Union Station (Alexandria, Virginia)

Alexandria Union Station
Location 110 Callahan Drive
Alexandria, VA 22301
Coordinates 38°48′23″N 77°03′44″W / 38.806346°N 77.0621°WCoordinates: 38°48′23″N 77°03′44″W / 38.806346°N 77.0621°W
Owned by City of Alexandria
Line(s)

Amtrak:

Virginia Railway Express:

Platforms 1 side platform, 1 island platform
Tracks 3
Connections
  Blue Line at King Street – Old Town
  Yellow Line at King Street – Old Town

DASH, WMATA Metrobus

Construction
Parking Yes
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Station code ALX
Fare zone 2(VREX)
History
Opened 1905
Rebuilt 1982
Traffic
Passengers (2013) 180,063[1] Increase 6.1% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station
toward Chicago
Cardinal
toward Charlotte
Carolinian
toward New Orleans
Crescent
toward Savannah
Palmetto
toward Miami
Silver Meteor
Silver Star
toward Lynchburg
Northeast Regional
Virginia Railway Express
Manassas Line
Fredericksburg Line
Washington Metro
Blue Line
Transfer at: King Street – Old Town
toward Huntington
Yellow Line
Transfer at: King Street – Old Town
toward Fort Totten
  Proposed service  
Preceding station   Transdominion Express   Following station
toward Bristol
Washington-Bristol Line
Terminus
Preceding station   Virginia Railway Express   Following station
toward Haymarket
Haymarket Line
Designated February 27, 2013
Reference no. 13000044[2]
Designated December 13, 2012
Reference no. 100-0124

Alexandria Union Station is a historic railroad station in Alexandria, Virginia south of Washington, D.C. To avoid confusion with nearby Washington Union Station it is usually referred to locally as simply Alexandria Station. Its Amtrak code is ALX.

The station is located at 110 Callahan Drive (just below King Street – Old Town) in the Old Town section of the city. It is served by both Amtrak intercity and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) commuter rail lines. It is located directly across from the King Street – Old Town station of the Washington Metro; since the opening of the Metro station in 1983, the city has made the station an intermodal hub for regional mass transit, linking Amtrak, VRE, and Metro with a number of Alexandria DASH and Metrobus lines.

The original passenger terminal, a one-story brick building completed in 1905, is still in use. Unlike most stations from the era, it was built in the Federal Revival style. The station was extensively renovated in 1982, with further improvements in the mid-1990s. The stone and concrete Veterans of Foreign Wars memorial was constructed at the station in 1940.

History

In the late 1840s, the city of Alexandria invested in at least five major railroad projects to link the city with other commercial centers and better compete with Baltimore as a regional industrial and trade center. The numerous competing lines resulted in a mishmash of rails and yards running through the city amidst various railroad mergers and failures.

In 1901, the railroads serving the region, led by the Pennsylvania Railroad, Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, formed the Richmond-Washington Company to manage traffic between Richmond, Virginia and Washington and build a consolidated railyard, Potomac Yard. The company's plans included construction of a new passenger terminal west of the city, in what was then part of Arlington County—Alexandria did not annex the land until 1915.

Amtrak train at the station

Alexandria Union Station was opened on September 15, 1905,[3] and served passenger trains of the C&O, Washington Southern Railway, and Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad until 1971, when ownership of the station was assumed by Amtrak and the rails by CSX Transportation. The City of Alexandria took ownership of the station in 2001.

On October 1, 2009, Amtrak began running two Northeast Regionals to and from Lynchburg, Virginia, making stops in the state that include Alexandria Station.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2013, Commonwealth of Virginia" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  2. ↑ "Weekly list of actions taken on properties: 2/25/13 through 3/01/13". National Park Service. March 8, 2013. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
  3. ↑ Alexandria, Virginia; Great American Stations (Amtrak)
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