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Dallas Union Station

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Dallas Union Station , officially Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station (or simply EBJ Union Station ), also known as Dallas Union Terminal , is a large intermodal railroad station in Dallas, Texas . It is the third busiest Amtrak station in Texas, behind Fort Worth Central Station and San Antonio station . It serves DART light rail Blue and Red lines, Trinity Railway Express commuter rail and Amtrak inter-city rail . It is located on Houston Street , between Wood and Young Streets, in the Reunion district of Downtown Dallas . The structure is a Dallas Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places .

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28-624: The station is served by Amtrak's Texas Eagle with Chicago as the eastern terminus and either San Antonio or Los Angeles as the western terminus and later by proposed Crescent (train) . The light rail station serves as a stop on the Red and Blue lines as well as the TRE . Union Station is the northern terminus of the Dallas Streetcar and provides access to the Greyhound bus terminal,

56-598: A Houston section, this time diverging at Dallas and running over the route of the Southern Pacific 's Sunbeam . It was the first time passenger traffic had served that route since 1958. Amtrak had intended to operate the Lone Star over this route back in the 1970s, but dropped the plan in the face of obstruction from the Southern Pacific. With the change, Amtrak revived the name Texas Eagle for

84-718: A Superliner Sightseer Lounge car. It was removed from the train in October 2020 in response to reduced demand from the COVID-19 pandemic but is expected to return in 2025. Amtrak plans to replace the P42DCs with modern Siemens ALC-42 locomotives by 2027, and the Superliner cars with new long-distance cars by 2032. During fiscal year 2019, the Texas Eagle carried 321,694 passengers, a 4.2% decrease from 2018. In FY2016,

112-635: A five days per week schedule in January 2022 due to a resurgence of the virus caused by the Omicron variant and remained so until March 2022. In the August 2009 issue of Trains , Brian Rosenwald, Amtrak's chief of product management, noted that the Sunset Limited might be replaced by an extension of the Texas Eagle to Los Angeles: "We projected the revenue and looked at the logistics, and with

140-570: A little bit of rescheduling came to the conclusion that we can make this happen with the equipment we have, and the additional revenue the train earns will more than cover the increased operating costs". The move would restore a connection to the Coast Starlight in both directions, and move boarding in Maricopa and Tucson, Arizona, to civilized times. "We are putting a stake in the ground: Triweekly needs to disappear," Rosenwald said. While

168-534: A new station in De Soto, Missouri for trains to stop at between St. Louis and Arcadia Valley. As part of Amtrak's response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in greatly depressed ridership, service was reduced to tri-weekly throughout the corridor October 11, 2020. In March 2021, Amtrak announced plans to return the Texas Eagle to its pre-pandemic schedule on May 24, 2021. However, the train began operating on

196-804: A waiting room on the ground floor (still in use today). Also, an underground corridor replaced the overhead walkway, with ramps at each platform. Despite Dallas' status as the second most populous city of the state at the time, the Dallas Union Station was eclipsed in some regard by Fort Worth Union Station. For example, the Rock Island Railroad's Twin Star Rocket from Minneapolis terminated at Fort Worth, not at Dallas. The Santa Fe Railroad's Texas Chief from Chicago also took its route through Fort Worth, en route to Houston. The last passenger train to serve Union Station before

224-523: Is connected via an underground walkway. In October 2016, the Dallas City Council renamed the station to Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station in honor of U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson . In April 2019, DART approved the new name and held a dedication ceremony. It is mostly referred to as EBJ Union Station . In 1934, as part of the federally sponsored Public Works of Art Project , Jerry Bywaters and Alexander Hogue were granted

252-466: Is the city's landmark observation tower in downtown Dallas . The Y-shaped building has an atrium on the south side. In 1998, the hotel added a low-rise ballroom with an area of 32,000 square feet (the equivalent of 3,000 square meters). The Hyatt Regency Dallas completed a $ 50 million renovation in April of 2013 that features newly redone guest rooms, bathrooms, and corridors. The building was featured in

