Union Station (Los Angeles)

Los Angeles Union Station
A view of Union Station familiar to many of downtown Los Angeles' visitors.
General information
Location	800 N Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Owned by	Catellus Development
Line(s)	Amtrak: Coast Starlight Southwest Chief Sunset Limited Texas Eagle Amtrak California: Pacific Surfliner Metrolink: Metro Rail:
Platforms	Island platforms 14
Connections	Metro Transitway:
Construction
Parking	3,000 Park/Ride Lot Spaces (Fee- $6 a day)
Bicycle facilities	24 Bike Rack Spaces 20 Locker Spaces
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	LAX (Amtrak)
History
Opened	May, 1939 (Union Station Building) 1971 (Amtrak service) 1992 (Metrolink service) January 1993 (Metro Red/Purple Line service) July 2003 (Metro Gold Line Service)
Passengers
2006	1,414,164  2.9%

Union Station in Los Angeles, which opened in May 1939, is known as the "Last of the Great Railway Stations" built in the United States, but even with its massive and ornate waiting room and adjacent ticket concourse, it is considered small in comparison to other union stations. It was formerly designated the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT), but its current owner, Catellus Development, officially changed the name to Los Angeles Union Station (LAUS).

The facility served as a backdrop for the 1950 film Union Station, which starred William Holden and Nancy Olson. Many television shows and motion pictures have incorporated the station as a backdrop, including Speed, Pearl Harbor, Blade Runner, Star Trek: First Contact, and the Fox television series 24.

Union Station is located opposite L.A.'s historic Olvera Street.

Architecture

The waiting room at the Los Angeles Union Station.

Union Station was partially designed by the father and son team of John Parkinson and Donald B. Parkinson, or the Parkinsons, assisted by a group of supporting architects, including the famous Jan van der Linden. The Parkinsons also designed Los Angeles City Hall. Their firm designed many landmark Los Angeles buildings from the late 19th century onward. The structure combines Dutch Colonial Revival Style architecture (the suggestion of the Dutch born Jan van der Linden), Mission Revival, and Streamline Moderne style, with architectural details such as eight-pointed stars.

Art Deco lights hang from the rafters of the passenger terminal.

Enclosed garden patios are on either side of the waiting room, and passengers exiting the trains were originally directed through the southern garden. The lower part of the interior walls is covered in travertine marble, and the upper part is covered with an early form of acoustical tile. The floor in the large rooms is terra cotta tile with a central strip of inlaid marble (including travertine, somewhat unusual in floors since it is soft).

A bird's eye-view of Union Station.

Attached to the main building to the south is a small masterpiece, the remarkable station restaurant designed by southwestern architect Mary Colter (the last of the "Harvey House" restaurants to be constructed as a part of a passenger terminal). Although now usually padlocked and stripped of many interior furnishings, the topology of its rounded central counter dynamically thrust forward, its streamlined booths, and the inlaid floor patterns still constitute a busy and evocative sense of place. The influential sci-fi film Blade Runner used shots of the waiting area as the 2019 police department.

History

The Santa Fe Railway's combined Super Chief / El Capitan pulls into Track 10 at Los Angeles' Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT) on September 24, 1966.

The station originally served the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Southern Pacific Railroad, and Union Pacific Railroad, as well as the Pacific Electric Railway and Los Angeles Railway (LARy). Established on the site of L.A.'s first Chinatown, it saw heavy use during World War II, but later saw declining patronage due to the growing popularity of air travel and automobiles.

Now Union Station is once again heavily visited, especially since the construction of the Metro Red Line and Purple Line subway station and Gold Line light rail station. Union Station also serves as a terminus for 4 of Amtrak's long distance trains, is a major station on Amtrak California's Pacific Surfliner, and serves as the hub for Metrolink's passenger trains. The station currently has 14 train tracks (10 Shared By Amtrak, Amtrak California, and Metrolink; 2 for the Gold Line; and 2 for the Red and Purple Lines), totaling over 375 daily train departures on weekdays (Purple/Red Line subways: 182 departures, Gold Line light rail: 102 departures, Metrolink commuter rail: 59 departures, Amtrak intercity rail: 33 departures, plus various Amtrak long distance train departures). The attached Patsaouras Transit Plaza serves several bus lines including Rapid and regular Metro lines, as well as downtown DASH shuttles and many Municipal Bus Lines.

Historic designations

• National Register of Historic Places #NPS–80000811
• Los Angeles Historic–Cultural Monument #101

Current services

Metro provides service to Union Station in the form of three rail lines (Red, Purple, and Gold); and several bus routes. Its headquarters is located in nearby Gateway Plaza. Amtrak, Amtrak California, and Metrolink serve the station as well. Both Metrolink and Amtrak trains provide direct rail service to and from Burbank-Bob Hope Airport - the region's only direct rail connection between an airport and downtown. Los Angeles World Airports recently opened a FlyAway express bus service to Los Angeles International Airport, similar to the one already in use for the Van Nuys area.

Amtrak

Long Distance Services

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Thruway Motorcoach Services
Amtrak offers Thruway Motorcoach Service at Los Angeles Union Station, buses board from the north side of the station, and not thru the Patsaouras Transit Plaza.

Routes:

• Los Angeles/Las Vegas

Amtrak California Intercity Services

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Thruway Motorcoach Services

Amtrak California offers Thruway Motorcoach Service at Los Angeles Union Station, buses board from the north side of the station, and not thru the Patsaouras Transit Plaza. Connections to Amtrak California's San Joaquins line are provided thru bus services to and from Bakersfield. Connections to ferry services to Catalina Island and the cruse ship terminals is provided by bus services to Long Beach & San Pedro.

