Train stations are making a comeback. But why?
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- Опубліковано 12 лис 2017
- In Denver and cities across the United States, historic train stations are getting a new lease on life. Many are anchoring downtown redevelopment projects as well.
Resources on this topic:
For all info on Denver development, check out denverinfill.com.
The Great American Stations. www.greatamericanstations.com
Weiler, S. (2000). Pioneers and Settlers in Lo-Do Denver: Private Risk and Public Benefits in Urban Redevelopment. Urban Studies, 37(1), 167-179.
Peters, D., & Novy, J. (2012). Train Station Area Development Mega-Projects in Europe: Towards a Typology. Built Environment, 38(1), 12-30. doi.org/10.2148/benv.38.1.12
Sacramento Valley Station. www.cityofsacramento.org/publi...
Once fantasy, redeveloping Detroit's old train depot now seen as doable, by JC Reindl, Detroit Free Press www.freep.com/story/money/2017...
Photo sources:
- denverinfill.com
- Wikimedia Commons
- Sacramento Railyards: railyards.com
- Western History Collection, Denver Public Library
Produced in sunny Sacramento, California.
I love old train stations (as you can probably tell)! What's your favorite train station?
Mine is either Union Station in Washington DC or Grand Central in New York. They're both obvious choices, but for good reason!
South Station in Boston. It’s got a nice bit of modernism in its design without being too bland or unwelcoming.
Frankfurt am Main Hbf (main station) gigantic Station with beautiful 19th century architecture
St. Pancras international station in London
Railroad loop, georgetown colorado. About an hour out from Denver. Hidden historical gem, check it out.
Hi from the UK..Actually I think US stations are some of the architecturally impressive in the world, and your right Its a great shame US rail roads have been neglected.
I travel a lot by train in the US, and you are right. There are many beautiful old railroad stations that have been refurbished.
Yes! We here (NL) use our train stations a lot more, but we have none of the beautiful cathedrals that the US have! Now if we could just combine our practical set-up and use of them and their architecture.... ;-)
@@Snowshowslow Unfortunately Congress has chosen to trim all of the long distance trains from daily services to thrice weekly services starting with the 2021 Fiscal Year on the first of October, 2020... The lone exception being the Auto Train running from south of Washington DC to just north of Orlando... The Coast Starlight, Empire Builder, California Zephyr, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle, Sunset Limited, City of New Orleans, Southern Crescent, Cardinal, Capitol Limited, and the Lake Shore Limited. Regional trains in the Pacific Northwest, California, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, and on the eastern seaborne will continue to run daily... The simple truth is these trains during Coronavirus have been running nearly EMPTY... I doubt we'll ever see daily services again through most of the nation...
I wonder if the airline lobbyists asked for train lines to be neglected. It wouldn't surprise me if they did.
UK has some great stations too, I'm American but been to London and southern England and been to some of them.
I'm from Europe and realising how incredibly grand are your old rail stations in the US. This is amazing heritage, worthy of being brought back to their former glory.
We need high-speed rail!
matt k. Yes we do!! And its being done!
...yes, in Texas it is currently in the design and planning stages, and construction (from Houston to Dallas) should begin in 2019. From what I understand, it is mostly funded from private sources (unlike in California), so not costing our state too much, if at all....we hope it will be completed within the next 10 years: www.texascentral.com/project/
Better than nothing
eh the high speed rail in California is going to become redundant if Hyperloop becomes mainstream.
We'll start by putting a section of 300kmh rail in your backyard. Eminent domain, good for all. Oh the closest station where you can board will be 500 miles away, but think how fast you'll get back to your yard and see your house fly by.
Realizing penn station was so gorgeous before, it really depresses me. I went there once and it made me think of any other subway station in NYC. Thank god my city of Philadelphia hasn't done that to it's 30th street, it's makes me think of penn station, looking back.
30th Street Philly is old NY Penn's little cousin. Anyone who wants an idea of what old NYP must have been like, should visit Philly's 30th st and try to imagine it twice as large and with a skylight.
I did. I went to 30th St Station in Philly on the Acela train and took the escalator up from track level..beholding that ornate vaulted ceiling. I thought "This is what Old Penn Station must have looked like". I also liked that WWII statue in the lobby.
Phily proud! Its a shame the Reading terminal is no more. Now its just a car show/convention center
My city Columbus unfortunently destroyed our train station and put a conference center in its place. They couldnt even be bothered to keep the original building
Same here. I passed through the original Penn Station as a young boy. It left such an idellible impression upon me that I currently work in architecture and use the station to learn new software packages. You can see some samples at joshgoodale.com.
As there is a movement to actually rebuild the original Penn Station in it's original location I pray to live long enough to attend the grand reopening one day.
I live in Seoul now. They built a new train/subway station right next to the historic Seoul Station, and turned the old station, which is beautiful, into a half historic-half art museum. It's pretty cool.
what's the name so we can look it up? thanks!
Aw man, I use union station a lot but I didn't know any of this. This is awesome. I'm surprised how excited I was to see you talking about Denver.
Hi Xidnaf! You're in Denver? Did you ride the new N line train?
xidnaf!
