Alexandria Union Station

Alexandria Union Station
Location	110 Callahan Drive Alexandria, Virginia United States
Coordinates	38°48′23″N 77°03′44″W / 38.80639°N 77.06222°WCoordinates: 38°48′23″N 77°03′44″W / 38.80639°N 77.06222°W
Owned by	City of Alexandria
Operated by	Amtrak
Line(s)	RF&P Subdivision (CSXT)
Platforms	1 side platform, 1 island platform
Tracks	3
Connections	Washington Metro DASH WMATA Metrobus
Construction
Parking	Yes
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	ALX
Fare zone	2(VREX)
History
Opened	1905
Rebuilt	1982
Traffic
Passengers (FY2015)	186,841[1]  3.6% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station Manassas toward Chicago Cardinal Washington, DC toward New York City Quantico toward Charlotte Carolinian Manassas toward New Orleans Crescent Richmond Staples Mill Road toward Savannah Palmetto Fredericksburg toward Miami Silver Meteor Silver Star Burke Centre toward Lynchburg Northeast Regional Washington, DC toward Boston South Station Woodbridge toward Norfolk or Newport News Virginia Railway Express Backlick Road toward Broad Run Manassas Line Crystal City toward Union Station Franconia-Springfield toward Spotsylvania Fredericksburg Line Washington Metro Van Dorn Street toward Franconia–Springfield Blue Line Transfer at: King Street – Old Town Braddock Road toward Largo Town Center Eisenhower Avenue toward Huntington Yellow Line Transfer at: King Street – Old Town Braddock Road toward Fort Totten   Proposed service   Preceding station   Virginia Railway Express   Following station Backlick Road toward Haymarket Haymarket Line Crystal City toward Union Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Designated	February 27, 2013
Reference no.	13000044[2]
Virginia Landmarks Register
Designated	December 13, 2012
Reference no.	100-0124

Alexandria Union Station is a historic railroad station in Alexandria, Virginia, south of Washington, D.C. To avoid confusion with nearby Washington Union Station, the station is often referred to as simply Alexandria.^[3][4] Its Amtrak code is ALX.

The station is located on Callahan Drive in the Old Town section of the city. It is served by both Amtrak intercity and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) commuter rail lines. It is located directly across from the King Street – Old Town station of the Washington Metro; since the opening of the Metro station in 1983, the city has made the station an intermodal hub for regional mass transit, linking Amtrak, VRE, and Metro with a number of Alexandria DASH and Metrobus lines.

The original passenger terminal, a one-story brick building completed in 1905, is still in use. Unlike most stations from the era, it was built in the Federal Revival style. The station was extensively renovated in 1982, with further improvements in the mid-1990s. The stone and concrete Veterans of Foreign Wars memorial was constructed at the station in 1940.

History

Amtrak train at the station

In the late 1840s, the city of Alexandria invested in at least five major railroad projects to link the city with other commercial centers and better compete with Baltimore as a regional industrial and trade center. The numerous competing lines resulted in a mishmash of rails and yards running through the city amidst various railroad mergers and failures.

In 1901, the railroads serving the region, led by the Pennsylvania Railroad, Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, formed the Richmond-Washington Company to manage traffic between Richmond and Washington and build a consolidated railyard, Potomac Yard. The company's plans included construction of a new passenger terminal west of the city, in what was then part of Arlington County—Alexandria did not annex the land until 1915.

Alexandria Union Station was opened on September 15, 1905,^[5] and served passenger trains of the C&O, Washington Southern Railway, and Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad until 1971, when ownership of the station was assumed by Amtrak and the rails by CSX Transportation. The City of Alexandria took ownership of the station in 2001.

On October 1, 2009, Amtrak began running two Northeast Regionals to and from Lynchburg, Virginia, making stops in the state that include Union Station.

References

1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2015, Commonwealth of Virginia" (PDF). Amtrak Government Affairs. November 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
2. "Weekly list of actions taken on properties: 2/25/13 through 3/01/13". National Park Service. March 8, 2013. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
3. Alexandria Station, Virginia Railway Express, retrieved January 7, 2016
4. Alexandria, Amtrak, retrieved January 7, 2016
5. Alexandria, Virginia; Great American Stations (Amtrak)

• Cox, Al. "The Alexandria Union Station" in Historic Alexandria Quarterly, Winter 1996, Vol. 1 No. 1.

External links

Media related to Union Station (Alexandria, Virginia) at Wikimedia Commons

• Amtrak – Stations – Alexandria Union Station
• VRE - Alexandria Union Station
• Alexandria Amtrak-VRE Station (USA Rail Guide -- Train Web)
• Alexandria Union Station (ALX); Great American Stations(Amtrak)
• Station Building from Google Maps Street View
• King Street entrance from Google Maps Street View