The Amtrak Standard Stations Program was an effort by
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
to create a standardized station design.
["] The railroad launched the effort in 1978 to reduce costs, speed construction, and improve its
corporate image
A corporate identity or corporate image is the manner in which a corporation, firm or business enterprise presents itself to the public (such as customers and investors as well as employees). The corporate identity is typically visualized by ...
.
Background
When Amtrak was founded in 1971, it had no facilities beyond the
station building
A station building, also known as a head house, is the main building of a passenger railway station. It is typically used principally to provide services to passengers. A station building is a component of a station, which can include tracks, p ...
s and depots inherited from its constituent railroads. Many were in disrepair.
[ Elsewhere, route realignments, ownership conflicts, or a lack of existing facilities required the construction of new station houses.][ Additionally, existing grand terminals in many large cities were larger than Amtrak needed and were expensive to retain. These reasons and others prompted the effort to provide those locations with more modern and appropriately sized facilities.][
]
The first new station Amtrak built was Cincinnati River Road in 1973.[ Other early attempts by Amtrak to create a modest "modern" station design include the 1975 ]Richmond Staples Mill Road station
The Richmond Staples Mill Road Amtrak station is located in unincorporated Henrico County, about 5 miles (8 km) north of downtown Richmond. The station was designed by David Volkert and Associates, and was built in 1975 as a replacement fo ...
and 1977 Cleveland Lakefront station. Amtrak president Paul H. Reistrup expressed a desire for Amtrak stations to look familiar in each locality.[
Amtrak formally outlined its Standard Stations Program in its 1978 ''Standard Stations Program Executive Summary''.][ The program was intended to amplify a sleek, modern image.][ It was also intended to foster a unified corporate identity through a consistent "look" and branding, with each standard station using not only one of several similar station building designs, but also the same interior and exterior finishes, signage, and seating.][ The program's manual outlined the reasoning of for such efforts.
Standard designs were seen as cost-efficient, as they would eliminate design costs that would otherwise be incurred with each and every station were they uniquely designed, and would also expedite construction.]
This was not unprecedented. Past American railroads had sometimes built stations in similarly sized communities to a standardized size and design.
Station designs
The station structures were intended to be functional, flexible, and cost-efficient.[ With spikes in ridership during the 1970s due to oil shortages, there was a perceived potential for permanent ridership gains.][ Therefore, Amtrak designed the stations to be easily expanded.][ End walls of the stations were designed to be able to be removed in order to build additions without incurring disruptions to the functioning of the stations.][
Designs were mostly rectangular, and all except the largest model were one story.][ Walls were to be built of either textured, precast concrete panels, split concrete block or brick in what was described as a “play of bronze and tan” colors.][ A prominent cantilevered, flat black metal roof was to sit atop the buildings, with deep eaves to protect passengers from bad weather.][ Stations had floor-to-ceiling windows.] Often, the top edge of the walls had a band of clerestory
In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both.
Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...
windows, which from a distance provided an optical illusion that the roof was floating above the station.[ The square footage and amenities of stations were to be determined by what their peak hour passenger count was.][
Five initial standard station design models were presented with varying ideal sizes and intended capacities:][
*Type 300A
**The largest model was designed to accommodate 300 or more passengers at a time. This design was and was to be ideally located on a parcel.][ The two built examples of this design are the ]Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
and Midway stations.[
*Type 150B
**a station for a peak count of 150-300 passengers, on a parcel][
*Type 50C and 50S
**a station for a peak count of 50-150 passengers, on a parcel][
*Type 25D
**a station for a peak count of 25-50 passengers, on a site][
*Type E
**an unmanned station, for a peak count of less than 25 passengers, ideally situated on a parcel][
Additional design types used included:
*Type 75C, measuring by , this model was designed to accodate 75 people at a time, with seating for 48. Expandable to accommodate more passengers. The design includes a small lounge, a baggage room, an office, and restrooms. Roughly half of its interior space dedicated to its waiting room.]
Outcome
Amtrak constructed standard stations in the 1970s and 1980s,[ but ultimately built relatively few of them.][ Strapped for funds, it instead gravitated towards either building even cheaper modular stations or seeking local funding for station development, in some cases even cooperating with private developers.][ Many "stations" opened in the 1980s and 1990s were very minimal, sometimes lacking any facilities besides a platform and appropriate signage or only featuring simple bus stop-style platform shelters. Many of the standard stations have been replaced with more modern intermodal facilities or by restored previous historic stations throughout the 2000s and 2010s. the documentation is still referenced when necessary in planning or constructing new stops.
]
List of standard stations
Related designs
* Catlettsburg station – prototype opened in 1975
*Carbondale station
Carbondale station is an Amtrak intercity train station in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. The southern terminus of Amtrak's routes, it is also served by the . Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach service between Carbondale and St. Louis, Missouri c ...
– opened 1981 with characteristics similar to standard stations
* Cleveland Lakefront Station – prototype opened in 1977
* Detroit Baltimore Street station - opened in 1994 with characteristics similar to standard stations
* Du Quoin station – opened in 1989 with characteristics similar to standard stations
*Newport News station
Newport News station is an Amtrak intercity train station in Newport News, Virginia. The station is the southern terminus of two daily ''Northeast Regional'' round trips. It has a single side platform adjacent to a large CSX rail yard. An Amtra ...
– opened in 1981 with characteristics similar to standard stations
*Poinciana station
SunRail Poinciana station is a train station in the community of Poinciana, Florida. It is the southern terminus of SunRail, the commuter rail service of Greater Orlando. The station opened on July 30, 2018. The site was briefly used by Amtrak fr ...
– prototype opened in 1974 and closed 1975, included additional facilities for services
* Richmond, California station – constructed in 1978 and closed in 1997, shared characteristics similar with standard stations
*Trenton Transit Center
Trenton Transit Center is the main passenger train station in Trenton, New Jersey. It is the southernmost stop in New Jersey on the Northeast Corridor. It is the terminus for NJ Transit trains to and from New York City and SEPTA Trenton Line ...
– rebuilt in 1986 with a design that shared characteristics with standard stations, subsequently replaced with a new station in 2008
*Richmond Staples Mill Road station
The Richmond Staples Mill Road Amtrak station is located in unincorporated Henrico County, about 5 miles (8 km) north of downtown Richmond. The station was designed by David Volkert and Associates, and was built in 1975 as a replacement fo ...
– prototype opened in 1975
See also
*List of Amtrak stations
This is a list of train stations and Thruway Motorcoach stops used by Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation in the United States). This list is in alphabetical order by station or stop name, which mostly corresponds to the city ...
*Amshack
This article contains a list of Terminology, terms, jargon, and slang used to varying degrees by railfans and railroad employees in the United States and Canada. Although not exhaustive, many of the entries in this list appear from time to tim ...
, derisive term occasionally applied to, among other stations, those of this sort
References
{{reflist
Amtrak stations