Where is union station in chicago

Home Stations Chicago Amtrak Station. Odd numbered tracks are in the North Concourse even numbered tracks in the South. At street level, elevators are located at the Canal Street entrances, which are on each side of the street. The entrance in the modern building not in the building pictured above is closer to the train tracks. Metra commuter trains to Chicago suburbs also stop at Union Station.

In warmer months, water taxis depart near the station and travel to destinations including Michigan Avenue and Chinatown. The two closest CTA transit stations are an 8-minute walk away from Union Station: Quincy on the brown, orange, pink and purple lines and Jackson Blue on the blue line.

The new skylight protects the historic skylight with a new drainage design and maintenance system. Natural light into the Great Hall increased by about 50 percent by replacing the 2, pieces of glass in the historic skylight with a textured glass surface matching the original look. Water-damaged plaster and stone was restored, and historic paint colors applied to the walls and ceiling. In addition to its passenger-facing functions, Union Station is also home to the Joseph C.

Szabo Chicago Control Center. South of Union Station, Amtrak operates a switching yard that is responsible for maintaining coaches, sleeping and food service cars, baggage cars and locomotives used on all trains dispatched from Chicago.

Trains are serviced, cleaned and stocked while locomotives are fueled and maintained on a regular cycle. This became the Indian name for the Chicago River, in recognition of the presence of wild leeks in the watershed.

When early French explorers began adopting the word, with a variety of spellings, in the late 17th century, it came to refer to the site at the mouth of the Chicago River. The short, swampy portage between the Chicago Rivers and the Des Plaines River—between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed—attracted the attention of French explorers in the 17th century. The first permanent non-native settlement after this was Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, who built the first trading post on the Chicago River in the s.

The land was later ceded to the U. The Potawatomi ceded the land entirely in the Treaty of St. The state of Illinois granted the rapidly growing city its charter on March 4, Since its inception, Chicago has been a trade nexus.

The same year, the first rail line to Chicago, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, was completed; steam-powered grain elevators were introduced; the telegraph arrived; and the Chicago Board of Trade was founded. In , most of the city burned in the Great Chicago Fire. The damage from the fire was immense: people died, 18, buildings were destroyed, and nearly a third of the residents were left homeless.

The fire led to the incorporation of stringent fire-safety codes and a preference for masonry construction. However, the soft, swampy ground near the lake was unsuitable for tall masonry buildings, leading directly to the innovation of using steel frames in buildings and the invention of the skyscraper, making Chicago a leader in architecture and setting the model for achieving vertical city densities nationwide.

Between and , Chicago grew from a city of , to nearly 1. The flourishing economy drew new residents from rural communities as well as immigrants from Europe. Many of the railroads built west of Chicago had corporate headquarters in the city, as well as their yards and shops.

Chicago became a center of manufacture of freight cars, passenger cars Pullman Company , and later, diesel locomotives Electro-Motive, in suburban LaGrange. Until the s, the Chicago Loop—the popular name for the Chicago business district located south of the main stem of the Chicago River—contained six major railroad terminals for intercity passenger traffic, as lines ended in Chicago, but did not pass through it.

Travelers would often take the necessary layover as an opportunity for sightseeing. Union Station is the busiest passenger terminal in Chicago and is most intact of the four remaining downtown train stations.

This occasion was also the beginning of the Chicago School of Architecture, which continued to influence the world up through the middle of the 20th century. Today, Chicago is the largest city in both Illinois and the Midwest, the third most populous city in the country, and a major transportation hub in the United States.

The city is an important component of global trade, as it is the third largest intermodal port in the world after Hong Kong and Singapore. Close Search. Baggage Amtrak Express shipping not available Checked baggage service available No checked baggage storage Bike boxes for sale No baggage carts Ski bags for sale Bag storage not available Shipping Boxes for sale Baggage assistance provided by Red Caps.

In addition, the bi-level Metropolitan Lounge was relocated from the concourse to the head house and fitted out with sleek modern finishes and tech-friendly laptop and mobile charging stations. Also making a welcome reappearance in the Metropolitan Lounge after an absence of four decades: showers for long-distance travelers. Despite great changes in transportation since its opening, Union Station remains busy—so busy, in fact, that it accommodates more passengers annually than Midway Airport.

About 3 million Amtrak passengers use the station annually and an estimated , Metra commuters pass through the station each day. In keeping with its function as a transportation hub, Union Station now serves as the terminus for the recently completed Loop Link system that routes Chicago Transit Authority CTA buses through the Loop and throughout the city.

Future restoration plans include widening concourse platforms to relieve overcrowding and reconstructing the skylight above the Great Hall atrium. Union Station is seen every day by thousands of commuters—and yet, not really seen! Slow down and take…. Gallery 5 Items. Official Name Union Station. Address W. Jackson Blvd. Completion Date Neighborhood West Loop.

Use Type Mixed Use. Style Beaux Arts , Greek Revival.