I belong to a group of activists and preservationists who are trying to save the train station at Offenbach am Main, Germany. Thank you for this video -- it's educational and inspiring!
Good luck to you!
Sadly you didn't succeed...
I recently moved to Denver in summer 2019. Before the pandemic, I took the light rail into downtown, and walked through Union Station every day on my way to work.
Very proud of my adopted city.
I've also stolen the "Union" Station idea for my Cities Skylines cities and it works ridiculously well
Here in Scotland we just reopened our Borders railway after it was closed decades ago. Nice to see this is happening over the world.
Paul Davidson If any lines are reopened in America it's for freight not passengers. Most of America's rail network is owned by 6 so called class I freight rail roads (Which are Union Pacific, BNSF, CN, Norfolk Southern, CP, and KCS) and they own and maintain all of Americas Network. Amtrak just rents their tracks to run passenger trains on.
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN! !!!
And, BRITISH RAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They've recently done a review on the 60s Beeching Cuts and I think there's now plans to open rail lines throughout the country. A lot of the cuts were short sighted. On my line between Glasgow and Ayr they've had to open several new stations to facilitate new passengers from new stops.
Yeah I went on it to visit my cousins in Lauder a few weeks ago! It's really nice, although it's still single track most of the way. Apparently there is talk of extending it all the way to Carlisle. I actually co-own a 50 acre bit of land on either side of an old railway line (the branch line to aberfeldy) that was also closed in the Beeching cuts. It would be amazing if that were to reopen however it never will. They really need to continue investing in train travel such as the electrification and the dualling of lines, such as the Inverness line which would be a good start.
Really, does it go to Newcastleton, Hawick ?
I love how about six years ago the day I left for basic training I went to Union Station and you can just see empty fields and the start of foundations. I went there again about two months ago and I was in complete awe of how much it developed.
As an aspiring Architect/City Planner, these videos are really inspirational! Thank you for your work!
4 years later, how's it going?
@@PanthraxIV Now studying Mechanical engineering. My interest in city planning is still there though, maybe I'll eventually work in that area still :) Thanks for asking!
man, Houston doesn't even have a train station. this city has literally nothing in it.
No train station in Houston ????? Gasp !
You wanna talk about nothing well have you heard of Phoenix
Yes, I have ! A huge concrete jungle in Arizona and always in sweltering heat ! And, I am guessing, no railway station ??? Except for that little one that looks like The Alamo :) . I am Irish but I am quite fascinated by the USA and its railroads . I have been to both Penn Station (shame about the demolition of the original Penn) and Grand Central station in NYC and Union Station in Washington DC. Next stop for me is San Fran !
@@johnconway8070 There is a temporary station in Houston, the old large beautiful station is now used for other purposes, the tracks having been removed. Presently a domed baseball stadium is located where the tracks were. Google Houston's Union Station, there are plenty of images on the web...
@@ronclark9724 Thank you ! I checked out Houston Station on Wikipedia ! Some really amazing images and the old station is indeed a beautiful structure !
Gotta love Tokyo with through tracks. No backing in and out, which are inefficient time and space wasters. And those massive shopping malls and department stores in the stations. And easy connections between stations. And staggering amounts of development around the station. Including some done by the rail companies themselves.
The thing in the US is that many Train Stations are actually Terminals (end of the line, the former line), like Union Station in LA or Grand Central in NY. Other stations, like Portland's Unions Station, Seattle's King St. Station, are actual through stations.
Tokyo is still the end of the line for many services, especially the high-speed long-distance lines. You still need to transfer trains at Tokyo station for many routes. This is part of the reason Tokyo, Shinjuku, and Shibuya are among the busiest stations in the world: they act as transport hubs with most people transferring between lines there rather than as a destination (although the range of malls, restaurants, and hotels near these stations is also great). Many stations in Japan are served by bus or tram, subway, and intercity trains which adds to the convenience of the transport network.
The bullet trains can stop for a considerable time in minor cities, not only to let passengers board but to let direct services pass by (so these are considerably faster). They will stop even longer in major cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, or Sendai (even though other services continue on the same lines in the other direction). Services to different regions of Japan are operated by different companies and you even need to visit a different ticket counter depending on your destination. No trains travel all the way from Hakodate to Kagoshima, even though the rail infrastructure would allow it. Another reason trains terminate in these cities is that they will be cleaned before passengers board for the service in the opposite direction (bullet trains do change direction). This isn't a huge inconvenience because the majority of people will be transferring to local trains or the subway rather than continuing on the rapid lines. Bullet trains are expensive and cover great distances so if you are travelling between regions, such as from Tokoku to Kansai, it is likely cheaper to take a domestic flight.
I live in Japan and really enjoy travelling by train but I wouldn't consider this a factor in it's success. Many trains terminate at stations or change direction when leaving the platform: such as Venice Santa Lucia, Stuttgart, and (the recently developed) Cologne station. The trains change direction, even in the middle of the service, but these are still transport hubs and cultural centers of each city.
