| Denver Union Station | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The front of Denver's Union Station, facing Wynkoop Street |
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| Station statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Address | 1701 Wynkoop Street (Amtrak) 1600 Wewatta Street (RTD) Denver, CO 80202 |
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| Lines | Amtrak: RTD: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Connections | Thruway Motorcoach Regional highway coaches for Boulder County points other express and local bus routes |
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| Platforms | 2 island platforms (Amtrak) 2 side platforms, 1 island platform (Light Rail) |
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| Tracks | 4 (Amtrak) 2 (Light Rail) |
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| Other information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1894 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 1914 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Accessible | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Code | DEN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | RTD and partners | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traffic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Passengers (FY2010) | 128,410[1] 6.8% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Union Station is Denver, Colorado, USA's historic train station at 17th and Wynkoop in the LoDo district. The station first opened in 1881.[2]
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Denver's first train station was constructed in 1868 to serve the new Denver Pacific Railway, which connected Denver to the main transcontinental line at Cheyenne, Wyoming. By 1875, there were four different railroad stations, making passenger transfers between different railroad lines inconvenient. To remedy this issue, the Union Pacific Railroad proposed creating one central "Union Station" to combine the various operations. In February 1880, the owners of the four lines (the Union Pacific, the Denver & Rio Grande Western, the Denver, South Park & Pacific, and the Colorado Central) agreed to build a station at 17th and Wynkoop Streets. Architect A. Taylor of Kansas City was hired to develop the plans, and the station opened in May 1881.[3]
A fire in 1894 destroyed the central portion of the 1881 depot. The Kansas City architectural firm of Van Brunt & Howe was hired to design a larger replacement depot in the Romanesque style. Both the 1881 and 1894 depots included a tall central clock tower with four clock faces.[4]
In 1912, the original Union Depot partnership was dissolved and replaced by the Denver Terminal Railway Company, representing the then-major operators of the station (the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe, the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy, the Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific, the Colorado & Southern, the Union Pacific, and the Denver & Rio Grande Westen). The new partnership decided to demolish and rebuild the central portion of the station to handle the increasing passenger traffic. The new central portion, designed by Denver architects Gove & Walsh, was built in the Beaux-Arts style and opened in 1914.[5]
During its heyday, the station was served by 80 daily trains operated by six different railroads; however, most of this was terminated at the time of the formation of Amtrak, which has since operated only one train daily between Chicago and the Bay Area, routed through Denver. Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad's Ski Train was operated until the end of the winter of 2008–2009, at which time the operation was discontinued. In September 2009 plans were announced to revive the service as a special limited route beginning in December,[6] but this did not happen due to insurance problems.[7] Current passenger services include:
The station also serves the once a year Cheyenne Frontier Days Train, usually pulled by Union Pacific's steam locomotive 844, the last steam locomotive built for the UP. The train runs between Union Station and Cheyenne, Wyoming for the Frontier Days Rodeo event.
Of the nine Colorado stations served by Amtrak, Denver was the busiest in FY2010, boarding or detraining an average of approximately 350 passengers daily.[1]
Under a public/private consortium, the station and the surrounding 19.5 acres (79,000 m²) will soon be the hub of Denver's new FasTracks rail network, under the Regional Transportation District's master plan for the station site, officially known as the Denver Union Terminal. Eight teams of prominent architects, developers and engineers competed in 2002 for the massive contract to redevelop the station into a transit-oriented retail, office and residential complex, with a budget in the range of $900 million.
On July 30, 2010, the US Department of Transportation announced that the station had received a $300 million grant to construct three light-rail tracks and eight heavy-rail tracks for both intercity and commuter rail services, as well as additional storage and servicing capabilities.[8] The underground bus terminal is under construction and will be open before the opening of FasTracks' West Corridor light rail line to Golden, Colorado. All West Corridor trains will utilize Union Station, and will not travel through the downtown light rail loop.
On February 1, 2011, Amtrak's passenger station and boarding platform was moved to a temporary station at 21st and Wewatta streets, behind Coors Field, in order to allow construction of the commuter rail tracks and platforms.[9] This temporary relocation is scheduled to last until spring 2014, at which time Amtrak's services will move back to the newly constructed passenger area behind Denver Union Station.[9]
The new light rail station opened on August 15th, 2011.[10] The new location is west of the former light rail stations, and is adjacent to the consolidated main line railroad tracks and near the Denver Millennium Bridge. The westernmost stop of the 16th Street Mall shuttle, also known as the MallRide, was also moved west and is adjacent to the new light rail stop.
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