Charlottesville Union Station

Charlottesville
Location 810 West Main Street
Charlottesville, VA
Coordinates 38°1′53″N 78°29′31.6″W / 38.03139°N 78.492111°WCoordinates: 38°1′53″N 78°29′31.6″W / 38.03139°N 78.492111°W
Owned by Union Station Partners LLC
Line(s)
Platforms

2 side platform 1 East-West (CSX Rail)

1 North South (NS Rail)
Tracks 4
Construction
Parking Yes
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Station code CVS
History
Opened 1885
Rebuilt 1915, Mid-1990s
Traffic
Passengers (2013) 131,127[1]Increase 2.8%
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station
toward Chicago
Cardinal
Lynchburg
toward New Orleans
Crescent
Lynchburg
Terminus
Northeast Regional
toward Boston South Station or Springfield
  Proposed service  
Preceding station   Transdominion Express   Following station
toward Bristol
Washington-Bristol Line

The Charlottesville Union Station, located in Charlottesville, Virginia, the county seat of Albemarle County, is served by Amtrak's Cardinal, Crescent, and daily Northeast Regional passenger trains. The station is within walking distance of the University of Virginia, which is the major employer in the area.

History

The original Union Station was built in 1885 to jointly serve the Charlottesville and Rapidan Railroad, the Virginia Midland Railway, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Major renovations in 1915 included the construction of a baggage handling facility.

Since 1999, the former baggage handling facility is home to the Amtrak ticket office and waiting area. The main facility has been privately developed into a commercial restaurant. Plans coincident with the redevelopment to create a transportation hub at Union Station were not realized. Instead in 2007 Charlottesville completed the Downtown Transit Center one mile across town.[2]

However, the station does serve as an intermodal transportation nexus, with connecting motorcoach service on site, a 200+ space parking lot, and access to a full-service Greyhound Lines bus station down the street. Such services allow Charlottesville travelers to reach various airports in the region.[3] The Charlottesville Free Trolley stops just north of the station, and connects Downtown and the University of Virginia.

Out of the twenty Virginia stations, Charlottesville is the fourth busiest in the state according to the FY2013 ridership.[1]

Routes

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2013, Commonwealth of Virginia" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  2. Charlottesville Tomorrow, Transportation Matrix. Retrieved November 2, 2007.
  3. Hawes Spencer (2007-06-22). "Riding the rails: It's the only way to fly". The Hook (newspaper) (Charlottesville). Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  4. "Amtrak Virginia announces new Northeast Regional service".

External links