It makes sense to put a lot of commercial venues inside these stations. I can't imagine living inside a train station to be honest. Though maybe that is an idea...mixed development inside mass transit hubs. It would need to be designed very well of course.
I agree, Japanese railway system and everything around it is rail goals.
Shinjuku Station is served by 12 different rail lines. Twelve!
Unfortunately, Japanese stations, even major ones, don't tend to be very flashy, unlike the old Union Stations of the US. Tokyo and Kyoto are impressive, as is Kanazawa's new station. However, for the most part, they're practical and functional rather than pretty.
Kansas City’s Union Station seemed to be one of the first unused (and nearly demolished) stations to be revitalized, with the process starting in 1996 and opening to the public in 1999. It’s certainly an anchor for downtown KC. Happy to see other cities doing the same thing!
I live in independence Missouri and as a child we took class field trips to union station. It's a truly beautiful place with science city and the cafes and eateries
King's Cross - St. Pancras here in London is a good case study for transport hubs being used as a catalyst for urban development. Whilst the area was always busy for travelling, it was a red light district in the 90s. Eurostar got diverted into St Pancras via a new High Speed line, the station redeveloped and the old railway lands have been turned into offices (with Google coming), housing, shops and a university building. King's Cross station has also been refurbished with an amazing new roof. Stratford in East London is also a good case study.
I live in Denver and most of our commuter rail lines are behind schedule opening due to new train-track crossing technology. Union Station though is amazing and I go in just to hang out/sit when I have nothing to do. There are tons of new apartments, condos, hotels, restaurants, and more opening. Rents are crazy expensive right now, but I like our transit options. Denver though does not have much in-city rail; mostly just to connect the city with the suburbs. Some of said that a street car system would benefit the city on major roads (Speer, Colorado, Colfax, etc.). I think a street car system would help make Denver more walkable.
I live in Greenwood Village and it's really easy to take the RTD downtown
For suburbs like GV, Golden, Lone Tree, and more, our light rail is convenient, easy to use, and covers a lot of people. Express busses help in areas where rail is not present. I feel like what might be beneficial (and costly too) is a rail line that connects the ends of the current rail lines. For many of the current light rail lines, the end station has much development (apts, condos, stores, etc.). Golden and Littleton have walkable downtowns and Lone Tree/Parker has a lot of construction and current housing. A line that connects the ends to each other would make it easier and might inspire a car free or walkable lifestyle even more. I can't say how profitable a line like this would be, but it's an interesting idea.
symphonicspeed826 Interesting idea indeed! Something like the R line I reckon?
Yeah! Or think of C470 and E470 as a rail line lol, with the added segment from Golden to Broomfield.
There's a tattered cover bookstore across the street from Union Station on 16th St. and a smaller Tattered Cover inside Union Station as well:) We used to have a B&N too further up 16th, but it is now a Uniqlo (which I think is a good thing).
I've been to Denver union station several times, and it's one of my favorite parts of Denver. The station and surroundings are absolutely pleasant. Thanks for letting us know how it came to be.
So happy you featured the Buffalo Central Terminal on here! My side interest in city planning, adaptive reuse, and historic preservation were all founded when I went to engineering school in Buffalo and volunteered at the BCT. Of course, my previous love of trains only fostered this! It's a huge shame that the city of Buffalo did not choose the BCT for its new Amtrak station -- very shortsighted--but there is still a lot of hope and potential for it!
I really like that you "translate" American measurements to the metric system :)
coolundbidda A relief!
As an American who uses metric, its also appreciated! :)
You can do the conversion yourself, no?
Tue Le So every time they hear a measurement, they will have to pause the video and convert? That's why the comment praised the video for adding the metric measurement. Besides, the video is trying to reach international audiences, so of course the video should include the metric units.
+Tue Le If this was an european video instead and all units were in the metric system would you enjoy pausing the video every time a new measurement was mentioned ? Didn't think so...
While I grew up on the KY side of the river from Cincinnati, I now live just outside of Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania RR 30th Street station is a beautiful, vibrant place serving many Amtrak trains as well as SEPTA commuter trains. Rail, done right, is good for a community. The USA needs improved intercity rail.
I love our station here in Denver! So many shops and great places to eat! And the ballpark is only a couple blocks away.
1:25 I fucking hate the 60s/70s... It's as if around that time humanity temporarily turned into orcs and lost its concept of beauty that hasn't fully returned ever since.
Solid theory. :D
@SpectraBacon
Well 60s & 70s were the time when the US saw a massive cocaine boom... So you might have a solid theory there :p
Hey the 1950s and 60s as well as the 1920s-40s were an amazing time in American history. 1973 was when it all went down with 1993-2008 was a rebuilding period.
