Hartford Union Station

Hartford Union Station
Location	One Union Place Hartford, CT 06103 United States
Coordinates	41°46′08″N 72°40′54″W / 41.76889°N 72.68167°WCoordinates: 41°46′08″N 72°40′54″W / 41.76889°N 72.68167°W
Owned by	Greater Hartford Transit District
Line(s)	New Haven–Springfield Line
Platforms	1
Tracks	1
Train operators	Amtrak
Bus stands	15
Bus operators	CTtransit Hartford CTfastrak Greyhound Lines Peter Pan Bus Lines
Construction
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak code: HFD
History
Opened	1889
Rebuilt	1914, 1987
Traffic
Passengers (2013)	187,357[1]  4.4%
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station Berlin toward Norfolk, Newport News, or Lynchburg Northeast Regional Windsor toward Springfield, MA Berlin toward Washington, DC Vermonter Windsor Locks toward St. Albans Berlin toward New Haven New Haven – Springfield Shuttle Windsor toward Springfield, MA   CTfastrak   Sigourney Street toward Downtown New Britain CTfastrak Terminus   Starting in early 2018   ConnDOT Newington Junction toward New Haven Union Station Hartford Line Windsor toward Springfield
Hartford Union Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Union Place, Hartford, Connecticut
Area	3 acres (1.2 ha)
Built	1889
Architectural style	Other, Richardsonian Romanesque
NRHP Reference #	75001932[2]
Added to NRHP	November 25, 1975
Location
Hartford Union Station Location within Connecticut

Hartford Union Station is the main railway station in Hartford, Connecticut, United States. The historic station building is near the State Capitol Building. It is a Richardsonian Romanesque building designed by George Keller, executed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge,^[3] and built in 1889. A 1914 fire required a rebuild; the interior was renovated in 1987. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975.

It is served by Amtrak's New Haven-Springfield Line which branches off from the Northeast Corridor in New Haven. Of the 12 Connecticut stations served by Amtrak, Hartford was the third busiest in 2011.^[4]

Building

The station entrance

Station interior

The station is located on the western edge of downtown Hartford, on a three-acre (1.2 ha) block between Union Place and Spruce Street on the east and west and Church and Asylum streets to the north and south.^[5] Opposite the main building on Union Place are a mixture of other old buildings and parking lots. To the west is a triangular parking lot and the viaduct carrying Interstate 84 and U.S. Route 6, which curves around the north of the station as well. Across Asylum on the south is Bushnell Park, also listed on the Register.

The main building is located between the tracks and Union Place. It is a three-story rectangular building in rough-faced Portland brownstone with two smaller, similarly shaped two-story wings on the north and south. The main building has a flat roof; the wings are gabled and tiled, with dormer windows piercing them at regular intervals.^[5]

On the east (front) facade, a wide set of steps rises to the main entrance, beneath a flat hood at the springlines of three of the large segmental arches that run across the first story. Above these is a stylized floral molded course. The second story has similar but smaller segmental arches set with a recessed panel and four-pane windows. The central bay has "1914" carved into its panel; all others are blank. The two wings have four-pane rectangular windows.^[5]

At the station level were originally four tracks (currently one) divided by a middle platform. Two sets of iron roofs create a train shed. On the wall side those roofs are supported by spiral-shaped iron brackets. In the middle columns and simple curved iron brackets support the trusses that hold up the shed roof.^[5]

The interior has been remodeled since the station was rebuilt. It is a mostly open area with stairs along the west wall leading up to the elevated tracks and benches along the east. Flooring is red tile. There are offices on the north and south; some look out over the main space.

