Grand Rapids (Amtrak station)

Vernon J. Ehlers Station
New Grand Rapids station under construction, taken 16 January 2014
Location	440 Century Avenue, S.W. Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Coordinates	42°57′20.5″N 85°40′20.3″W / 42.955694°N 85.672306°W / 42.955694; -85.672306Coordinates: 42°57′20.5″N 85°40′20.3″W / 42.955694°N 85.672306°W / 42.955694; -85.672306
Owned by	CSXT
Line(s)	Pere Marquette
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Connections	Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach Greyhound Lines Indian Trails The Rapid (Megabus services have yet to switch to the new location and still serve the corner of Wealthy/Market)
Construction
Parking	Yes; free
Bicycle facilities	Bike racks available on pathway between station and bus station
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	GRR
History
Opened	1984 at old location on Wealthy/Market
Rebuilt	2014
Traffic
Passengers (FY2014)	47,874[1][2]  7.9%
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station Holland toward Chicago Pere Marquette Terminus

The Vernon J. Ehlers Station is a train station in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States served by Amtrak, the U.S. national railroad passenger system. The station is the terminus of the Pere Marquette line that connects Chicago's Union Station to Grand Rapids. It opened at its new location on Century Avenue under the Wealthy Street/US-131 overpass, immediately south of The Rapid's Central Station. ^[3]

The new central location allows easy connections to twenty local Rapid buses as well as Greyhound and Indian Trails intercity services. No plans have been announced yet to move Megabus services from their location opposite the old Amtrak station at Wealthy/Market to complete the multimodal transit hub.

New station

In October 2011, groundbreaking occurred on the new station. It is named in honor of former Michigan Congressman Vern Ehlers.^[4] The new station enables fully intermodal transit while allowing for more efficient train turnarounds.^[5] It was funded by a US$3.8 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration and $850,000 from the City of Grand Rapids.^[3] Due to delays in construction from CSX and the City of Grand Rapids, the station construction started in the summer of 2013.^[6][7] The new station opened Monday, October 27th 2014, the first train left on time. ^[8]

The building features a richly textured exterior composed of brick, concrete masonry units, horizontal metal siding and generously-sized glass walls that allow natural light to reach the interior. The waiting room has seating for approximately 50 passengers. The roof extends over the main doors to form a sheltered entrance. The station’s most prominent feature is a slim clock tower with a crown of perforated stainless steel; at night, LED lights glow from within.^[9]

Transit connections

Central Station lies a few yards to the north of the new Amtrak station.

Based on fall 2014 schedules, all Rapid bus routes serving Central Station can be used to travel to/from Amtrak trains on weekdays, except for route 19 which is peak hours only. Route 19 can still be used to get to the morning departure to Chicago. Crosstown routes 24, 28, and 44 can still be used to get to Central station via free transfer to routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 16 or the Silver Line.

On weekends, the last buses leave Central Station earlier than the evening arrival from Chicago. However, all buses can be used to get to Central Station on Saturday mornings.

On Sunday mornings the only buses that can assist passengers getting to the morning departure are the Silver Line and the 1, 2, 6, 9, 11 and 15. Buses 4, 8 and 10 arrive just minutes before the train departs, bus 16 arrives after it has departed, while routes 3, 5, 7, 12, 13, 14 and 18 do not operate.

DASH services operate Monday-Friday and can be used to reach Central Station, by alighting the DASH South on Cherry Street north of Central Station then walking through to the train station. There is no evening service on the DASH South for the return from Chicago.

Starting May 4, 2015, the Amtrak schedules change to depart Grand Rapids at 6.00am and arrive back at 11.39pm. This will severely limit the amount of bus connectivity at the new station. "New times for GR-Chicago Amtrak train". WOOD TV8. Retrieved 20 April 2015. 

Due to the new schedules starting May 4, 2015, it is only possible to use The Rapid to connect to the Amtrak Station on weekdays, and only using certain routes:

Routes 1,2,4,6,9,11 and the Silver Line allow for an arrival at Central Station in time to make the Amtrak departure, and depart after the scheduled arrival from Chicago.

Routes 7,8,10,12,14,18 allow for an arrival at Central Station but there are no departures after the return from Chicago.

Routes 13,15,16 arrive at Central Station with only 10 minutes to spare, but there are no departures after the return from Chicago.

Route 5 arrives at Central Station with only five minutes to spare, while route 3 begins arrivals at CS too late to connect to Amtrak.

Route 19 only operates at peak hours and is not compatible with Amtrak connections.

References

External links

• Amtrak – Stations – Grand Rapids, MI
• Grand Rapids Station (Michigan Passenger Stations)
• Grand Rapids Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide -- Train Web)
• Grand Rapids, MI (GRR) (Amtrak's Great American Stations)