Kemper Street station, also known as Lynchburg station, is an
intermodal transit
Intermodal passenger transport, also called mixed-mode commuting, involves using two or more modes of transportation in a journey. Mixed-mode commuting is often used to combine the strengths (and offset the weaknesses) of various transportati ...
station in
Lynchburg,
Virginia
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 ar ...
, United States. It serves
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
while an adjacent bus transfer center serves
Greater Lynchburg Transit Company and
Greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...
buses. Kemper Street Station is located at 825 Kemper Street.
History
Kemper Street station was built in 1912 by the
Southern Railway to house their passenger and freight operations in the Lynchburg area. A three-story structure built into a hillside, the top floor fronts Kemper Street while on the opposite side the track level ground floor fronts the rail platforms. Originally included but later removed was an elevated walkway extending from a street level passenger lobby across the tracks. Stairs descended from the walkway to the platforms, two stories below. A freight depot was located in the ground floor. As it was not the city's only railway facility, the "Kemper Street" name was used to clearly identify it among Lynchburg's other train stations. Over many decades to follow, the station was a stop for Southern Railway passenger trains (the ''
Birmingham Special,'' ''
Pelican,'' and ''
Tennessean
Tennessean refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the state of Tennessee, including:
* ''The Tennessean'' newspaper
* Tennessean (train)
See also
* List of people from Tennessee
* Tennessine
Tennessine is a synthetic chemic ...
'' toward southwestern Virginia and ''
Augusta Special,'' ''
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 ...
,'' ''Peach Queen,'' ''
Piedmont Limited
The ''Piedmont Limited'' was a named passenger train operated by the Southern Railway in the southern United States. For most of its life it was a New York—New Orleans train, operating over the same route as the more famous '' Crescent Li ...
'' and ''
Southerner'' toward the western part of the Carolinas). When Southern Railway discontinued passenger services in 1979, the operation of their passenger routes and stations, including Kemper Street station, was relinquished to
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
.
Restoration
After years of continued use and neglect, the signs of disrepair at the station were becoming increasingly apparent. The Lynchburg City Council determined that renovations would be necessary to save the city-owned facility and ensure its future use. They spearheaded a redevelopment project budgeted at over $3 million, funding for which was provided by the city, commonwealth, and federal government sources including Amtrak. Extensive work began in 2000 to update the facility, but with an emphasis on maintaining period lighting and finishes, and preserving the station's historic character.
In April 2002, the city of Lynchburg celebrated the opening of the newly restored Kemper Street station. The restoration allowed the facility to take on the new role of
intermodal station, housing both rail and bus services. Amtrak operations were moved to the ground-floor
platform
Platform may refer to:
Technology
* Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run
* Platform game, a genre of video games
* Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models
* Weapons platform, a system or ...
level, left vacant since the station no longer serviced freight trains. This allowed for
Greyhound Lines to establish a bus terminal in the vacated street-level passenger facility, thus centralizing Lynchburg's primary services for intercity passenger travel under one roof.
The restored station features brick construction with arched windows and accents of painted metal. An arched sign over Kemper Street near Park Avenue reads "Kemper Street Station". Of note are the numerous lights which illuminate the station's exterior. These are of particular importance to the station since most of the trains serving Lynchburg are scheduled either late in the evening or in the early morning, often before sunrise.
Services
Rail
The year 2012 marked the 100 year anniversary of passenger train service at Lynchburg-Kemper Street station. Today, as the only passenger train station still operating in Lynchburg, it is serviced by four Amtrak trains daily. The rail line upon which the station is situated belongs to Southern Railway's corporate descendant,
Norfolk Southern Railway, which owns both the track and the adjacent platforms.
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 ...
'' is a long-distance, overnight service operating daily between
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and
New Orleans, LA. The ''Crescent'' stops at Lynchburg-Kemper Street station on its northbound and southbound runs. The northbound train arrives just before the morning rush, and the southbound train arrives in the middle of the night. This train had previously serviced Lynchburg during the old Southern Railway days, and was known as the ''Southern Crescent'' for most of the 1970s. For the better part of three decades, the ''Crescent'' was the only passenger train serving Lynchburg.
October, 2009 saw the introduction of ''
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 busi ...
'' daily round-trip service between Lynchburg and
Boston, MA
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...
's
South Station
South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan In ...
. The route to Lynchburg was extended from its previous southern
terminus
Terminus may refer to:
* Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination
* Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination
Geography
*Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...
in Washington, DC. This extension is operated through a partnership between Amtrak and 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 expandin ...
, under the guise of Amtrak Virginia. It provided daylight service to Lynchburg for the first time in three decades.
In June, 2016, Amtrak announced plans to add an additional daily round-trip service as part of the ''Northeast Regional''. The ''Northeast Regional'' was extended to
Roanoke on October 31, 2017 and on July 11, 2022 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'' bringing a total of six trains per day to Lynchburg.
Amtrak's
station code
A station code is a brief, standardised abbreviation, or alphanumeric code
Alphanumericals or alphanumeric characters are a combination of alphabetical and numerical characters. More specifically, they are the collection of Latin letters an ...
for Lynchburg is LYH. The station features restrooms, an enclosed waiting area, and a ticket office staffed by Amtrak personnel. Services from this location include
checked baggage
Checked baggage is luggage delivered to an airline or train for transportation in the hold of an aircraft or baggage car of a passenger train. Checked baggage is inaccessible to the passenger during the flight or ride, as opposed to carry-on bag ...
assistance and a Quik-Trak ticketing kiosk.
Bus
Beginning in 2002,
Greyhound Lines supplied intercity
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
service from a street level bus terminal along Kemper Street on the side of the station facing away from the railway platform, which is two stories below at the bottom of the hillside. The company also offered their "Greyhound PackageXpress" shipping service from the Kemper Street terminal. However, as of June, 2022, Greyhound buses simply stop at Greater Lynchburg Transit Company bus transfer center adjacent to the station and Greyhound PackageXpress is no longer offered in Lynchburg.
Connections for local buses operated by the
Greater Lynchburg Transit Company (GLTC) are available at the bus transfer center adjacent to the station, completed in 2014.
"Park Ave/Kemper St".''Google Maps''.
Retrieved February 4, 2010.
References
External links
Lynchburg, Virginia (Greyhound Lines)
{{Amtrak Virginia stations
Buildings and structures in Lynchburg, Virginia
Amtrak stations in Virginia
Bus stations in Virginia
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1912
Stations along Southern Railway lines in the United States
Transportation in Lynchburg, Virginia
1912 establishments in Virginia