@@stevieg7672 The 60s is when it went all down hill. The 60s was when US cities started to remove their urban history and look like that 3:14
Everyone at that time was only thinking about themselves and never thought about the future
The main issue with reusing Cincinnati Union Terminal as an intermodal hub is that it is really isolated from the downtown core, due to mid-20th Century urban planning decisions that destroyed the dense, old mixed-use neighborhoods around it, and replaced them with an industrial park, housing projects, and a major freeway. It now stands about a mile away from the historic dense urban fabric, which would make it not very ideal for such a use, though it does have direct access to the railroad lines that stand behind it, which includes a massive shipping yard directly behind the building, which required demolishing the old concourse to build. They did build a transit center under 2nd Street when they rebuilt Fort Washington Way down near the riverfront about 20 years ago, but still haven't gotten around to using it for much besides school buses and tour buses coming to/from the Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which has direct access to the transit center. Buffalo and Detroit have similar issues with their old train stations, and they are also having issues with reusing them as intermodal transit hubs.
It would also have to mix with the museums inside somehow.
Denver station is so beautiful! I've made the trek between Sac and Denver by train before, and I think Sacramento has a lot of potential for rejuvenation! Just needs to have a more built out lrt system, though, that more people can feel safe using :/ (I would, just know people who said that). Heard ACE is considering expansion into Sac, too, which would be interesting!
Yeah, Sac is doing well but the light rail is a bit of a disappointment. I do love the Capitol Corridor to the Bay Area, though!
I much preferred it when it wasn't so upscale and yuppie, but was busier but seedier. Much more interesting.
Why is Sacramento light rail “disappointing”? That’s a bit of a head scratcher.
It functions much like light rail does in other cities. All lines radiate out of downtown and there is a line that currently ties into the train station - with future expansion to the airport.
@@CityBeautiful Same Here, I take it all the time whenever I visit my Dad.
Raleigh, NC (Capital of North Carolina) will finish the new Union Station in Downtown Raleigh next year that will service AMTRAK and commuter rail--continuing to revitalize the area that now has several mid-rise towers in development. North Carolina is 95% finish with the $800 million Piedmont Improvement Plan rail project from Raleigh to Charlotte that added duel tracks and much needed grade separate throughout the line.
This reminds me of the Tamaqua Train Station (PA). It was abandoned but the town made efforts to save it and it currently houses a restaurant. Trains stop by for Train Excursions between Jim Thorpe and Reading.
Love LA union station, I use the trains here all the time
It's also undergoing a massive massive renovation, and a lot of additional construction behind it. I thought they had done good enough renovations before when they had implemented the red and purple lines, but it truly is undergoing a massive new building spurt right now (check out the building plans).
It's great because it is being built along with new lines, at a time when downtown LA is gentrifying, and building up it's density very fast. Already a lot of people that live in DTLA, and those that visit from the suburbs (San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys, and Orange County) at night to go bar hopping, to new restaurants, Little Tokyo and karoke, or the Arts District, and brewery use it a lot. The tourists are also discovering it.
See:
ua-cam.com/video/JKHrEPqXAYY/v-deo.html
Ford is refurbishing Michigan Central Station in Detroit
Michigan Central Station: Beautiful abandoned, even more beautiful not. Here's hoping Ford continues on with their plan to re-utilize it.
While visiting Denver a few months ago I took the A train to the airport from downtown after staying in Cap Hill and it was excellent. Smooth, comfortable ride with minimal stopping and we went at least 60-70 mph (105 kph) for most of the trip. Felt pretty modern despite the aging rolling stock. All I can say is I hope you Denverites don't take it for granted, because in Tampa your two options to get between the airport and downtown without a car would be the city bus in mixed traffic or a potentially pricey uber.
Denver's Union Station is amazing. It's truly grown so much in the last few years
In Cleveland they converted their Union Terminal into Tower City mall but the basement still serves as a rail hub for the Metro and Light rail.
So glad you're doing these videos! Keep them up!
Here in Kansas City, we did a great job of renovating our Union Station. A couple museums, an IMAX theater, some good restaurants, meeting space, offices, and...just the amazing architecture and design in the Grand Hall. Plus it's still a functioning train station for two Amtrak lines: Southwest Chief and the Missouri River Runner. As far as being intermodal, the KC Streetcar currently ends there as well.
Great content! always good to find someone who is enthusiastic and informative about whatever it is that interests them.
Thanks a lot!
I love trains.
Same
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noice
I'm so glad your channel has gained so much popularity! You mentioned in your video that Denver has built mostly market value housing. Have you considered doing a video on international cities like Singapore or Hong Kong where large portions of residence live in public house. Also - I would love to see a video on Bogotá and other countries using Bus rapid transit. Finally, I would love to see a video about cities that have successfully implemented programs that help homelessness. Great work!
All great ideas! I'll add them to my list. I particularly like the idea about public housing in Singapore and Hong Kong -- a fascinating topic.
Union station in Denver is awesome! I always travel from Lakewood on the W light rail line (shown in this video, it is the smaller white train) to union station when I work at the Hilton down there and always take the A-line from union station directly to the door at Denver International Airport (also in the video as the big gray one everyone was running to catch).
They have really renovated Union Station excellently. It's a cool place to just hang out....
Lo-Do is awesome....Rockies really renewed Lo-Do much more.
Thank you for making this video showing everything most common in my everyday life from a travel standpoint, it feels so cool!!
On another note, I just watched your urban sprawl video. You really think Minneapolis has more urban sprawl than Denver? Like seriously? You've been here, you've seen it!
