Union Station

Union Station is the grand ceremonial train station designed to be the entrance to Washington, D.C., when
it opened in 1908. It is one of the busiest and best-known places in Washington, D.C., visited by 32 million
people each year. The terminal is served by Amtrak, local and other commuter railway service and the
Washington Metro transit system of subway trains. The facility serves as the headquarters of Amtrak.


(L) The main entrance of Union Station, Wshington, DC (R) A huge stone wall of the Union Station

(L) The south entrance of Union Station (R) Police dogs are ready for patorol

A wide station hall of the Union Station, Washington, DC. The upper deck in the center is served as a restaurant.
In the Attic block, above the main cornice of the central block, stand six colossal statues.
These are entitled 'The Progress of Railroading' and their iconography expresses the confident enthusiasm
of the American Renaissance movement.

(L) The main hall gate (R) The main hall of Union Station

A station corridor of the Union sattion

(L) Red cap service assists carrying a passenger's baggage (R) A waiting hall of Amtrak in the Union Station

(L) A waiting room for the Amtrak and regional trains (R) A departures and arrivals board of train.

Today Union Station is again one of Washington's busiest and best-known places, visited by 32 million
people each year. The terminal is located at the southern end of the Northeast Corridor, an electrified
rail line extending north through major cities including Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.

Passenger services include Amtrak’s high-speed Acela Express, Northeast Regional, and several of
Amtrak's long-distance sleeper trains (including, among others, the Capitol Limited, Crescent, Palmetto,
and Silver Service trains; the MARC (Maryland Area Rail Commuter) and VRE(Virginia Railway Express)
commuter railways, linking Washington to Maryland and Virginia, respectively; and the Washington
Metro Red Line. From Union Station Amtrak also operates long-distance service to the southeast and
midwest, including many intermediate stops to destinations like Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, and
Miami.

Union Station has a mix of terminal and through tracks. Most of the upper level platforms, used mainly
by MARC, Amtrak's Northeast Regional trains, and Acela, are terminal, with trains only arriving from and
departing to the north. Several of the lower level tracks are through platforms, and are mainly used by VRE.


Regional trains were ready for a passengers ride on the lower-level plateform of the Union Station

(L) Amtrak Acela Express train to Boston at the upper-level platform of the Union Station
(R) Trains of Virginia Railway Express are waiting for departure at the lower-level platform.

(L) The down escalator to the Metro station (R) The underground Metro Union Station

Union Station at dusk in 2007

(L) Union Station in 1912 (R) Union Station in 1974

ワシントン・ユニオン駅は首都ワシントンD.C.の玄関口となってい格調高い鉄道駅で,1908年に完成した。待合室の
天井高さは29 mもあり、 石材はボザール建築様式で碑文や寓意的彫刻が施され、大理石、金箔および、白御影石など
贅沢な材料が使われた。 年間3,200万人ともいわれる多数の人々が訪れる。この駅にはアムトラックのほか、MARC
（メリーランド通勤鉄道）およびVRE（バージニア急行鉄道）の両通勤鉄道サービスならびにワシントンメトロが
運営する地下鉄などが乗り入れている。アムトラックの本社も駅構内にある。ユニオン駅は終着駅と通過駅双方の
機能がある。上層のプラットフォームからは電化された鉄道線がボルチモア、フィラデルフィア、ニューヨークおよび
ボストンなど北部の主要都市まで伸びている。 低層のプラットフォームの幾つかは通過駅として機能し、主にVREや
アムトラックの長距離列車が運行している。

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海外鉄道紀行
Travel by Train
All railway trains should be completely smoke -free.

　Italia Rail: Trenitalia
　Rail Travel Ireland
　Railways in Helsinki, Finland
　Train in Norway, Trondheim to Oslo

　Amtrak Acela Express: Boston-Newyork
　Washington DC Metro/Union Station
　Chicago CTA Rail
　Miami Metro Rail

　Stockholm Arlanda Airport and Express
　Stockholm County Railways
　X2000:Stockholm-Copenhagen Express
　Greater Copenhagen Railways
　Paris Rail Terminals
　Paris Metro-RER-Tram

　Korea Train Express, Airport Express and Metro
　Bangkok Mass Transit/Thai Railways
　Indian Railway
　Dehli Metro
　Airport Express and MTR, Hong Kong
　Taiwan High-Speed Rail
　China High-Speed Rail

　Portugal Metro, Railways
　Amsterdam Rail
　High-speed train in Spain 2010
　Barcelona Railways
　Railway Travel in France 2011
　Railway Travel in Germany 2011
　High-speed train in Germany, Austria and Switzerland 2013

　Vancouver Skytrain
　Edomonton Metro
　VIA train, Vancouver to Jasper
　Amtrak: Seattle to Glacier National Park
　San Francisco: cable-car, tram and Bart
　Alaskan Railroad

　Moscow Metro
　Saint Petersburg Metro
　Sapsan, high-speed train of Russia
　Allegro, high-speed train between Finland and Russia

　Railways connecting Canberra and Sydney, Australia
　Gold Coast Light-Rail
　NZ Rail: Tranz Alpine/Scenic
　Brief Journey by Australian Rail

　Narita Airport-City Rail Service
　Japanese high-speed train 'Hayabusa'
　Japanese high-speed train 'Super-Komachi'
Smoking ban in the railway trains of the world


Washington, D.C.
Arrival to Washington, D.C. The U.S.capitol Metro railway Union Station Museums
Socioeconomic aspect Smoking ban in Washington, D.C.

Amtrak's Acela Express
South Station, Boston Acela Express New York railway stations


首都ワシントン・ユニオン駅
2010年10月執筆　医学博士 宮本順伯
★This Web site is link-free.
The article was written and photographs were taken by Dr. J. miyamoto, in October 2010.
Copyright (C) 2010 Junhaku Miyamoto, PhD. All right is reserved.