I do not believe Amtrak uses Union Station in St. Louis, MO. Is this true and if not why, its a beautiful station. I also believe a tour line call railcruise America uses the station. What exactly is this line?
I can answer one of your questions. I was just in St. Louis and Amtrak does not use Union Station. I don’t know why, but there probably aren’t connecting tracks or something like that.
st. louis union station is now a shopping mall. amtrak built a small station to the south of it quite a few years ago. it’s really a nice place to visit. there’s a hooters there where i believe you can sit and scarf down your chicken wings and see some trains movin somewhere…but then again i was checkin out the ‘owls’ most of the time [;)]
A tourist train operator using green and gold F units and really nice cars uses St.Louis Union Station today.
I think the story goes that the Station Shopping Mall developers didn’t want Amtrak passengers hanging out in the renovated station. I believe the same was true in Indianapolis.
What a shame. Ya can’t catch your train at the depot. You have to go to a shed somewhere in a parking lot, under a bridge. Betcha don’t see that in France.
Mitch
My wife and I rode the Mule from KC to St. Louis a couple of years ago, and yes the Amtrak station there is small indeed. Not sure if I want to be in that area after the sun goes down. Lots of cool shops in the Union Station. We especially liked the area (hotel area I think) that has the stairs.
Take care,
Russell
Well, Union Station still has a few connecting tracks…Rail Cruise America (www.railcruise.com) still connects and parks there. Amtrak stopped using it in the late 1970’s and it was taken out of commision for a few years for some reason and then was restored as the mall. Amtrak built a new, bigger station in STL last year.
Some photos from when I rode Amtrak late last month/earlier this month:
http://uptrain.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=31138&NumCols=2&Page=2
As you can see, the old station is now a crew building, the new one is bustling with activity, and the rail cruise train is parked by Union Station.
Why I think Amtrak never went back to Union Station: Accessabilty…it’s hard for Amtrak to back in and out of there, PLUS…they had a new station promised for them since the early 80’s…which they got in 2004. HOPE THIS HELPS!