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS VIDEO!!!
I'm so jealous of Denver and their light rail system! We need that so badly here in Minneapolis/St. Paul, but it's moving at a snail's pace.
Good job! Buffalo's central station, like Detroit's really need to be saved. These old stations were built to last, with high quality materials and craftsmanship, unlike the cheap, plastic looking, modern structures of today.
Erhem, the Utrecht Central train station, my country’s largest station IS built to last and unlike Amsterdam Central station or Groningen head station it doesn’t look cheap at all.
Why does seemingly every city have a Union Station? It’s so confusing!
Great question! Back when railroads were new, each company built their own station. Imagine if Southwest had its own airport, Delta had its own airport, etc. Cities realized this was stupid and worked with railroads to build one "union" station instead.
Sometimes, cities would even have a "Union Station" in addition to a train station that belonged solely to another railroad company, such as the cases with passenger stations in Seattle, Chicago, and Omaha. Several companies in these cases pooled their resources together to build a Union Station, but one line would decide it was better for them to build their own station. In the cases of Omaha and Seattle, the train stations are adjacent to each other, but in the case of Chicago, the train stations were scattered about the city haphazardly (and most are now gone). Some cities also had cases where there were once multiple stations that had some issue (poor transportation connections, prone to flooding, etc) such as the case in Cincinnati, and these stations were later consolidated into a single, central "Union Station" to make things simpler and more efficient. In the case of Cincinnati, there were also passenger train stations shared by multiple companies that existed before the "Union Station" was built, but these were often called something like "Grand Central Station."
Union as in the Union of the United States
Brandon Weiss Dave and prior commenters are correct. In this case the word refers only to serving more than one railroad company. Maybe the best example is Atlanta's first Union Station. It opened in 1853, only to be destroyed 11 years later in The Battle of Atlanta. Railroad construction boomed after the war, and the need for these stations became increasingly evident. The South was no exception, and these structures were often the only one with "Union" in their name from that era. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Union_stations_in_the_United_States
Most of the time the reason they are called Union stations is because in past when passenger rail was ran by freight companies Union stations would be large stations in which multiple companies met. Also in Denver Union Pacific was the largest company who operated out of Denver Union Station.
Woah, I live in Cincinnati and it was great seeing the union terminal there. I love going to that museum and someday wish to take a train out of there. Also it is currently being renovated too.
If you build it, they will come! Very interesting to hear the history of these stations and cities and very glad to see the potential of public transport being unlocked.
You should do a video on Phoenix. While the 5th largest city in America is working on becoming more of a world class city, there is a lot more it can be doing.
Shitty city. Just a giant suburb.
It's fascinating to trace the development, decline, and repurposing of cities. It can seem like things aren't changing, or at least aren't changing for the better, when in fact changes are constantly occurring and usually just aren't easy to detect. At my age, having seen decades of American cities falling apart and thinking they were permanently doomed, it sometimes amazes me to realize that they in fact did not die.
It's really important to take a long view when thinking about cities. I studied in Rome and it's amazing to think about how many eras that city has been through, and it's still here.
Great episode! Please, more on train stations, light rail, stadiums and casinos.
You should do a video on the changes Salt Lake City has made over the last 20 years. In preparation for the 2002 Olympics, major road and mass transit construction began. Since then the city has opened 5 light rail lines and a high speed train line, as well as a major overhaul to the bus system and addition to freeways and roads. And there is more to come. It's been very cool to watch the changes take place.
Good for Denver. Though it's too damn cold for me in the winter.
It's not really cold, just one to two huge snowstorms a winter and a few days with sunshine and below zero temps.
Merchant2 it's not cold here. It has snowed once this winter so far. And that was just a light dusting. It gets a little cold at night, but it's December and it got up to ~50 degrees (Fahrenheit) today.
Makes me wonder if you have spent much time in Colorado. It's actually surprisingly sunny and warm between occasional stow storms.
After leaving Cleveland and NYC for Denver, I don't mind a little cold here and there as opposed to the East, where you're freezing your ass off 6 months out of the year!
Denver is not cold at all you dunski
Would be cool to see Detroit make a comeback. Last time I was there the whole downtown looked renovated.
I've been to Union Station in Denver before and after the renovation. It was originally built in a Richardsonian Romanesque style, but the main lobby burnt down in the 20's and was replaced with the Beaux Arts lobby you see today. LoDo was doing pretty well before the renovation. If you watch 'Hill Street Blues', you'll notice LoDo being used as outdoor location shots. You're channel is awesome! Keep up the good work.
@1:10 Omaha Durham Museum / Omaha Union Station... thanks for the shout out, would love to be able to catch a train from here again with public transit in Omaha!
I'm glad Seattle restored King Street station. It's a perfect welcome to AmTrak passengers as they arrive in the city.
Raleigh is building a new Union Station in their warehouse district at the moment right now too.
Thank goodness, because the old station is small and outdated.
"outdated" is good. Look at what builders design nowadays.
I've never been a fan of "urban renewal" but at 3:15 in this video, I have to admit my reaction was "wow, look at all that parking in the middle of the city!".
