Charlottesville Union Station
Charlottesville | ||||||||||||||||||||
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 Charlottesville station in July 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| General information | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | 810 West Main Street Charlottesville, Virginia | |||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 38°01′53″N 78°29′31″W / 38.03139°N 78.49194°W | |||||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | Union Station Partners LLC | |||||||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2 side platforms | |||||||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Construction | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Parking | 10 short-term and 165 long-term parking spaces available | |||||||||||||||||||
| Accessible | Yes | |||||||||||||||||||
| Other information | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Station code | CVS | |||||||||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1885 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 1915, Mid-1990s | |||||||||||||||||||
| Passengers | ||||||||||||||||||||
| FY2014 | 132,410 annually[1]  0.98% (Amtrak) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The Charlottesville Union Station, located in Charlottesville, Virginia, is served by Amtrak's Cardinal, Crescent, and daily Northeast Regional passenger trains. The east-west line is owned by CSX Transportation and the north-south line by Norfolk Southern Railway. The station is within walking distance of the University of Virginia, which is the major employer in the area.
History
The original Union Station was built in 1885 to jointly serve the Charlottesville and Rapidan Railroad, the Virginia Midland Railway, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Major renovations in 1915 included the construction of a baggage handling facility.
When Amtrak took over most intercity passenger rail service in 1971, the Southern Railway opted to continue running the Southern Crescent itself. The Southern Crescent continued to use Union Station, while the James Whitcomb Riley (later the Cardinal) used Main Street Station to the east. Afflicted with rising costs, the Southern Railway relented and turned the Southern Crescent over to Amtrak on February 1, 1979. Amtrak renamed it as the Crescent and made Union Station the Charlottesville stop for the Cardinal as well.[2]
Since 1999, the former baggage handling facility is home to the Amtrak ticket office and waiting area. The main facility has been privately developed into a commercial restaurant. Plans coincident with the redevelopment to create a transportation hub at Union Station were not realized. Instead in 2007 Charlottesville completed the Downtown Transit Center one mile across town.[3]
However, the station does serve as an intermodal transportation nexus, with connecting Thruway motorcoach service to Richmond (operated by James River Transportation) on site, a 200+ space parking lot, and access to a full-service Greyhound Lines bus station down the street. Such services allow Charlottesville travelers to reach various airports in the region.[4] The Charlottesville Free Trolley stops just north of the station, and connects Downtown and the University of Virginia.
Out of the twenty Virginia stations, Charlottesville is the fourth busiest in the state according to the FY2013 ridership.[5]
Routes
References
- ^ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2014, Commonwealth of Virginia" (PDF). Amtrak Government Affairs. November 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
- ^ Nagasaki, Hikki. "Charlottesville, Virginia". USA Rail Guide. TrainWeb. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
- ^ Charlottesville Tomorrow, Transportation Matrix Template:Wayback. Retrieved November 2, 2007.
- ^ Hawes Spencer (2007-06-22). "Riding the rails: It's the only way to fly". The Hook (newspaper). Charlottesville. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
- ^ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2013, Commonwealth of Virginia" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
- ^ "Amtrak Virginia announces new Northeast Regional service".
External links
