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Re: Architectural Criticism: the Saddest Amtrak Stations
Author: Erik H.
Date: 02-12-2019 - 11:53
diffrent critter Wrote:
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> OTOH, some stations have been fixed up fairly nicely, mostly with local funding not
> Amtrak's. Fresno, Merced, and Sacramento aren't half bad; Portland OR too.
Portland might "look" nice but the lack of air conditioning makes a summer wait miserable; the main waiting room is simply not designed for boarding 200 people onto one train at once (worse when you have two trains boarding at the same time!) and the surrounding area has definitely gone downhill with the homeless encampment right outside the baggage room and the heroin clinic across the street. Not being able to wait on the platform also hurts people flow; making the waiting room even more cramped.
Seattle, for its credit, has significantly improved the area around its station; it's biggest problem is a lack of direct access from the station to the Metro Tunnel, poor traffic flow (the station is on a dead-end street that is 270 degrees from the nearest through street, and connecting buses can't turn around - they have to back up). However the same problems arise with having to hold everyone in the cramped waiting room until boarding time.
As beautiful as the old stations are, if you want to attract today's passengers, you have to build stations for today. The insistence on hanging onto old, obsolete passenger station designs isn't helping Amtrak's case to becoming a transportation mode for tomorrow. Let the old, glorious stations find a new use like Cincinnati and St. Louis have done.
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> OTOH, some stations have been fixed up fairly nicely, mostly with local funding not
> Amtrak's. Fresno, Merced, and Sacramento aren't half bad; Portland OR too.
Portland might "look" nice but the lack of air conditioning makes a summer wait miserable; the main waiting room is simply not designed for boarding 200 people onto one train at once (worse when you have two trains boarding at the same time!) and the surrounding area has definitely gone downhill with the homeless encampment right outside the baggage room and the heroin clinic across the street. Not being able to wait on the platform also hurts people flow; making the waiting room even more cramped.
Seattle, for its credit, has significantly improved the area around its station; it's biggest problem is a lack of direct access from the station to the Metro Tunnel, poor traffic flow (the station is on a dead-end street that is 270 degrees from the nearest through street, and connecting buses can't turn around - they have to back up). However the same problems arise with having to hold everyone in the cramped waiting room until boarding time.
As beautiful as the old stations are, if you want to attract today's passengers, you have to build stations for today. The insistence on hanging onto old, obsolete passenger station designs isn't helping Amtrak's case to becoming a transportation mode for tomorrow. Let the old, glorious stations find a new use like Cincinnati and St. Louis have done.