History

The station in 1912

The station was built in 1889, and served the Hartford and New Haven Railroad, Central New England Railway, Hartford and Connecticut Valley Railroad (all of which were acquired by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad) and the New York and New England Railroad, but the entire structure had to be rebuilt after a fire in 1914. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as "Hartford Union Station" in 1975.^[6]

Currently only Amtrak trains use the station, but a new commuter service on the New Haven-Springfield Line called the Hartford Line is under consideration. The station is currently served by 1 track and platform. The second track and platform were removed by Amtrak in the 1990s to reduce maintenance costs and because the underlying structure is no longer strong enough to support more than one train at a time. Additional tracks and platforms may be built as part of the I-84 Hartford Project which may require realigning the highway and rail line.

Services

Amtrak

Amtrak runs frequent service through Union Station along the electrified Northeast Corridor rail line. Shuttle trains to Springfield, Massachusetts connect with some Northeast Regional trains; other Northeast Regionals run through to Springfield from New York or vice versa. These through trains must change locomotives at New Haven, as the track north to Springfield is not electrified, unlike the Northeast Corridor. The locomotive change is from an AEM-7AC or an ACS-64 in the electrified territory to a P42DC for the Springfield line non-electrified territory, or vice versa.

Additionally, the Vermonter provides through service from Washington, D.C. beyond Springfield to St. Albans, Vermont. At New Haven, the Vermonter also has a P42DC diesel-electric locomotive added to the train.^[7]

Bus Rapid Transit

Union Station serves as the northern terminus for the CTfastrak (constructed as the New Britain-Hartford Busway), a bus rapid transit system operating between the station and Downtown New Britain station in New Britain in central Connecticut. Operated by Connecticut Transit, it is the first bus rapid transit system in Connecticut and the second in New England after the MBTA Silver Line in Boston. CTfastrak opened on March 28, 2015 after fifteen years of planning and three years of construction.

CTfastrak services run on a 9.4-mile (15.1 km) dedicated busway which runs on an abandoned railroad right-of-way from Downtown New Britain to Newington Junction and alongside the active New Haven-Springfield Line from Newington Junction to downtown Hartford. Five local and four express routes operate along the busway and over on-street loops in downtown Hartford.^[8]

Buses and Shuttles

CTTransit's Hartford Division provides bus service to the station on a variety of routes, including lines 30, 60, 62, 64, 66, 72, 74, 76, 101, 102, 128, 950, and DASH.

Other providers at Union Station are Greyhound, Megabus, Peter Pan and Connecticut Limo.^{[9][10][11][12]}

Planned service

The states of Connecticut and Massachusetts are planning to establish the Hartford Line, a commuter rail service from New Haven to Springfield that will use the current Amtrak line, with a possible shuttle bus connection in Windsor Locks for Bradley International Airport. As of December 2015, funding has been secured to finance the construction of the new line, with service scheduled to begin in early 2018.^[13]

See also

Connecticut portal Architecture portal Trains portal National Register of Historic Places portal

• List of Amtrak stations
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Hartford, Connecticut

References

1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2013, State of Connecticut" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
2. Staff (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
3. Potter, Janet Greenstein (1996). Great American Railroad Station. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 69. ISBN 978-0471143895.
4. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2011, State of Connecticut" (PDF). Amtrak. December 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
5. Clouette, Bruce; National Register of Historic Places nomination, Hartford Union Station PDF; National Park Service; July 9, 1975, retrieved April 9, 2011.
6. Hartford Union Station (About.com)
7. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2011, State of Connecticut" (PDF). Amtrak. December 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
8. "Despite Snow, Thousands of Riders, Many First-Timers, Experience CTfastrak on First Day of Service" (Press release). Connecticut Department of Transportation. 28 March 2015. Archived from the original on 11 September 2015.
9. Greyhound
10. Megabus - Bus Stops
11. Peter Pan
12. Connecticut Limo
13. Stacom, Dan (4 December 2015). "Springfield-To-New Haven Commuter Rail Cost Increases, Service Begins In 2018". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 5 December 2015.

External links

• Amtrak – Stations – Hartford Union Station
• Hartford Union Station (HFD) Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• Hartford Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide -- Train Web)