Union Station (Denver)

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Denver Union Station
The front of Denver's Union Station, facing Wynkoop Street
Station statistics
Address	1701 Wynkoop Street (Amtrak) 1600 Wewatta Street (RTD) Denver, CO 80202
Lines	Amtrak:     California Zephyr RTD:     C Line      E Line
Connections	Thruway Motorcoach - D&RGW Ski Train - Regional highway coaches for Boulder County points - other express and local bus routes
Other information
Accessible
Code	DEN
Owned by	RTD and partners
Traffic
Passengers (FY2008)	129,773 ▲ 5% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station Fraser-Winter Park toward Emeryville California Zephyr Fort Morgan toward Chicago Preceding station   RTD   Following station Terminus C Line Pepsi Center/Elitch Gardens toward Littleton/Mineral E Line Pepsi Center/Elitch Gardens toward Lincoln

Union Station is Denver, Colorado, USA's historic train station at 17th and Wynkoop in the LoDo district. The station first opened in 1881[1].

[edit] History

Denver's first train station was constructed in 1868 to serve the new Denver Pacific Railway, which connected Denver to the main transcontinental line at Cheyenne, Wyoming. By 1875 there were four different railroad stations, making passenger transfers between different railroad lines inconvenient. To remedy this issue, the Union Pacific Railroad proposed creating one central "Union Station" to combine the various operations. In February of 1880 the owners of the four lines (the Union Pacific, the Denver & Rio Grande Western, the Denver, South Park & Pacific, and the Colorado Central) agreed to build a station at 17th and Wynkoop Streets. Architect A. Taylor of Kansas City was hired to develop the plans, and the station opened in May 1881.^[1]

An 1894 fire destroyed the central portion of the 1881 depot. The Kansas City architectural firm of VanBrundt and Howe was hired to design a larger replacement depot in the Romanesque style. Both the 1881 and 1894 depots included a tall central clock tower with four clock faces.^[2]

In 1912 the original Union Depot partnership was dissolved and replaced by the Denver Terminal Railway Company, representing the then-major operators of the station (the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe, the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy, the Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific, the Colorado & Southern, the Union Pacific, and the Denver & Rio Grande Westen). The new partnership decided to demolish and rebuild the central portion of the station to handle the increasing passenger traffic. The new central portion, designed by Denver architects Gove & Walsh, was built in the Beaux-Arts style and opened in 1914.^[3]

During its heyday, the station was served by 80 daily trains operated by six different railroads; however, most of this was terminated at the time of the formation of Amtrak, which has since operated only one train daily between Chicago and the Bay Area, routed through Denver. Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad's Ski Train was operated until the end of the winter of 2008-2009, at which time the operation was dismantled. Today it still serves passenger traffic, including:

• Amtrak's California Zephyr
• C Line and E Line light rail routes.

RTD C Line train heading beyond the station platform to turn back. Destination sign says "Lincoln" as it will re-enter service on E Line

Under a public/private consortium, the station and the surrounding 19.5 acres (79,000 m²) will soon be the hub of Denver's new FasTracks rail network, under the Regional Transportation District's master plan for the station site, officially known as the Denver Union Terminal. Eight teams of prominent architects, developers and engineers competed in 2002 for the massive contract to redevelop the station into a transit-oriented retail, office and residential complex, with a budget in the range of $900 million.

No architect is credited in any of the official information on the station.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Amtrak - Stations - Denver Union Station

• Ridership figures, FY 2004
• Ridership figures, FY 2005
• Ridership figures, FY 2006
• Ridership figures, FY 2007
• Ridership figures, FY 2008

• Denver Union Station
• Denver Union Station (USA RailGuide -- TrainWeb)
• Ski Train (includes Flash content on home page which makes sound; however site is fully usable without Flash)
• Platte Valley & Western HO Scale Model Railroad in the Basement of the station - open Friday Nights 7pm to 9pm

Coordinates: 39°45′11″N 105°00′00″W / 39.753187°N 105.000093°W / 39.753187; -105.000093

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