Union Station | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() The main entrance to Union Station | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
General information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | 123 Main Street Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 1A3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 49°53′20″N97°08′03″W / 49.88889°N 97.13417°W | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Owned by | Via Rail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Platforms | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tracks | 8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Connections | Winnipeg Transit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Construction | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Structure type | Staffed station; Beaux-Arts building | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parking | Privately operated | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Accessible | Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architect | Warren and Wetmore | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Station code | Via Rail: WNPG IATA: XEF | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1911 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Services | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Official name | Union Station / Winnipeg Railway Station (Canadian National) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Designated | 1976 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reference no. | 4484 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Designated | 1989 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Union Station is the inter-city railway station for Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is a grand beaux-arts structure situated near The Forks in downtown Winnipeg, and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1976. [1] The station is also a Heritage Railway Station, so designated since 1989. [2]
Constructed between 1908 and 1911, the station was built as a joint venture between the Canadian Northern Railway, National Transcontinental, Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, and the Dominion government. [1] The first train to enter the station did so on 7 August 1911, with the official opening the following year on 24 June 1912. [3]
Union Station was designed by Warren and Wetmore, [1] the architects responsible for Grand Central Terminal in New York City. [4] Designed in the Beaux-Arts style and constructed from local Tyndall limestone, [3] Union Station was one of Western Canada's largest railway stations. [1]
The building extends for 110 metres along Main Street, with the entrance close to the intersection of Main Street and Broadway. [5] The building's entrance doors are located under a decorative iron canopy that projects from the austere white limestone. [5] Atop the building is a large dome.
Union Station was for many years an important transportation hub in the region. Thousands of immigrants passed through its halls, and it was home to the regional office of the Canadian National Railway which inherited the building from its predecessors. There were once several trans-border trains to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota operating out of Winnipeg. The Great Northern Railway had its Winnipeg Limited , while the Northern Pacific Railway also had an unnamed day train. All of these services were discontinued prior to Amtrak and there are no present plans to reinstate any of them.
Canadian National Railway turned over passenger rail services to Via Rail in 1978, which has operated out of Union Station ever since. At present, Union Station is used by two trains - the Toronto-Vancouver Canadian , and the Winnipeg – Churchill train.
Although it is still used as a passenger train terminal, the functions of Union Station have changed with time. For instance, the terminal building contains offices occupied by non-railway tenants. The trainshed, which includes a total of eight through tracks and four passenger platforms, houses the Winnipeg Railway Museum on two tracks and two platforms. It is a variation of Bush-type shed designed by Lincoln Bush.
Union Station is one of two major inter-city railway station buildings in Downtown Winnipeg. However, unlike Union Station, the Canadian Pacific Railway Station ceased functioning as a railway station upon the creation of Via Rail Canada in 1978 and is now used for purposes unrelated to transportation.
During 2011, Via Rail undertook a $3 million renovation of the station, composed largely of repairs to the roof and trainshed, as well as various improvements to increase the energy efficiency of the building. [6]
Renovations have included the installation of a new roof, the upgrade and insulation of the main roof from R0 to R25 and the replacement of low efficiency boilers with 3 high efficiency near condensing boilers. [7] Due to renovations, the gas consumption in the building has been reduced by 82%, electrical consumption has been reduced by 25%, and water consumption has been reduced by 2 million gallons per year since 1990. [7] The heating costs for the 248,000 square feet (23,000 m2) building have been reduced to 67 cents per square foot / year, which is well below the requirement of $1 per square foot / year for the Manitoba eco-efficiency rating. [7] The renovated building has received the BOMA BESt Level 2 designation. [7] Since the environmental upgrades, the building has won the Building Owners and Managers Association of Manitoba (BOMA) 2012 Earth Award for Multi-Use Building. [8]
A further $6.5 million in renovations were completed in 2014, including renovations to the passenger waiting areas, accessible public washrooms, improvement of the East entrance, repair and repainting of the rotunda, as well as various safety improvements. [9] [10]
Future plans call for the Winnipeg Railway Museum to be moved elsewhere in the metro area to make way for a rapid transit hub station where several routes that cross the city will meet. [11]
Union Station is a major railway station and intermodal transportation hub in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Front Street West, on the south side of the block bounded by Bay Street and York Street in downtown Toronto. The municipal government of Toronto owns the station building while the provincial transit agency Metrolinx owns the train shed and trackage. Union Station has been a National Historic Site of Canada since 1975, and a Heritage Railway Station since 1989. It is operated by the Toronto Terminals Railway, a joint venture of the Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway that directs and controls train movement along the Union Station Rail Corridor, the largest and busiest rail corridor in Canada.
