Today’s post is an update on Amtrak’s move from Union Station to its new temporary station.
I’ll start with Union Station. The first photo below is Amtrak’s ticket window that was shut down on February 4 for about three years. The empty train room feels pretty … well, empty. The second photo is a new wall at the top of the historic tunnel. While the artifacts from the tunnel are being saved, we’ve seen that tunnel for the last time.
The few remaining tracks behind Union Station will be removed soon. Some of the concrete passenger platforms have already been torn up as shown in the first photo below. In the second photo, you can see that a new construction fence prevents access to the other end of the tunnel. Look through the fence and to the right. You can see two excavators that appear to be ready to demolish the tunnel.
Now let’s go to Amtrak’s new temporary train station. The move was originally scheduled for February 1, but weather delayed it for three days. It was simply too cold for workers to move the tracks so they would connect with the tracks at the new passenger platform.
Per David’s request on February 13, I walked over to the station a few minutes before the California Zephyr arrived this morning. David wondered about the size of the station and movement of people boarding the train on the other side of Wewatta Street. Here’s what I observed. The new station has about 150 seats, and about 100 of them were empty this morning so there appears to be ample space. However, Wednesdays may be slow days for Amtrak. The train arrived from Chicago at 9:20am, two hours late. During the wait, I chatted with an 85-year old passenger from San Fransisco who, along with her husband, was visiting their daughter in Boulder. She expressed frustration with trying to find the new station by car. Luckily the train was late, or they might have missed it. In answer to one of my questions, she said that she prefers Union Station to the temporary station. No surprise, but the seats at the new station certainly look more comfortable than the old wooden benches. She and her husband boarded first and were driven to the train in what I would call a station wagon version of a golf cart. I left before the general boarding. Crossing Wewatta Street is probably a non-event with a new traffic light and crosswalk.
Here are two photos of my time at the station. The first one is the Zephyr parked at the new passenger platform. The second shows arriving passengers getting their bags in the parking lot in front of the station. There is a roller conveyor inside the station that is probably used in bad weather.
I think this post gets you up to date on the progress at Union Station. I’ll be back in a few days with reports of new activity as it happens.
As usual, I’ve posted additional photos on our Denver Union Station page at JobSiteVistor.com.
