Here in Washington, Union Station is the gateway to the city. From this multimodal hub, locals and visitors alike are connected to our nation's capital and to the rest of the country by Metro, Amtrak, and local and interstate buses. In fact, it was just a year ago that DOT helped improve safety and convenience for intercity bus passengers by consolidating pickups at Union Station.
But the station, which was designed in 1907, has struggled to keep pace with modern demands. With over 100,000 daily rail and transit trips, the station is already operating beyond its current capacity. And with projections showing that Amtrak and commuter rail ridership at the station could more than double in the next fifteen years alone, it's only set to get busier.
Deputy Secretary Porcari at the unveiling of the Union Station Master Plan.
That's why Deputy Secretary John Porcari joined Amtrak representatives and D.C. officials last week for the unveiling of a master plan that will transform Union Station into a 21st century transportation hub worthy of a 21st century city.
The Washington Union Station Master Plan was created by bringing together diverse stakeholders at the local and national level who were tasked with envisioning a facility that could accommodate three times as many passengers and twice as many trains while still preserving the station's historic architectural design. The resulting plan lays the groundwork for a reimagined station that will increase capacity to accommodate future rail expansion, deliver the highest quality passenger experience, and help support local and regional economic growth.
Interior view of the proposed train shed at Union Station.
The heart of the plan is the creation of a new train shed that will welcome passengers to the nation’s capital, bring natural light to station spaces, and better organize connections to Amtrak, commuter rail, transit and other transportation services. New passenger concourses and a series of new street entrances will be seamlessly integrated with the existing station, allowing passengers and visitors to easily access the entire station complex and adjoining neighborhoods while enjoying improved amenities and expanded retail opportunities.
And the expanded rail and passenger capacity in this station is essential to bringing high-speed rail to Washington--and to accommodating future growth on the Northeast Corridor.
Exterior view of the proposed train shed at Union Station.
Now, the revamped Union Station won't be built overnight. The plan envisions three phases that can be constructed incrementally over a 15-year period. But with this framework now in place and so many stakeholders on board, work can truly begin to secure funding and make this vision a reality.
As Deputy Secretary Porcari said at the event, great cities need great train stations. And with its new master plan, Union Station is poised to become a world-class transportation hub that will serve passengers for generations to come.
It's worth reflecting that, by the time Union Station becomes a 21st century transportation hub, one of the more pleasant changes will be that its visual environment will not be cluttered with overhead power feeds for external traction power.
Too slowly, but inexorably, onboard electrification (hydrail) is being positioned to supplant overhead external electric traction power.
Earlier this month several world-class academics met at the University of Birmingham UK's Centre for Railway Research and Education to address the issue. The event was the Seventh International Hydrail Conference and the presenters included Fellows of the Royal Society; the Royal Academy of Engineering; the Royal Society of Chemistry; and Britain's Railway Safety and Standards Board.
(See: http://hydrail.org/conferences/49 .)
Apart from the worldwide epidemic of rail service interruptions caused by theft of copper from rail lines, lately trains have been literally stopped dead in their tracks en masse by power grid failures.
Japan's tragic tsunami stopped trains in cities many miles from the event. East Japan Railways and the Japanese Government's Railway Technology Research Institute had each successfully demonstrated hydrail passenger equipment in the last decade and India—where, per CNN, this week's grid crash halted 300 trains—had been close to powering ten passenger trains with waste hydrogen from chemical manufacturing plants.
But demonstration is not deployment; and, when most needed, the hydrail rolling stock was not in service.
The United States invented hydrail, using Federal Defense Department funding. Yet, so far, the US has only demonstrated freight hydrail, while continuing to plan externally powered high speed rail as if there were no tomorrow.
The tomorrows for overhead and third-rail power are far fewer than our national vision implies. Locomotive manufacturing jobs at Progress Rail and General Electric plants may be linked to the alacrity with which the US media awakens to the coming hydrail paradigm shift and industry re-tools to exploit it.
Posted by: Stan Thompson | July 31, 2012 at 03:38 PM
By the time Union Station becomes a 21st century transportation hub, one of the more pleasant changes will be that its visual environment will not be cluttered with overhead power feeds for external traction power.
Too slowly, but inexorably, onboard electrification (hydrail) is being positioned to supplant overhead external electric traction power.
Earlier this month several world-class academics met at the University of Birmingham UK's Centre for Railway Research and Education to address the issue. The event was the Seventh International Hydrail Conference and the presenters included Fellows of the Royal Society; the Royal Academy of Engineering; the Royal Society of Chemistry; and Britain's Railway Safety and Standards Board. (See: http://hydrail.org/conferences/49 .)
Apart from the worldwide epidemic of rail service interruptions caused by theft of copper from rail lines, lately trains have been literally stopped dead in their tracks en masse by power grid failures.
Japan's tragic tsunami stopped trains in cities many miles from the event. East Japan Railways and the Japanese Government's Railway Technology Research Institute had each successfully demonstrated hydrail passenger equipment in the last decade and India—where, per CNN, this week's grid crash halted 300 trains—had been close to powering ten passenger trains with waste hydrogen from chemical manufacturing plants.
Wireless hydrail technology means that 21st century rail terminals, including Union Station, will no longer be marred by conspicuous 19th century overhead power superstructure.
Posted by: Stan Thompson | August 06, 2012 at 02:16 AM
It is gonna be real tough convincing people to change a landmark. That being said... this county has to take steps to modernize our transportation system or we are going to be left in the dust by China, India and Europe.
Posted by: Raney's Truck | August 14, 2012 at 10:22 AM