I welcome today’s witnesses to our subcommittee hearing on public access, management, security and the future of Union Station complex as an important intermodal center for all modes of land transportation. The current management structure at Union Station, the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation (USRC), was created in 1981 at the direction of Congress, and Congress later competed the air rights that will expand the station’s capacity to become a world class intermodal and mixed use public-private facility. Ownership of Union Station, as the bill report made clear, “shall remain with the federal government.” However, we are unable to find evidence of congressional oversight of Union Station since its redevelopment. Now that there is a new congressional majority with Union Station under our jurisdiction, this hearing commences regular oversight.
Union Station began as the train facility for the nations capital whose grand design was commissioned by Congress to produce a landmark building. However, as rail use declined in the 1950’s, the station rapidly deteriorated and a series of failed ideas, wasted federal funds, cost overruns, major utility and roof needs, and mismanagement litigation resulted. In 1981, after portions of the roof collapsed during emergency structural repairs, Union Station was closed to the public, forcing passengers to walk a third of a mile around the closed building to the replacement station. Congress stepped up later that year and sped purchase payments on Union Station to obtain earlier planned federal ownership from Baltimore and Penn Terminal Realty. After a $180 million public-private renovation, Union Station reopened to public applause in 1987, fully restored. The Congressional authorization to purchase Union Station mandated the creation of a management structure, the return of the station to its important rail beginnings, transition to an intermodal center, and the private investment that has resulted in the retail available today.
Congress delegated to the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation the authority and responsibility to order priorities and mediate the sectors in Union Station in order to safeguard the public interest. Like the District of Columbia itself, the Union Station complex contains a mix of federal, local and private entities, but the overriding public interest has never been in doubt: to provide the public access to a federally owned facility, to expand modes of travel to and from the nation’s capital city, and to provide a secure environment. The public interest was strengthened when, in 1971, the federal government created Amtrak in response to the sustained decline of passenger rail and today Congress puts billions of dollars into Amtrak to sustain this valuable public resource.
At least since 9/11 we have seen a sharp increase in riders using Amtrak, whose national headquarters is Union Station, making more rapid movement toward genuine intermodal status essential. However, we have not seen significant evidence that the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation understands the increasingly central role of national intermodal hubs today. Yet, gas prices are driving record numbers of Americans to use whatever ground transportation is available. March 2008 showed a 4.3% drop in vehicle miles travelled, the sharpest drop for any month in U.S. highway history. In 2007 Americans use of public transportation reached its highest levels in fifty years. The House just passed the first stand-alone transit legislation bill since Metro was created, just as Metro is bursting at the seams. This week Metro had its highest ridership day in its history, and eight of its top ten ridership days have occurred this years. The House also authorized the nation’s first high speed rail and it will travel between the District of Columbia and New York. The Capitol Visitors Center is scheduled to open in December. This new attraction, which will bring many more visitors to Washington, is one of the reasons Congress has insisted on a true intermodal center at Union Station.
Today, Union Station covers 12 acres and has 2,200 parking spaces,125 retail outlets, and provides access to Amtrak, the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) Rail and Bus, the Virginia Rail Express (VRE), the Maryland Rail Commuter (MARC) line, taxis, bicycle sharing, and other tourist friendly transportation services. Union Station is the busiest rail stop on the WMATA rail line with over 30,000 daily riders using this stop. Because of congressional mandates and federal funds, the Intermodal Center at Union Station, will have new parking facilities for tour buses, new rail concourses, streetcars that connect Union Station to the neighborhood, and additional security improvements. In the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 Congress directed GSA to dispose of the land over the railroad tracks at Union Station and, in 2002, the General Services Administration bid and sold 15 acres of air rights above the rail yard adjacent to Union Station. The result of the sale will be Burnham Place at Union Station, a 3 million square foot mixed-use development built above the rail yard just north of Union Station and scheduled to include expanded transportation capabilities, mixed use, amenities, and a hotel.
The concept of Union Station as a modern intermodal center was detailed in a 1967 report by the National Capital Planning Commission, which envisioned combining intercity and intracity bus service with intercity rail transportation, Congress has strongly supported the intermodal concept with funds in every transportation reauthorization bill since 1991 and in some annual appropriation bills. I secured $2.25 million dollars for the study currently being conducted by the District of Columbia Department of Transportation on the Intermodal Transit Center at Union Station. Four months ago Chairman Jim Oberstar, Ranking member John Mica and I sent a letter to the USRC encouraging relocation of the District’s Greyhound intercity bus terminal, located several blocks to the north of Union Station, to Union Station. A state-of-the-art intermodal center is by definition a facility that allows passengers to seamlessly choose and get access to all modes of ground transportation. Our letter reiterated the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s continued work on intermodal development at Union Station. I followed with another letter on May 2, 2008, to the USRC asking for access for additional intercity bus companies, some of which currently drop off and pick up passengers on already crowded District streets. The response cited business relationships as the reason why Megabus was not allowed to sub-lease a parking spot in the parking garage. However, this is just the sort of arrangement that is needed to help Union Station more rapidly fulfill the congressional intermodal mandate while Burnham Place is being constructed and integrated over the next decade. This and other steps can be taken now to begin the process of converting what today is only a public transportation hub to the world class intermodal center Congress has mandated. Nor did the response to our letter mention any other way to accommodate Megabus or similar companies. Accommodation of low-cost intercity bus operators should not only be incorporated into the USRC’s business plan, but long ago should have been actively sought to increase the intermodal options available at Union Station.
Reported first amendment violations and denial of access by the press and public as well as inconsistent messages by Union Station personnel are especially troubling. In June, a photographer was detained by Union Station security personnel for taking non-commercial photographs. A real time display of the confusion about access came when Channel 5 TV, a major television outlet here was shut down by security personnel while interviewing the chief spokesmen for Amtrak, who was explaining that photography was allowed. Although management officials asserted that a ban on photography was not the policy, Channel 5, National Public Radio, tourists and a host of amateur photographers have been shut down or given inconsistent direction on photography at Union Station. The evidence of confusion and arbitrary actions by security personnel reflects the continuing absence of clarity concerning public access. Union Station appears to be a case study for the necessity for my bill, H.R. 3519, the Open Society with Security Act, to assure public safety while maintaining the highest level of free and open access to the public. The Homeland Security Committee has already indicated an interest in moving H.R. 3519, and it has been referred to our committee by the parliamentarian.
However, the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation and the Union Station management company are not alone responsible for the problems and issues that have arisen at Union Station. For years, Congress has failed to provide the necessary oversight and guidance. As Congress continues to invest in its intermodal vision of Union Station, we have a responsibility to resume oversight of the entire complex.
We welcome today’s witnesses and look forward to hearing your testimony.