Cleveland turned it's old terminal into a mall/office/hotel deal and it still serves the local Subway system. It's an amazing impressive building.
I love Denver!
the head of Denver RTD at the time is now head of LA Metro and our unino station still needs some work
I grew up around Denver and you did a terrific job on your documentary.
love your content! architectural preservation and high speed rail are my passions
I love how the american train stations look like, theyre so beautiful with red bricks! Preserve them!
Denver looks sorta lit
rrrglynn It is fam 😎
it's not, don't let it fool you
Cedric Pie
You must be one of the folks that hangs out at the Walgreens at 16th street mall :P
We don't want anymore worthless potheads. Please feel free to go to California or anywhere but here.
It's not, stay away, don't need more people here.
I really was pleasantly surprised by Denver's Public Transportation. They have free buses in their downtown area as well.(& yes the Their Union Station is v.nice!)
Whenever I feel like going up to LA but want to leave the car at home, I always love disembarking at the Spanish Mission/Art Deco station there (also called Union Station). They sometimes have events like movie screenings where I got to see Blade Runner for the first time in the very room scenes of it were filmed. It's a beautiful place.
The Cincinnati Union terminal looks like the Hall of Justice.
While I'm happy that a lot of cities across the country are saving these historic train stations, turning them into "hipster hangouts" is not exactly my cup of tea. IMHO, they should instead just restore these stations to their former glory and use them once again for what they were intended for: serving railroad passengers and transit commuters.
guildrich Denver Union is used as a train station for Amtrak, it's just that most of Denver's public transport also meets there.
That is essentially what they did with Denver. Amtrak uses tracks 5&6, while the commuter rail uses the other tracks (1-4. 7-8). Since there's only two Amtrak trains a day and there are frequent trains with minimal ticketing requirements for the commuter rail (uses the same tickets as the bus and light rail), there would just be a ton of empty space otherwise (see Worcester Union Station). The bar, restaurants and shops in the station put the space to much better use, and commuters can use them before boarding their trains. The Zephyr passengers typically crowd out the hipsters during the two hours preceding its departures anyway, and couches are much more comfortable than hard wooden benches when waiting for Amtrak.
Guildrich I absolutely agree with you! Renovating train stations are really simple,JUST BRING BACK THE TRAINS AND THE TRACKS!
พิตตินันท์ จันทร์ศรี That is much harder to do than say. Especially because of Americas love for car.
In my hometown (St Paul, MN) we have a similar area were our station (Union Depot) is, it’s in a neighborhood called Lowertown, a historic industrial district now which now has many loft apartments and artists. The station serves Amtrak and our light rail system.
I love these videos. So informative and entertaining!
Ayyeee Sactown!
The USA needs train lines and train companies like in the uk and the rest of Europe, companies buy the rights to use tracks/ trains for a certain amount of time off a government department like the uks national rail
You need to ask why Canada and Australia don't have a good passenger rail system either. It's because passenger rail is unfeasible in large low density countries like USA, Canada and Australia.
Owen Major Actually, a lot of people would take the train if it were merely cost effective, not minding that it takes longer. Look how many people drive across the country. Train ridership has been on the increase for years now. What makes no sense is having to take an airplane to get from one city to the next, no matter where you are in this country.
Great Wolf Don’t forget Russia and China. Oh, right, they’re building high speed rail networks, and they’re busy.
+Ethan Lamoureux Thing is that if the US actually built high speed rail it's not even that bad after all the US is large but at just around 4,000 km across I'm pretty sure you could easily enough build a transcontinental high speed line even with the deviations for terrain and to take in major cities as hubs along the way with a total length that would be bellow the 1 day travel distance of a 300 km/h train (That is 7,200 km after all a little less if you add some stops but a transcontinental HS line need not stop at anything but the most major cities which can act as transit hubs).
Hell a line going like New York, Philadelphia, DC, Atlanta, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle pretty much fits in that. Would probably want to expand the network later connecting other HS lines to those hub cities on the main one like one going down from Atlanta to Miami, New York to Chicago etc but even so could probably get from any point on a national high speed rail network to any other in under 2 days which is a hell of a lot faster than taking the highway.
@Owen Major Building and maintaining highways is also not cheap, and you need a lot of passengers to justify the costs. The cost of highways becomes greater the longer the distances. Highways are incredibly expensive to build, especially freeways, they are much more expensive than railroads, and the cost of maintenance is much greater too. If our highways were not built almost entirely with public funds they wouldn’t exist, because they are so expensive, and because they don’t bring in any revenue. Imagine if highways had to make a profit, as they expect railroads to do! Anyway, the fact that railroads can be built by private companies and turn a profit tells you that they are much more effective a means of transportation than highways.
As for airports, they also are incredibly expensive to build and maintain, and the infrastructure cost of air travel also increases with the amount of capacity required. Too many flights and the airport gets jammed up, and so they have to add more runways, terminals, gates and all the associated facilities. And the air traffic control system, which is 100% publicly funded, has to handle any increase in air travel. Most of air travel is funded or subsidized by public money, and the airlines still have trouble making money.
