Houston station (Texas)

Not to be confused with Houston railway station.
Houston
Location 902 Washington Ave, Houston
United States
Coordinates 29°46′02″N 95°22′03″W / 29.76727°N 95.36754°W / 29.76727; -95.36754Coordinates: 29°46′02″N 95°22′03″W / 29.76727°N 95.36754°W / 29.76727; -95.36754
Owned by Union Pacific Railroad
Line(s) Union Pacific Railroad
Platforms 1 side platform, 1 island platform
Tracks 2
Connections Greyhound, METRO Bus, and Thruway Motorcoach
Construction
Parking Yes
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Station code Amtrak code: HOS]
History
Opened 1886
Rebuilt 1934, 1959
Traffic
Passengers (2013) 20,603[1] Decrease 4.7% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station
toward Los Angeles
Sunset Limited
toward New Orleans
  Former services  
TerminusLone Star
Ended 1979
Rosenberg
toward Chicago
Inter-American
Ended 1981

Houston is an Amtrak intercity train station in Houston.

History

The present Houston station, which opened on October 26, 1959, was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad to replace Grand Central Station, which was just east of the present station. That station operated from September 1, 1934 until the property was sold to the U.S. Government in 1959 to become the site of the Houston main post office. Grand Central Station had replaced the original Houston & Texas Central depot of 1886.[2] When Amtrak was created it was one of two stations in Houston that served Amtrak trains, the other being Union Station, now part of Minute Maid Park. All Amtrak trains moved to Southern Pacific Station by the end of July 1974, and all trains were canceled or rerouted out of Houston except the Sunset Limited. This station continued to be owned and operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad after the creation of Amtrak, and has been owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad since the merger of Southern Pacific and Union Pacific.

A third station, the Katy Railroad Depot, was at the top of the Main Street viaduct, next to the campus of the University of Houston–Downtown (UHD). It was no longer an active passenger station by the end of 1958[3] and never served Amtrak. It was demolished, save for a section of platform under the Main Street viaduct.

Intermodal Transit Center

Whenever the funding would become available, the current Amtrak station was to be replaced by the Houston Intermodal Transit Center, just north of downtown, on the Union Pacific main line. It was planned to be a much larger facility with the tracks underground, similar to Penn Station in New York. The project was cancelled in 2010.

Connections

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2014, State of Texas" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "National Railway Bulletin". 47 (1). National Railway Historical Society. 1982: 18.
  3. ↑ "M-K-T Railroad Timetables". The Official Guide of the Railways. New York: National Railway Publication Co. 91 (5). November 1958.
  4. ↑ http://www.greyhound.com/scripts/en/TicketCenter/locations.asp?state=tx
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