280-616: The Inter-American between St. Louis and Laredo; the train evolved into today's Texas Eagle . From 1975 to 1981, the station was also served by the Lone Star , a descendant of an old Santa Fe mainstay, the Texas Chief . DART's light-rail service began at the station on June 14, 1996. The station's upper-level waiting room was repurposed into meeting and convention space for the Hyatt Regency Dallas , which

308-621: The Illinois and Michigan Canal , along first the Canadian National 's Freeport Subdivision and then Joliet Subdivision , which is also used by Metra 's Heritage Corridor and Amtrak's Lincoln Service . From Joliet, the train travels along Union Pacific rails, often parallel to Interstate 55 , making station stops in Pontiac , Bloomington–Normal , Lincoln , Springfield , Carlinville (a flag stop), and Alton before crossing

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336-678: The Mississippi River to make its stop at St. Louis ' Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center , scheduled for 7:13 pm. After St. Louis, the train skirts the Ozark Mountains , stopping in Poplar Bluff, Missouri , before crossing the state line into Arkansas. In Arkansas, the train stops in Walnut Ridge , the state capital of Little Rock , and the stations at Malvern , Arkadelphia , Hope , and Texarkana , on

364-582: The Arkansas–Texas border. Continuing into Texas, the train makes station stops in Marshall , Longview (bus connection with Houston ), Mineola , Dallas and Fort Worth , which has connections to Oklahoma City via Amtrak's Heartland Flyer , and from there the train travels on BNSF trackage. The train continues on, making stops in Cleburne , McGregor , Temple (where the train resumes traveling on

392-964: The Dallas Union Terminal, as Union Station was originally called, in 1916 to consolidate five rail stations scattered around Dallas into one, making Dallas a major transportation center in the Southern United States. At the peak of its usage, as many as 80 trains stopped each day at the station. It was designed by Jarvis Hunt , who designed other large train stations. Railroads served by the station included Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ('Santa Fe'), St. Louis Southwestern Railway ('Cotton Belt'), Fort Worth & Denver Railway , Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad ('Rock Island'), Burlington-Rock Island Railroad , St. Louis and San Francisco Railway ('Frisco'), Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad ('Katy'), Southern Pacific Railroad and Texas & Pacific Railway . In 1954,

420-547: The George Allen Courts Building, Dealey Plaza , the Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion and Reunion Tower . The first floor is occupied by an Amtrak ticketing window, a waiting room, and privately rented offices. The second floor contains the restored Grand Hall and several meeting rooms named after railroads that previously serviced Dallas. The second floor and a mezzanine are operated by Wolfgang Puck Catering. The Union Terminal Company constructed

448-663: The Houston section, while its southern terminus was cut back from Laredo to San Antonio. The new train carried Superliner equipment, replacing the Amfleet coaches on the Inter-American . In addition, the new train ran on a thrice-weekly schedule with a through car on the Sunset Limited to Los Angeles , although the latter was not announced until the April 1982 timetable. On November 15, 1988, Amtrak revived

476-539: The Texarkana to Fort Worth segment traverses the former Texas and Pacific Railway. The T&P merged with MoPac in 1982; in turn MoPac was acquired by Union Pacific in 1986. The Eagle began on October 2, 1981, as a restructuring of the Inter-American , which had operated a daily schedule from Chicago to Laredo, Texas , via San Antonio since 1973. From 1979 onward, it operated a section to Houston, Texas , which diverged at Temple, Texas . The new Eagle dropped

504-484: The Union Pacific), Taylor , the state capital of Austin , and San Marcos , with a scheduled arrival into San Antonio at 9:55 pm (the next day). A sleeping car and a coach (designated internally as train 421) are conveyed to the Sunset Limited on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, departing San Antonio at 2:45 am. The northbound Texas Eagle (train 22) leaves San Antonio at 7 am, splitting from