If you put highways, airports and railroads side by side and compared them for their ability to get the job done while making a profit, which one do you think would come out on top?
Great freaking video. Would love to visit this for my small town :)
What I miss about the the old Denver Union Station was the tunnel to access all the unused platforms. The out of date signs for all the destinations you could reach by train from Denver where still up. It was like stepping back in time when you walked through it. Now we just have a bus station to walk through. I also miss the arcade that was there.
Don't forget that congress past a bill/law that separated passengers and commercial railroad companies and made one sole quasi (public owned but ran as a private company) named Amtrak. So it's is against the law in the US to have the largest commercial rail companies(Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX) to have passenger rail.
I wasn't aware that that was the terms for the creation of Amtrak. So is that why, so far, only short line railroads or non class 1's have been able to bid or create new services?
corderjones, you're on crack. It is NOT against the law in the US for any railroad to operate a passenger train.
allaboardflorida.com
I really would like the US to invest in new rail lines, and give Detroit and Buffalo a reason, perhaps linking the two by rail (again) via Cleveland and Chicago, and maybe re-link Buffalo to Albany.
(A reason to re-use those buildings as train hubs, maybe linking them to Buffalo's light rail and Detroit's new Q-Line, respectively.)
It would be nice if they would connect it to Toronto and Hamilton too
There's a high speed rail canada might be building that could connect to Michigan Central Statoin.
I just visited Denver. Its a gorgeous station. I wish you had mentioned LA Union Station which although is doing minimum redevelopment offers an amazing connection between subway, metro, bus, amtrak, metro link, and on an on...
And it's a beautiful station, too!
Interesting video. The Union Station in Springfield, MA also just re-opened in 2017 after being closed since the early 1970's. Another example of urban transportation renewal.
If we had trains that could make it so flying from Denver to anywhere in Western New York was slower than training, the Buffalo station could easier get renewed... I kinda miss the vision of train stations in the 1930s being the entry way to a city like the majestic ship ports were entries to national in the 19th century... Planes are killing romance.
Nah... Denver to Las Vegas or Dallas, yeah, possible. Los Angeles even - kinda. All can be done in about the same time, but with better scenery, and more comfort.
2500 - 2600 km to New York? Plane is faster.
jur4x NYC is about 3200km from here so if it was a little slower I'd be content, especially if I don't have to get my medical equipment bomb tested.
jur4x As air travel becomes more congested, you get more delays, sometimes hours long, sometimes on the tarmac away from the gate; and more “incidents” like over-booked flights and passengers being bumped from their flights, sometimes having to wait as much as a day for the next flight, and sometimes being drug off the plane by security or police. Road rage is bad enough, but nothing compares with air rage. Flying is a much more delicate affair than ground transportation, and will likely always be so, because you can’t just roll to a stop when something goes wrong if you’re in the air. It really should not be the backbone of our transportation network. Flying should only be considered when time is more important than anything else, or when there’s no other way to get to your destination. It’s actually possible for ground transportation to connect every inhabited continent, and it should be done.
Way too far, driving out there takes three days, even if the train went 100MPH all the time (and it wont) it still take two days to do it.
Adam Smith It’s about 1500 miles from Denver to Buffalo. At 100 mph average speed, that would take 15 hours. Modern high speed trains travel at over 200 mph which would take 7.5 hours not including stops. Where do you get 2 days?
SoDoSoPa > CtPa Town > LoDo
I am really happy our small town in Johnstown, PA are working to restore our train station.
Scranton PA renovated its abandoned (and fairly large for a city it’s size) Lackawanna RR station back in 1984 as a hotel and it’s still going strong. Hope it’s a harbinger of success for other station/terminal renos. There are recurring notions and intermittent planning and funding efforts to re-link Scranton via rail with Hoboken - and its renovated Lackawanna terminal and NYC water taxi station.
Because American traffic has gotten so bad that most people want an alternative.
While I love trains I don't think that passenger rail is going take off in America. One reason is that most railroads are owned by freight companies. So we would have to make a choice between freight rail and passenger rail. I think we should stick with the former because American freight rail system is one of the world's best and most efficient. There was an Economist article about that a couple of years ago. If we start using railroads for passenger transport then we would have to use trucks for freight as they do in Europe which is not good for the environment.
Edit: Here is the link to the Economist article
www.economist.com/node/16636101
Edit: Besides most passenger rail systems require billions of dollars in subsidies.
The Buffalo central train station has been saved but battles financial problems frequently along with low land value surrounding the station. The station is used though, but not in any of the ways you have mentioned. Along with Jamestown's rail station (Jamestown NY, also known as Lucy town, for Lucial Ball growing up in Jamestown) both are used in model train shows along with special events. The Jamestown train station is about an hour and a half south of Buffalo but has been almost completely repaired to its original glory with one of the old street trolleys being repaired to its original glory. Sadly the Buffalo station has not been so lucky with the emense size of it needing critical repair and in 2009 the pedestrian path from the main building to the platforms has been removed to allow for taller freight trains to pass underneith. So hopefully Buffalo will bring back the Grand central station but it will take tons of money and time.
lovely stuff. you my friend have just gotten another subscriber.
