Union Station
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A union station or union terminal is a train station where tracks and facilities are shared by two or more railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently between them. Often the station is used by all passenger trains serving the city, but this is not necessarily true; in particular, commuter trains in Chicago, Illinois still use four different terminals.
In North American practice a union station is usually owned by a separate corporation whose shares are owned by the different railways which use it, so that the costs and benefits of its operations are shared proportionately among them. This contrasts with the system of trackage rights or running rights, where one railway company owns a line or facility, but allows another to company to share it under a contractual agreement. However, the company that owns the union station and associated trackage does assign trackage rights to the railroads that use it.
- In the United Kingdom the term used is Joint station: an example being Carlisle railway station
List of Union Stations
Many union stations use Union Station or Union Terminal as their name, or part of it. These include:- Union Station (Alexandria, Virginia)
- (North) Union Station and South Union Terminal in Boston, Massachusetts, now North Station (1927) and South Station (?)
- Union Station (Chattanooga)
- Union Station (Chicago)
- Union Terminal (Cincinnati), Alfred Fellheimer and Steward Wagner, architects, 1929. Currently in use as The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.
- Union Terminal (Cleveland) (converted to a shopping mall)
- Union Station (Dallas)
- Union Station (Denver)
- Union Station (El Paso)
- Union Station (Indianapolis)
- Union Station (Jacksonville) (now a convention center)
- Union Station (Kansas City)
- Union Passenger Terminal (Los Angeles)
- Union Station (Nashville) (now a hotel)
- Union Station (New Haven)
- Union Station (Omaha), now the Durham Western Heritage Museum
- Union Station (Ottawa), no longer a train station
- Union Station (Oklahoma City), (about to be destroyed leaving just the depot behind)
- Union Station (Pittsburgh), Daniel Burnham, architect, 1898 - 1903
- Union Station (Portland)
- Union Station (San Diego), completed in 1915
- Union Station (St. Louis)
- Union Station (Seattle)
- Union Station (Tampa)
- Union Station (Toronto)
- Union Station (Washington, D.C.), Daniel Burnham, architect, 1908
- Union Station (Worcester, Massachusetts)
- Union Station (Winnipeg)
External link
The Straight Dope: Why do so many cities have a "Union Station"? (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a800729.html)nl:Centraal Station de:Hauptbahnhof