Portland Union Station

Portland Union Station
Location	800 NW Sixth Ave. Portland, OR 97209
Coordinates	45°31′44″N 122°40′36″W / 45.529°N 122.6768°WCoordinates: 45°31′44″N 122°40′36″W / 45.529°N 122.6768°W
Owned by	City of Portland
Line(s)	Amtrak Cascades   Coast Starlight   Empire Builder
Platforms	1 side platform, 2 island platforms
Tracks	5
Connections	TriMet buses: 17, 33 and 77 MAX Light Rail   Green Line   Yellow Line via nearby Union Station/Northwest 6th & Hoyt Street and Union Station/Northwest 5th & Glisan Street stations Cascades POINT NorthWest POINT Tillamook County Transportation District Greyhound Lines
Construction
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	PDX
History
Opened	1896
Rebuilt	1996
Traffic
Passengers (2014)	585,828[1]  10.21% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station Oregon City toward Eugene–Springfield Amtrak Cascades Vancouver, WA toward Vancouver, BC Salem, OR toward Los Angeles Coast Starlight Vancouver, WA toward Seattle Terminus Empire Builder Vancouver, WA toward Chicago
Union Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	NW 6th Ave., Portland, Oregon
Coordinates	45°31′45″N 122°40′32″W / 45.52917°N 122.67556°W
Area	7 acres (2.8 ha)
Built	1893
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival
NRHP Reference #	75001595[2]
Added to NRHP	August 6, 1975

Portland Union Station is an Amtrak train station near the west shore of the Willamette River in the Old Town Chinatown section of Portland, Oregon, United States. The station building also contains offices on the upper floors, as well as Wilf's Restaurant and Piano Bar on the ground level. It also has Amtrak's first Metropolitan Lounge^[3] (reserved for first-class sleeping car passengers) on the West Coast.

Southeast of the station, the tracks make a sharp turn and cross the river on the historic Steel Bridge. To the northwest, they follow the river, passing through rail yards before crossing the river again on the Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 5.1.

The Portland Development Commission earns $200,000 a year from nearly 30 tenants. Amtrak, the main tenant, has a lease through 2010 with a renewal option through 2015.^[4]

Transit services

Union Station serves as a transportation hub for Portland. Portland's Greyhound bus station is the next building to the south, having moved to a new building there (from a location in the center of downtown) in 1985.^[5] Union Station connects to MAX Green and Yellow Line trains at the nearby Union Station/Northwest 6th & Hoyt Street and Union Station/Northwest 5th & Glisan Street stations, as well as local bus service provided by TriMet. Located at the northern end of TriMet's transit mall, Union Station is also only a short walk to both lines of the Portland Streetcar, in the Pearl District.

History

Union Station in 1913

The initial design for the station was created in 1882 by McKim, Mead, and White. Had the original plan been built, the station would have been the largest train station in the world.^[6] A smaller plan was introduced by architects Van Brunt & Howe, and accepted in 1885. Construction of the station began in 1890. It was built by Northern Pacific Terminal Company at a cost of $300,000, and opened on February 14, 1896. The signature piece of the structure is the 150 ft. tall Romanesque Revival clock tower. The neon signs were added to it in 1948.^[7][8] The signs read "Go by Train" on the northeast and southwest sides and "Union Station" on the northwest and southeast sides.

The station was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.^[9]

The neon signs on the tower went dark in March 1971, because the railroads using it, Union Pacific, Burlington Northern and Southern Pacific, were preparing to transfer all of their remaining passenger services to Amtrak.^[7] For that reason, the station's then-owner, the Portland Terminal Railroad (itself jointly owned by those three railroads), decided to discontinue operation of the signs.^[7] In 1985, two local non-profit groups, the National Railway Historical Society (Pacific Northwest chapter) and the Oregon Association of Railway Passengers, led a fundraising campaign for public donations to enable the signs to be restored to operation.^[7] New neon tubes, in place of the old, were installed in July,^[10] and the signs were switched back on and returned to regular use in September 1985.^[11] The "Union Station" signs remain illuminated continuously, while the "Go by Train" signs flash on and off,^[10] in a sequence of "Go", then "Go by", then all three words, then off and on and repeat.

The clock tower with its blue and gold neon signs

In 1987, ownership of the station and surrounding land was transferred from Portland Terminal Railroad to the Portland Development Commission as part of the Downtown/Waterfront urban renewal district.^[4] Shortly afterwards, Union Station underwent a renovation. It was rededicated in 1996.

In 2004, the roadway in front of the station was reconfigured, providing a new connection to the northwest and a forecourt. In addition, the area is being redeveloped, including new housing where railroad tracks once were.

A panoramic view of the interior of Union Station

See also

• North Bank Depot – former train station located nearby
• Tourism in Portland, Oregon

References

1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2014, State of Oregon" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
2. Staff (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
3. Metropolitan Lounge, trainweb.com.
4. Giarelli, Andrew (May 3, 2007). "Union Station has more needs than funds". The Oregonian. p. B3.
5. Erickson, Steve (September 11, 1985). "Greyhound depot reaches end of line; new terminal opens in NW Portland". The Oregonian.
6. Giarelli, Andrew (May 3, 2007). "A 'pretty scary place' turns around". The Oregonian. p. B3.
7. Federman, Stan (May 1, 1985). "Rail clock buffs want to light up your life". The Oregonian. p. 1.
8. Gorsek, Christopher S. (2012). Portland's Pearl District. Arcadia Publishing. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-7385-9324-1.
9. "National Register of Historic Places - Oregon, Multnomah County". Retrieved 2007-05-02.
10. McCarthy, Nancy (July 25, 1985). "Train-station signs add color". The Oregonian. p. B6.
11. "Sneak preview" (photograph and caption). The Oregonian, September 19, 1985, p. 1.

External links

• Amtrak – Stations – Portland, OR
• February 14, 1896 Oregonian article on Union Station opening from the Historic Gazette
• Portland, OR (PDX) (Amtrak's Great American Stations)