts style; expensive materials such as marble,gold leaf and white granite from a previously unused quarry.[64]
In theAttic block, above the main cornice of the central block, stand six colossal statues (modeled on theDacian prisoners of the Arch of Constantine) designed byLouis St. Gaudens. These are entitled "The Progress of Railroading" and their iconography expresses the confident enthusiasm of theAmerican Renaissance movement:
The substitution of Agriculture for Commerce in a railroad station iconography vividly conveys the power of a specifically Americanlobbying bloc.
St. Gaudens also created the 46centurion statues for the station's main hall, one for each state in the Union at the time the station opened. Also referred to as Legionnaires, they are made of plaster and modelled after ancient Roman soldiers, symbolically guarding over all who travel through the halls of Union Station. Each of the statues' large shields were added shortly after their installation, following complaints regarding the centurions' nudity from the hips down.[65]
Burnham drew upon a tradition, launched with the 1837Euston railway station in London, of treating the entrance to a major terminal as atriumphal arch. He linked the monumental end pavilions with long arcades enclosingloggias in a long series of bays that were vaulted with the lightweight fireproofGuastavino tiles favored by American Beaux-Arts architects. The final aspect owed much to the Court of Heroes at theWorld's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, where Burnham had been coordinating architect. The setting of Union Station's façade at the focus of converging avenues in a park-like green setting is one of the few executed achievements of theCity Beautiful movement: elite city planning that was based on the "goosefoot" (patte d'oie) of formal garden plans made byBaroque designers such asAndré Le Nôtre.[citation needed]
The station held a full range of dining rooms and other services, includingbarber shops and a mortuary. Union Station was equipped with a presidential suite which is now occupied by a restaurant.[citation needed]
Union Station is served byAmtrak's high-speedAcela Express,Northeast Regional, and several of Amtrak'slong-distance trains (including, among others, theFloridian,Crescent, andSilver Meteor trains). From Union Station, Amtrak also operates long-distance services to the Southeast and Midwest, to destinations such asChicago,Charlotte,New Orleans, andMiami. In 2024, an average of more than 70,000 passengers passed through the station each day.[66] It is also the busiest station that can handleSuperliner railcars; inadequate tunnel clearances in Baltimore and New York preclude the use of Superliners on most Eastern routes.[67]
The station is the terminus forcommuter railways that link Washington toMaryland andWest Virginia (MARC) andNorthern Virginia (Virginia Railway Express).
The station's tracks are split between a ground level and a lower level. The ground level contains tracks 7–20 (tracks 1–6 no longer exist), which are served by high-levelbay platforms at the door level of most trains. These tracks are used by all MARC commuter rail services, all AmtrakAcela Express trains, and AmtrakNortheast Regional trains that terminate at the station. All of the tracks on this level terminate at the station and are only used by trains arriving from and departing to the north.[68]
The lower level contains tracks 22–29, which are served by low-level platforms at the track level. These platforms are served by all VRE trains, all Amtrak long-distance trains, and AmtrakNortheast Regional trains that continue south to Virginia. Unlike the tracks on the upper level, the lower level tracks run through under the station building and Capitol Hill via theFirst Street tunnel. Electrification ends at the station, and all trains continuing south through the tunnel must have their electric engines swapped out for diesel-electric locomotives. For example, when a southboundNortheast Regional train arrives on a lower-level platform on its way toNewport News, Virginia, itsSiemens ACS-64 electric engine is removed and set aside. AGE Genesis diesel engine that was earlier removed from a northbound train is coupled to the front of the southbound, and it continues through the tunnel toward Virginia. The ACS-64 is readied for aNortheast Regional arriving fromAlexandria, and once coupled pulls the train toward Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York or Boston.[68]
A nearbyWashington Metrostation connects to theRed Line. The Metrorail station is underground beneath the western side of the building. Entrances are inside Union Station with direct access from the high-level MARC and Amtrak platforms, from the east side of First Street NE, or from just outside the station at Massachusetts Avenue NE, providing access to the main concourse.[69]
TheDC Streetcar'sH Street/Benning Road Line serves the station from a stop on the H Street Bridge (a.k.a. the "Hopscotch Bridge") directly north of the station. The stop is accessible via the station's parking garage.[70]
| Preceding station | DC Streetcar | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminus | H Street/Benning Road Line | 3rd Street towardOklahoma Avenue | ||
On August 1, 2011,John Porcari, theUnited States Deputy Secretary of Transportation, announced thatGreyhound Lines,BoltBus,Megabus, and Washington Deluxe would begin operating intercity buses later that year from a new bus facility in the station's parking garage.[71] By November 15, 2011, BoltBus, Megabus, Tripper Bus, and Washington Deluxe were operating from the new facility.[72] On September 26, 2012, Greyhound andPeter Pan Bus Lines moved all of their Washington, D.C., operations to the facility.[73] In 2017,OurBus began offering service from Union Station to Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. On August 16, 2024, Megabus discontinued service nationwide after the parent company filed for bankruptcy earlier in the year,[74] promptingPeter Pan to take over the former's northeastern bus routes from Union Station.
TheIvy City Yard, just north of Union Station, houses a large Amtrak maintenance facility. This includes the new maintenance facility for theAcela high-speed train sets. Amtrak also does contract work forMARC's electric locomotives. Metro's Brentwood maintenance facility is also in the southwest corner of the Ivy City Yard. Riders on the Metro Red Line between Union Station and Rhode Island Avenue Station get an aerial view of the south end of the Ivy City Yard.[citation needed]
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2025) |
Union Station is owned by Amtrak and theUnited States Department of Transportation. The DOT owns the station building itself and the surrounding parking lots, while Amtrak owns the platforms and tracks through theWashington Terminal Company: a nearly wholly owned subsidiary (99.9% controlling interest).[1][75]
Washington Union Station has appeared in several movies and television shows. Among them areMr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939),Strangers on a Train (1951),Don't Give Up the Ship (1959),Hannibal (2001),Collateral Damage (2002), andHead of State (2003).[76]
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