532-586: The building served as a temporary library while the Dallas Public Library system built a new central library to replace the original Carnegie Library. Originally, the 2nd level waiting room was connected to train platforms via an overhead walkway, but this design was never popular with travelers as they needed to climb a large number of stairs. Escalators were added, but the Grand Hall was finally abandoned in favor of renovated ticketing and

560-536: The eastbound Sunset Limited (train 422) on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. The train arrives in Chicago at 1:44 pm the next day. The normally assigned consist on the Texas Eagle includes: Three times a week, one coach and one sleeping car operate between Los Angeles and Chicago on the Sunset Limited and Texas Eagle as train 421/422. To provide extra capacity, an additional Superliner coach operates between Chicago and St. Louis. The Eagle formed carried

588-561: The first commission in Texas to create a series of 10 murals depicting events in Dallas history. They had painted them on the walls of the second-floor lobby at the old Dallas City Hall Building, located on Harwood Street between Main and Commerce Streets. In 1954, the original murals were destroyed when City Hall relocated. When the station was renovated to accommodate light rail usage, the murals were partially recreated by Phillip Lamb along

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616-484: The inauguration of Amtrak , the Missouri Pacific Railroad 's Texas Eagle , left on May 31, 1969. When it began in the spring of 1971, Amtrak initially consolidated most of its Metroplex service at Fort Worth , but planned to introduce service to Dallas once improvements were made at Union Terminal, which it considered outdated. With those improvements, Amtrak service began on March 14, 1974, with

644-622: The route of the Sunset Limited would not be entirely replaced, the performance improvements listed explain what will happen: These changes would, in turn, create a through-car change similar to that of the Empire Builder . Such service would originate from Los Angeles and split at San Antonio, and vice versa from New Orleans. As of July 2022 , the southbound Texas Eagle (train 21) departs Chicago 1:45 pm, running between Chicago and its first station stop in Joliet , parallel to

672-400: The same name, which was inaugurated in 1948 and ultimately discontinued in 1971. The route of Amtrak's Texas Eagle is longer ( Chicago to San Antonio versus St. Louis to San Antonio), but much of today's route is historically a part of the original Texas Eagle route. St. Louis to Texarkana and Taylor, Texas , to San Antonio travels over former Missouri Pacific Railroad trackage, while

700-536: The thrice-weekly Chicago-San Antonio/Houston train, while the off-day Chicago–St. Louis train remained the Eagle . This section would be discontinued on September 10, 1995. On April 4, 2013, Amtrak opened a new station in Hope, Arkansas , the hometown of former U.S. president Bill Clinton . Arcadia Valley was added on November 17, 2016, serving Iron County, Missouri . In August 2023, Amtrak approved construction of

728-732: The train joins the Sunset Limited in San Antonio and continues to Los Angeles via El Paso and Tucson . The combined 2,728-mile (4,390 km) route is the longest in the United States and the second-longest in the Americas, after the Canadian . Prior to 1988, the train was known simply as the Eagle . Amtrak's Texas Eagle is the direct successor of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and Texas and Pacific Railway train of

756-631: The train had a total revenue of $ 22,323,171, an 8.5% decrease from FY2015. For 150 mph (241 km/h) or more in the US, see High-speed rail in the United States Hyatt Regency Dallas The Hyatt Regency Dallas is a 28-story, 1,120-room hotel in the Reunion district of Dallas , Texas , United States The building is connected to Union Station and Reunion Tower , which

784-447: The train platforms at Union Station. Texas Eagle [REDACTED] all stops are accessible The Texas Eagle is a long-distance passenger train operated daily by Amtrak on a 1,306-mile (2,102 km) route between Chicago , Illinois , and San Antonio , Texas , with major stops in St. Louis , Little Rock , Dallas , Fort Worth , and Austin . Three days per week,

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