Dallas Union Station

Dallas Union Station, officially Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station (or simply EBJ 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.

Dallas Union Station
Location400 South Houston Street
Dallas, Texas 75201
United States
Coordinates32°46′34″N 96°48′27″W
Owned byCity of Dallas
Line(s)Dallas/UP
Platforms1 side and 2 island platforms
Tracks5 + 2 through tracks
Train operatorsAmtrak, TRE and DART Light Rail
ConnectionsDallas Streetcar
DART Local Bus: 11, 19, 21, 60
D-Link: 722
Construction
Structure typeAt-grade
Parking20 long term and 20 short term parking spaces
Disabled accessYes
ArchitectJarvis Hunt
Architectural styleBeaux-Arts
Other information
Station codeAmtrak code: DAL
Fare zoneTRE Eastern
History
OpenedOctober 14, 1916 (1916-10-14)
Rebuilt1996, 2010
Traffic
Passengers (2017)47,488[1]  12.8% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Fort Worth
toward Los Angeles or San Antonio
 Texas Eagle Mineola
toward Chicago
Preceding station Trinity Railway Express Following station
Victory
toward T&P Station
 Trinity Railway Express Terminus
Preceding station Dallas Area Rapid Transit Following station
Convention Center
toward Westmoreland
 Red Line West End
toward Parker Road
Convention Center
toward UNT Dallas
 Blue Line West End
toward Downtown Rowlett
Former services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Fort Worth
toward Laredo or Houston
 Inter-American Longview
toward Chicago
Corsicana
toward Houston
 Texas Eagle
Until 1995
 Mineola
toward Chicago
Fort Worth
toward Houston
 Lone Star
1975-1979
 Cleburne
toward Chicago
Preceding station Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Following station
Fort Worth
toward San Angelo
 San Angelo – Dallas Terminus
Duncanville
toward Cleburne
 Cleburne – Paris Reinhardt
toward Paris
Preceding station Burlington Route Following station
Fort Worth
toward Denver
 Denver – Houston
Fort Worth and Denver Railway
 Waxahachie
toward Houston
Preceding station Missouri Pacific Railroad Following station
Fort Worth
toward El Paso
 El Paso – New Orleans
Missouri Pacific Railroad
 Terrell
toward New Orleans
Preceding station Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Following station
Irving
toward Minneapolis
 Minneapolis – Houston Waxahachie
toward Houston
Dallas Union Terminal
Texas State Antiquities Landmark
Dallas Union Station
Dallas Union Station
Area5 acres (2.0 ha)
NRHP reference No.75001966[2]
TSAL No.8200000214
RTHL No.6908
DLMK No.H/5
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 29, 1975
Designated TSALJanuary 1, 1981
Designated RTHL1979
Designated DLMKJanuary 17, 1977[3]

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 Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ('Santa Fe'), St. Louis Southwestern Railway ('Cotton Belt'), Fort Worth & Denver Railway, Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad ('Rock Island'), Burlington-Rock Island Railroad, St. Louis and San Francisco Railway ('Frisco'), Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad ('Katy'), Southern Pacific Railroad and Texas & Pacific Railway.[7][8]

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.[9]

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 initially consolidated most of its Metroplex service at Fort Worth, but planned to introduce service to Dallas once improvements were made at Union Terminal. With those improvements, Amtrak service began on March 14, 1974 with the Inter-American between St. Louis and Laredo; the train evolved into today's Texas Eagle. From 1975 to 1981, the station was also served by the Lone Star, a descendant of an old Santa Fe mainstay, the Texas Chief.

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 U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson. It is mostly referred to as EBJ Union Station.

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]

See also

References
  1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2017, State of Texas" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  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. "Union Station Website". Retrieved 22 November 2009.
  6. "Union Station". DART.org. Retrieved 2006-05-01.
  7. 'Official Guide of the Railways,' National Railway Publication Company, August 1936, Index of Stations
  8. The Great Union Stations, 'Dallas's Passenger Trains of the Past' https://www.chicagorailfan.com/stbcdal.html
  9. "100 Years of History". Dallas Library. Retrieved 2006-05-01.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.