Routes:

• Los Angeles/Bakersfield
• Los Angeles/Bakersfield (via Santa Clarita-Newhall Metrolink)
• Los Angeles/Long Beach & San Pedro
• Los Angeles/Santa Barbara
• San Diego/Bakersfield (via Los Angeles)
• Santa Ana/Bakersfield (via Los Angeles)
• Van Nuys to Los Angeles

Metrolink

Union Station is the "heart" of Metrolink's operations acting as the major hub for the system, providing connections between 6 out of Metrolink's 7 lines.

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Metro Rail System

Red and Purple Line Subways

The Red and Purple line subways share an island platform in the station's basement. The car yards are located just east of the station. This station serves as an important transfer point, with connections with Metrolink and Amtrak, and several bus routes at the nearby Gateway Transit Center.

There are two entrances to the subway platform, one through the Patsaouras Transit Plaza on the east side of the complex and another through Union Station's main entrance on the west side of the complex, facing Alameda Street.

Gold Line Light Rail

Gold Line train platform at Union Station.

The Gold line's terminal is also at this station on grade level. The Gold line's platforms are located beside those of Metrolink and Amtrak. The art installation is that of Beth Thielen. The artwork is entitled Images of Commonality/Nature and Movement.

Gold Line platforms are accessible only via a passageway containing a staircase and an elevator, and use Tracks 1 and 2. When the Eastside Extension opens, the Gold Line will be the first rail line to run through Union Station, as all other rail lines use Union Station as a terminus.

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Bus Services

An unused room showing tile and marble floor, acoustic wall treatment, integral wall clock, wood beam ceiling and disc-and-flower chandeliers of glass and metal

Patsaouras Transit Plaza

The Patsaouras Transit Plaza is located next to Union Station on its eastern side, it provides a direct link to the rail services of Union Station and provides connections and transfers between many bus lines and serves as a major stop for two of Metro's Transitways. The transit plaza is also known as the Gateway Transit Center.
Metro Local: 33, 333
Metro Express: 439, 442, 444, 445, 446, 447
Metro Rapid: 704, 728, 740, 745, 940
Antelope Valley Transit Authority: 785*
City of Santa Clarita Transit: 794*
LADOT DASH: D (Weekdays Only), Bunker Hill Shuttle
LADOT Commuter Express: 430*, 534*
Orange County Transportation Authority: 701*
Santa Monica Big Blue Bus: 10
Torrance Transit: 1, 2
Note: * indicates commuter service that operates only during weekday rush hours.

The following lines stop on Cesar Chavez Ave. & Vignes St., outside of Patsaouras Transit Plaza:
Metro Local: 40, 42, 68, 70, 71, 78, 79, 92, 94, 378
Metro Rapid: 704, 728, 770, 794
LADOT DASH: Lincoln Heights / Chinatown

The following lines stop on Alameda St. & Los Angeles St., outside of Union Station:
LADOT DASH: B (Weekdays Only), DD (Weekends Only)

El Monte Busway

Main article: El Monte Busway

All lines stop nearby at Alameda St. & the El Monte Busway entrance, except line 699 which has a stop within the Patsaouras Transit Plaza.

Foothill Transit: 481, 493, 497, 498, 499, 699, Silver Streak (All lines except for the Silver streak operate only during weekday rush hours.)
Metro Express: 484, 485, 487, 489, 490

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FlyAway

Main article: FlyAway Bus

Direct FlyAway Bus service is offered between Union Station and Los Angeles International Airport. The blue buses operate every 30 minutes between 5 am and 1 am and on the hour between 1 am and 5 am from Berth 9 of the Patsaouras Transit Plaza. The service is mainly intended for those who are able to use public transportation to get to Union Station and then transfer to the bus to complete their journey there is, however, a parking garage available for those who wish to drive to Union Station.

Run-through tracks project

With the number of trains using Union Station expanding, the stub-end layout of trackage at the station is becoming a liability. Trains are required to back out (in push-pull configuration with the use of cab cars) of the station resulting in delays as multiple trains must use the same tracks to get out of the station. The run-through tracks are envisioned for use by southbound trains departing Union Station: Amtrak Pacific Surfliners, and the 91 and Orange County lines of Metrolink, as they currently must make a near 180 degree turn just outside the station in order to proceed south. Northbound trains headed for Union Station would also use the run-through tracks allowing them to bypass the same curved track they must currently use. Most of the delays caused by the current configuration are suffered by arriving trains, as departures are usually given priority, often to free-up needed platforms and to keep departing trains from experiencing delays along their route should they depart late.

Caltrans and the Federal Railroad Administration have drafted a plan to create two run-through tracks that would connect the south end of Union Station with existing BNSF trackage south of the 101 Freeway, which is directly south of Union Station. The Run Through Tracks would exit Union Station on a bridge crossing over the freeway, and continue on an elevated structure for approximately one mile until they reached the BNSF trackage on the west bank of the Los Angeles River.

The final environmental impact report was published by the FRA in November 2005.

External links

An aerial view of Los Angeles' Union Station from the late 1990s.

• Los Angeles Amtrak station information

• Los Angeles, CA – Amtrak
• Los Angeles, CA – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• The Parkinson Architectural Archives: Union Station
• Public Art Works at the Union Station and in El Pueblo
• Union Station — MTA Website.
• Union Station at IMDb .