Dallas Union Station

Dallas Union Station
Location 400 S. Houston St.,
Dallas, Texas 75201
United States
Coordinates 32°46′34″N 96°48′27″W / 32.77611°N 96.80750°W / 32.77611; -96.80750Coordinates: 32°46′34″N 96°48′27″W / 32.77611°N 96.80750°W / 32.77611; -96.80750
Owned by City of Dallas
Line(s) Dallas/UP
Platforms 1 side and 2 island platforms
Tracks 5 + 2 through tracks
Train operators Amtrak, TRE and DART Light Rail
Connections Dallas Streetcar
DART Local Bus: 11, 19, 21, 60
D-Link: 722
Construction
Parking 20 long term and 20 short term parking spaces
Disabled access Yes
Architect Jarvis Hunt
Architectural style Beaux-Arts
Other information
Station code Amtrak code: DAL
Fare zone TRE Eastern
History
Opened October 14, 1916 (1916-10-14)
Rebuilt 2008
Traffic
Passengers (2017) 47,488[1] Increase 12.8% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station
Texas Eagle
toward Chicago
Dallas Area Rapid Transit
toward T&P Station
Trinity Railway ExpressTerminus
toward Westmoreland
Red Line
toward Parker Road
toward UNT Dallas
Blue Line
Dallas Union Terminal
Dallas Union Station
Dallas Union Station
Area 5 acres (2.0 ha)
NRHP reference # 75001966[2]
TSAL # 8200000214
RTHL # 6908
DLMK # H/5
Significant dates
Added to NRHP May 29, 1975
Designated TSAL January 1, 1981
Designated RTHL 1979
Designated DLMK January 17, 1977[3]

Dallas Union Station, officially Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station, also known as Dallas Union Terminal, is a railroad station in Dallas, Texas. It serves DART Light Rail, Trinity Railway Express commuter rail, and Amtrak intercity rail. It is located on Houston Street, between Wood and Young Streets, in the Reunion district of Downtown Dallas. The structure is a Dallas Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Services

Looking across tracks and platforms

The station is served by Amtrak's Texas Eagle with Chicago as the eastern terminus and either San Antonio or Los Angeles as the western terminus. The light rail station serves as a stop on the Red and Blue lines as well as the TRE. Union Station is the northern terminus of the Dallas Streetcar and provides access to the Greyhound bus terminal, the George Allen Courts Building, Dealey Plaza, the Hyatt Regency at Reunion and Reunion Tower.[4]

The first floor is occupied by an Amtrak ticketing window, waiting room, and privately rented offices. The second floor contains the restored Grand Hall and several meeting rooms named after railroads that previously serviced Dallas. The second floor and a mezzanine are operated by Wolfgang Puck Catering.[5]

Connecting DART Bus Routes are 1, 19, 21, 60, and D-Link 722

History

The Union Terminal Company constructed the Dallas Union Terminal, as Union Station was originally called, in 1916 to consolidate five rail stations scattered around Dallas into one, making Dallas a major transportation center in the Southwestern United States. At the peak of its usage, as many as 80 trains stopped each day at the station.[6] It was designed by Jarvis Hunt, who designed other large train stations. Railroads served by the station included Texas & Pacific Railway, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, St. Louis Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt), Fort Worth & Denver Railway, Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, Burlington-Rock Island Railroad, St. Louis and San Francisco Railway (Frisco), Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (Katy), and Southern Pacific Railroad.

In 1954, the building served as a temporary library while the Dallas Public Library system built a new central library to replace the original Carnegie Library.[7]

Originally, the 2nd level waiting room was connected to train platforms via an overhead walkway, but this design was never popular with travelers as they needed to climb a large number of stairs. Escalators were added, but the Grand Hall was finally abandoned in favor of renovated ticketing and a waiting room on the ground floor (still in use today). Also, an underground corridor replaced the overhead walkway, with ramps at each platform.

The last privately owned passenger train to serve Union Station, the Missouri Pacific Railroad's Texas Eagle, left on May 31, 1969. Amtrak service began on March 14, 1974 with the Inter-American between St. Louis and Laredo; the train evolved into today's Texas Eagle. DART's light-rail service began at the station on June 14, 1996.[5] The station's upper-level waiting room was re-purposed into meeting and convention space for the Hyatt Regency Dallas, which is connected via an underground walkway.

In October 2016, the station was renamed the Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station in honor of US. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson.

Murals

In 1934, as part of the federally sponsored Public Works of Art Project, Jerry Bywaters and Alexander Hogue were granted the first commission in Texas to create a series of 10 murals depicting events in Dallas history. They had painted them on the walls of the second-floor lobby at the old Dallas City Hall Building, located on Harwood Street between Main and Commerce Streets. In 1954, the original murals were destroyed when City Hall relocated. When the station was renovated to accommodate light rail usage, the murals were partially recreated by Phillip Lamb along the train platforms at Union Station.[6]

Former services

Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe
toward San Angelo
San Angelo – DallasTerminus
Duncanville
toward Cleburne
Cleburne – Paris
Reinhardt
toward Paris
Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad
toward Denver
Colorado and Southern Railway
Main Line
Waxahachie
toward Houston
Missouri Pacific
toward El Paso
El Paso-New Orleans
Terrell
toward New Orleans
Rock Island Line
toward Minneapolis
Minneapolis – Houston
Waxahachie
toward Houston

Other major trains served by the station:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2017, State of Texas" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  2. ↑ National Park Service (2013-11-02). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  3. ↑ Lee E. Holt (January 17, 1977). "Ordinance No. 15382" (PDF). City of Dallas. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  4. ↑ Cantu, Blanca (2008-08-13). "DART celebrates 25 years with free doughnuts at Union Station". The Dallas Morning News.
  5. 1 2 "Union Station Website". Retrieved 22 November 2009.
  6. 1 2 "Union Station". DART.org. Retrieved 2006-05-01.
  7. ↑ "100 Years of History". Dallas Library. Retrieved 2006-05-01.
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