Chicago Union Station is an intercity and commuter rail terminal located in the West Loop neighborhood of the Near West Side of Chicago. Amtrak's flagship station in the Midwest, Union Station is the terminus of eight national long-distance routes and eight regional corridor routes. Six Metra commuter lines also terminate here.
Nashville's Union Station is a former railroad terminal designed by Richard Montfort, chief engineer of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N), and built between 1898 and 1900 to serve the passengers of the eight railroads that provided passenger service to Nashville, Tennessee, at the time, but principally the L&N. Built just west of the downtown area, it was spanned by a viaduct adjacent to the station and positioned to the east and above a natural railroad cut, through which most of the tracks in the area were routed. The station was also used by streetcars prior to their discontinuance in Nashville in 1941.
Montreal Central Station is the major inter-city rail station and a major commuter rail hub in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Nearly 11 million rail passengers use the station every year, making it the second-busiest train station in Canada, after Toronto Union Station.
Ottawa station, or Ottawa Train Station, is the main inter-city train station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the capital of Canada. It is operated by Via Rail. It is located 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of downtown Ottawa and adjacent to Tremblay O-Train station in the neighbourhood of Eastway Gardens. The station serves inter-city trains connecting to Toronto, Kingston, Montreal and Quebec City on Via Rail's Corridor Route.
Richmond Main Street Station, officially the Main Street Station and Trainshed, is a historic railroad station and office building in Richmond, Virginia. It was built in 1901, and is served by Amtrak. It is also an intermodal station with Richmond's city transit bus services, which are performed by Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC). The station is colloquially known by residents as The Clock Tower. It was listed to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and in 1976 was made a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Main Street Station serves as a secondary train station for Richmond providing limited Amtrak service directly to downtown Richmond. Several Amtrak trains serving the Richmond metropolitan area only stop at the area's primary rail station, Staples Mill Road which is located five miles to the north in Henrico County.
Guelph Central Station is the main inter-modal transportation terminal in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It is used by Via Rail and GO Transit trains, as well as Guelph Transit local buses, GO Transit regional buses and intercity buses. It is located at 79 Carden Street and includes the historic Guelph Railway Station, as well as the site of the former Guelph Bus Terminal.
Pacific Central Station is a railway station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, which acts as the western terminus of Via Rail's cross-country The Canadian service to Toronto and the northern terminus of Amtrak's Cascades service to Seattle and Portland. The station is also Vancouver's main intercity bus terminal. The station is wheelchair accessible and is staffed with full Via services. The station is a candidate for the northern terminus of a possible future high-speed rail line being considered primarily by the US state of Washington.
The Reading Terminal is a complex of buildings that includes the former Reading Company main station located in the Market East section of Center City in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It comprises the Reading Terminal Headhouse, Trainshed, and Market.
Gare du Palais is a train and bus station in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Its name comes from its proximity to the former location of the Palace of the Intendant of New France. It is served by Via Rail, Canada's national passenger railway, and by the private coach company Orléans Express.
A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train cars not in use, The first train shed was built in 1830 at Liverpool's Crown Street Station.
Michigan Central Station is the historic former main intercity passenger rail station in Detroit, Michigan. Built for the Michigan Central Railroad, it replaced the original depot in downtown Detroit, which had been shuttered after a major fire on December 26, 1913, forcing the still unfinished station into early service. Formally dedicated on January 4, 1914, the station remained open for business until January 6, 1988, when Amtrak service was relocated. The station building consisted of a train depot and a 230-foot office tower with thirteen stories above two mezzanine levels. The tallest rail station in the world at the time of its construction, the Beaux-Arts style architecture was designed by architects who had previously worked on Grand Central Terminal in New York City.
St. Louis Union Station is a National Historic Landmark and former train station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. At its 1894 opening, the station was the largest in the world. Traffic peaked at 100,000 people a day in the 1940s. The last Amtrak passenger train left the station in 1978.
The Forks is a historic site, meeting place, and green space in downtown Winnipeg located at the confluence of the Red River and the Assiniboine River.
The Winnipeg Railway Museum was a railway museum located on tracks 1 and 2 within the Via Rail-operated Union Station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Volunteers from the Midwestern Rail Association Inc., a non-profit organization founded in 1975, operated the museum.
St. Albans station is an Amtrak train station in St. Albans, Vermont, United States. It is the northern terminus of the daily Vermonter service.
Halifax station is an inter-city railway terminal in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, operated by Via Rail.
The Biggar station is a heritage railway station operated by Via Rail located in Biggar, Saskatchewan, Canada.
The Rivers railway station is on the Canadian National Railway mainline in Rivers, Manitoba, in the centre of town. The station is served by Via Rail's The Canadian. The station operates as a flag stop with 48-hour advance notice.
The Portage la Prairie station is a railway station in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada, currently served by Via Rail's transcontinental Canadian, and the Winnipeg–Churchill train.