As a european I find this amazing.
whats wrong with being Canadian?
Hey Dave!
Love your videos, they do a really great job breathing some life into an under appreciated topic!
Your most recent video on Train stations really struck a cord as I’m currently working on developing a public/private partnership to create a Higher-speed rail line in North Carolina.
It’s modelled after a project in Florida called Brightline. Might be a great topic for a future video and I would be happy to share my research with you!
You can check out our project here:
www.pareto-design.com/southrail
Woah, i second the idea of making a video on this.
Your right we're aiming for about a 2 hour trip but with significantly more stops. The other problem is that Amtrak + North Carolina owned Amtrak operated Piedmont train combined only have 4 services a day, we’ll have hourly service with commuter rail potential hitting 30 minute headways during peak hours.
To your second point we see substantial increased inter-city business travel from Charlotte and Raleigh Along with substantial commuter rail operations. Charlotte and the Triangle (Durham, RTP, Raleigh) are two of the fastest growing metro areas in the US and your plan basically double the watershed of commutable places to live. The other great part of this is since the rail corridor has been around for a long time it runs thru a lot of smaller, economically depressed towns that with a stop and easy access to the economic engines of NC that are the major metro area, are able to see redevelopment and growth
Your right in the fact that this isn’t and earth shattering, paradigm shifting improvement but that’s kinda the whole point. It’s a well crafted, incremental improvement to take existing circumstances and infrastructure and create tangibly better experiences that can actully be built. All in we’re talking
Several; years ago St.Paul (MN) reverted our 1917 Union Depot back into a transportation hub, after over 30 years as rental space for other ventures.The building was refurbished and configured to serve multiple transportation modes, including Amtrak, 13 Metro Transit bus routes plus light rail,Jefferson Lines Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, MegaBus and Greyhound.The head house was remodeled and refurbished, it's sky lights (painted over during World War II) restored, and accessibility improved.It's not the fanciest train station, but it's a local gem.
You have a great channel, I think your channel could be part of a federal education programme for educating the elementary kids about US history, Also I am from England.
I live in Colorado. It's not that great here. Don't move here. Ever. Especially not to smoke weed.
Classic coloradoan statement lol just move out of Colorado if you hate it so much, there are definitely cheaper places to live.
Get out of my state, dirty foreigners!
I was born raised and live in Colorado...
Colorado has some of the worst pollution in the country.
Yup. Horrible traffic and weather, too.
European here, we have a much better public transportation system
no one cares!!
We a dont care
Yes you do
lets be for real though,Denver's Union Station looks lit,this is coming from someone who lives in Colorado
@ Itz Pro, agreed, love that type of architecture
Wow, that Omaha station is truly gorgeous. Stunning art deco.
I live near London Docklands where reuse of the Docks Rail Warehouses Mills etc has been amazing a complete new city and new additional Finance District Canary Wharf..
Great content. Thank you.
Look at the redevelopment of a rail yard in Dallas, TX called victory park . It has an NBA arena, 2 light rail lines, a commuter line, and luxury apartments and condominiums
Cool, I'll check it out.
Im in metro Detroit and glad that you brought up our once beautiful train station. Its such a shame that its fallen so low. So far, we're not seeing much happening with it but I'm hoping the owners follow thru and do something with it.
Union Station is my favourite area of downtown Denver, think I might trek down there tomorrow for some lunch.
My city's train station in Christchurch, New Zealand was sadly turned into a picture theatre and small shopping center in the 90s.
Then after an earthquake in 2011 it was finally demolished. It was a different style from American ones, with a huge Art Deco style. The railway was also above ground and had an interesting layout for the platforms, with two being a terminating platform for trains from the east and the other for western trains. Then the other platform was for through trains.
Sadly the replacement station was put in a really inconvenient place no where near the city center and without any good public transit connections, what more is it only has one platform so it limits the amount of services that can pass through which is disappointing as even though there is currently only one service that leaves in the morning at arrives in the evening, a new intercity service will be operating daily soon and there is another proposed southern intercity service that will make it very complicated.
I’ve only been to one railroad station in my life so far, so it’s gonna be a little biased. My favorite station is Alaska’s Anchorage station. The railroad is the lifeblood of that state, and it’s one of only a few that run their own passenger services in the US. There’s a steam loco on display on a raised platform in front of the station. Inside to the left is the ticket booth, and to the right is the gift shop. I was booked in Standard class at the time. Our train had two superliner-like coaches at the front (that’s First class, which has onboard dining on the lower level for the whole train), followed by the cafe car. Behind that was standard class and the observation coach. Got off at Talkeetna, spent a few hours there, and jumped on the southbound train back to Anchorage. A great experience, and it summarizes my thoughts on what rail service means to the US. Our heritage, lifeblood, and a better option to get around than sitting in a roadblock or driving for hours on end.
i love your videos. I wish you would post videos more often.
Penn Station Newark has always been an important hub having Amtrak, Commuter trains, Newark Light Rail, PATH subway system, local and Greyhound buses. It never fell into disrepair or required revitalization.