The Charlottesville Union Station, located in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, is served 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 ...

's ''

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

,'' ''

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

,'' and daily ''

Northeast Regional The ''Northeast Regional'' is an intercity rail service operated by Amtrak in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. In the past it has been known as the ''NortheastDirect'', ''Acela Regional'', or ''Regional''. It is Amtrak's busies ...

'' passenger trains. It is Amtrak's third-busiest station in Virginia, aside from its all-auto ''

Auto Train ''Auto Train'' is an scheduled daily train service for passengers and their automobiles operated by Amtrak between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.), and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando). ''Auto Train'' is the only motorail service in ...

'' station in Lorton. The station is situated in the northeast quadrant of the junction between two railway lines. The ''Cardinal'' uses the east–west line, owned by the state of Virginia, and formerly by

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

, and operated by the

Buckingham Branch Railroad Buckingham Branch Railroad is a Class III railroad, Class III short-line railroad operating over 275 miles (443 km) of historic and strategic trackage in Central Virginia. Sharing overhead traffic with CSX and Amtrak, the company's headqu ...

, while other services use the north–south line owned and operated by

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

. The station is within walking distance of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

, which is the major employer in the area.

History

The original Union Station was built in 1885 to jointly serve the

Charlottesville and Rapidan Railroad The Orange and Alexandria Railroad (O&A) was a railroad in Virginia, United States. Chartered in 1848, it eventually extended from Alexandria to Gordonsville, with another section from Charlottesville to Lynchburg. The road played a crucial rol ...

, the

Virginia Midland Railway Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

, and the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond t ...

. Major renovations in 1915 included the construction of a baggage handling facility. Charlottesville Main Street Station, August 1974

When

took over most intercity passenger rail service in 1971, the Southern Railway opted to continue running the '' Southern Crescent'' itself, at Union Station. The ''

James Whitcomb Riley James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 – July 22, 1916) was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry. His ...

'' (later the ''

'') used Main Street Station to the east, as well as stopping at Union Station until early in 1977. The last train between Charlottesville and Richmond ran on June 14, 1976, when the Amtrak changed the route of the ''James Whitcomb Riley.'' Afflicted with rising costs, the Southern Railway relented and turned the ''Southern Crescent'' over to Amtrak on February 1, 1979. Amtrak renamed it as the ''Crescent'' and made Union Station the Charlottesville stop for the ''Cardinal'' as well. For most of the next three decades, the only trains calling at Charlottesville were the ''Crescent,'' which arrived northbound during the morning rush and southbound in the evening, and the thrice weekly ''Cardinal,'' which arrived westbound at lunchtime and eastbound before the afternoon rush. In 2009, Amtrak extended a ''Northeast Regional'' round-trip to Lynchburg (since extended to Roanoke) by way of Charlottesville. On July 11, 2022 Amtrak added a second daily round-trip, an afternoon departure of Amtrak's overnight train of the Northeast Corridor, numbers 66/67, the former '' Night Owl,'' was added to the ''Northeast Regional''. Since 1999, the former baggage handling facility is home to the

ticket office and waiting area. The main facility has been privately developed into the commercial restaurant, Wild Wing Cafe. Plans coincident with the redevelopment to create a transportation hub at Union Station were not realized. Instead, in 2007 Charlottesville completed the Downtown Transit Center one mile across town. However, the station does serve as an intermodal transportation nexus, with connecting

Amtrak Thruway Amtrak Thruway is a system of through-ticketed transportation services to connect passengers with areas not served by Amtrak trains. In most cases these are dedicated motorcoach routes, but can also be non-dedicated intercity bus services, transit ...

motorcoach service to

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 ...

for some trains there, a 200-plus-space parking lot, and access to a

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and pac ...

bus station several blocks away. The Virginia Breeze, a bus service sponsored by the

Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (VDRPT) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. According to its web site, the state agency's mission is "to improve the mobility of people and goods while expanding ...

, stops a few miles to the west at a shopping center. These services allow Charlottesville travelers to reach various airports and other destinations in the region. The Charlottesville Free Trolley stops just north of the station, and connects Downtown and the University of Virginia. Out of the twenty-one Virginia stations, Charlottesville is the fourth busiest, according to the FY2018 ridership. This is mainly due to the large number of passengers traveling between this station and Washington, Baltimore and points north.

Future

In December 2019 the Commonwealth of Virginia purchased CSX Transportation's Buckingham Branch track and right-of-way from

Clifton Forge, Virginia Clifton Forge is a town in Alleghany County, Virginia, United States which is part of the greater Roanoke Region. The population was 3,555 at the 2020 census. The Jackson River flows through the town, which as a result was once known as Jac ...

to Charlottesville, and onward to

Doswell, Virginia Doswell is an unincorporated community in Hanover County in the Central Region of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. Originally called Hanover Junction, it was located on the Virginia Central Railroad (later, part of the C&O) at a crossing of t ...

, north of Richmond. The western segment hosts the ''Cardinal'', while the eastern segment facilitates future passenger service between Charlottesville and Richmond, as outlined in the 2017 Virginia Statewide Rail Plan.http://www.drpt.virginia.gov/media/3013/transforming-rail-in-virginia-map.pdf It covers the same route used by the ''James Whitcomb Riley'' in 1976. The state is leasing the line to CSX and Buckingham Branch for its current uses.

References

External links

Charlottesville Amtrak Station (USA RailGuide -- TrainWeb)
{{Charlottesville, Virginia Amtrak stations in Virginia Transportation in Charlottesville, Virginia Bus stations in Virginia Railway stations in the United States opened in 1885 Stations along Chesapeake and Ohio Railway lines Railway stations in Virginia at university and college campuses Stations along Southern Railway lines in the United States