Amtrak: Difference between revisions

Amtrak inherited problems with train stations (most notably [[deferred maintenance]]) and redundant facilities from the competing railroads that once served the same communities. Chicago is a prime example; on the day prior to Amtrak's inception, intercity passenger trains used four different Chicago terminals: [[LaSalle Street Station|LaSalle]], [[Dearborn Station|Dearborn]], [[Ogilvie Transportation Center|North Western Station]], [[Central Station (Chicago terminal)|Central]], and Union. The trains at LaSalle remained there, as their operator [[Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad|Rock Island]] could not afford to opt into Amtrak. Of all the trains serving Dearborn Station, Amtrak retained only a pair of Santa Fe trains, which relocated to [[Chicago Union Station|Union Station]] beginning with the first Amtrak departures on May 1, 1971. Dearborn Station closed after the last pre-Amtrak trains on the Santa Fe arrived in Chicago on May 2. None of the intercity trains that had served North Western Station became part of the Amtrak system, and that terminal became commuter-only after May 1. The trains serving Central Station continued to use that station until an alternate routing was adopted in March 1972. In [[New York City]], Amtrak had to maintain two stations ([[Pennsylvania Station (New York City)|Penn]] and [[Grand Central Terminal|Grand Central]]) due to the lack of track connections to bring trains from upstate New York into Penn Station; a problem that was rectified once the [[Empire Connection]] was built in 1991.<ref>{{cite web |title=Digging into the Archives: The West Side Connection |url=https://history.amtrak.com/blogs/blog/making-connections |website=Amtrak History |publisher=Amtrak |date=April 3, 2013 |access-date=June 25, 2018 |archive-date=June 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625214006/https://history.amtrak.com/blogs/blog/making-connections |url-status=live}}</ref> The Amtrak Standard Stations Program was launched in 1978 and proposed to build a standardized station design across the system with an aim to reduce costs, speed construction, and improve its corporate image.<ref name="amtrakhistory">"{{cite web |date=March 4, 2013 |title=The Amtrak Standard Stations Program |url=https://history.amtrak.com/blogs/blog/creating-a-visual-identity-the-amtrak-standard-stations-program |access-date=July 27, 2019 |publisher=Amtrak }}{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="executivesummary">{{cite book |title=Standard Stations Program Executive Summary |date=1978 |publisher=National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Office of the Chief Engineer)}}</ref> However, the cash-strapped railroad would ultimately build relatively few of these standard stations.<ref name="heartland2">{{Cite book |last=Sanders |first=Craig |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/965827095 |title=Amtrak in the Heartland |date=May 11, 2006 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-02793-1 |location=Bloomington |pages=270 |oclc=965827095}}</ref>