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Trains News Wire EXCLUSIVE: Joliet Union Station bows out after 102 years of passenger service
Completely idiotic to move before everything was done at the new station, totally uncoordinated move.
I’m willing to bet that 102 years ago twice as many train movements occurred in the area as today. There were definitely more carriers, and much more complexity. With all the expertise and technology that we have employed on US railroads today, it’s an embarrassment that we can’t get a train across a diamond in a timely fashion, and have to waste a perfectly good train station. “Railroading, the modern way”
Any chance that selective lobbying had anything to do with this?
Well stated Mr. Popjoy!
Sad and stupid! I agree with Mr. Popjoy’s view as well.
BNSF & UP are both double track, as were their predecessors. The Rock Island used to be 4 tracks that crossed the other 4 tracks, so 16 diamonds. Now METRA’s Rock Island district is single track at the crossing, so now there are only 4 diamonds. It does seem like there should be less conflicts.
With winter coming on it sounds like passengers might be stuck waiting in the cold.
Sad to see it go. Was a nice station, and I used it several times, both on METRA and Amtrak.
Seems like a little more work to accommodate the passengers should have been done before te cutover. Sounds like a lot of confused people hung out to dry.
Though there are less tracks and diamonds, I don’t know that there are less trains. I makes sense to stop the Metra Rock Island trains east of the diamonds to avoid interference with BNSF, UP, Amtrak and Metra Heritage trains. I have been on a Lincoln Service train that was delayed here by Metra. It also makes sense for the Amtrak and Metra Heritage platform to be on the east side so passengers don’t have to cross the very busy BNSF main line to access the station. I do agree that the new station should have been built before closing the old. I also hope that the new station will have open rest rooms.
Longer term, it is possible that Amtrak will switch to the Metra Rock Island between Joliet and Chicago as part of the higher speed rail project between Chicago and St. Louis. If this happens, they will need a platform on the connecting track as well. Passengers would have to cross the former Rock Island, but if Metra stops short of the future pedestrian crossing, this would only affect a few CSX and Iowa Interstate freights. Amtrak would also need a new connection at Englewood to access Union Station via the former Pennsylvania Railroad.
Just noticed the special issue “Trains of the 1950s” has a photo spread at the Joliet Union Station in 1951. Worth looking at.
My Father who worked for the Michigan Central Railroad told me of the days when the MC had passenger service to this station and my dad saw this station when it was new. As a young man we took trips from this station on the RI to Chicago The Alton to Braidwood, Ill and the ATSF to California. Also spent a lot of days watching the passing trains from this location
Those were the days - All Steam Power
I’ll echo Chris Popjoy’s comments. I’m willing to wager the decision to do what’s been done was simply because it was easier for the “powers that be” rather than being better for the passengers.
Always sad to see a station close after so many years of service. I live in Lockport IL & have departed on Amtrak and Metra trains from Joliet. It is a very historic place. I did think they were going to rebuild it, but maybe those plans changed.
I do concur with Christopher Popejoy. What’s wrong with a pedestrian overpass? Wouldn’t that be cheaper than tp
o build a new station unless the new facilities will be some rinky dink piece of crap.
I agree. Original station and interlocking should have been redone. Sad to see it close.
The Joliet Union Station may have been a “class act” in its day, but the same cannot be said of the sorry mess it has become. Finding one’s way from the main entrance to the Amtrak ticket office was difficult, to say the least. Then trying to find the lot for long term parking was even more difficult with road construction and one-way traffic. The agent on duty was less than helpful or specific as to how to find it. I ended up in a lot where I had to purchase 16 daily parking tickets, one at a time, in the cold, each of which expired at 11:59 p.m. that day, and lay them all out on the dashboard with a note that I was good for 16 days; and then wondering if my car would be there when I returned. Then waiting on a wind-blown platform and having to cross two sets of tracks after the train moved forward to make a second stop for passengers to access the sleeper cars…it was not a very passenger friendly experience. I trust the new arrangement is an improvement over what we encountered. The only thing I know for sure is that I will never depart via Joliet again.
There may or may not have been more trains back in the day (certainly there were on the Rock Island), but the freights were shorter then than they are now. Also, the Rock’s passenger trains mostly continued west of Joliet, so it didn’t really matter which side of the other railroads they stopped on – they were going to cross anyhow.
You can see that the new Rock Island platform is good, although the ticket office for it is just a trailer for now. Mr. Asplund, I haven’t checked out the new temporary Amtrak platform, but from what I have seen the experience on it will only be worse than yours. Alas, the new permanent one is still further in the future than I can see.
As for Amtrak switching to Metra to get to Chicago, a connection at Englewood would be rather difficult to build, especially with the new flyover in place. Easier to do would be a connection to Metra’s Southwest Service at 79th St., where the SWS turns west to parallel and cross the BRC. The structure is still in place from the Rock’s track that connected to the BRC for freight transfers. Although, operationally it might be better to build an all new ramp track here east of the BRC/Metra wye.
The connection they’ve been talking about would use the old CJ line that the Rock used to get to the Stockyards, between Pershing Rd. and Root St., a few blocks south of US Cellular Field.