Union Station is the former central

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

. Since the end of passenger rail service to the city in 1979, it has been repurposed as commercial office space.

History

The station opened in 1914. Through the 1930s, it served as the city's primary arrival and departure point. Railroads including the Frisco, Santa Fe, and Rock Island offered passenger service to and from cities including

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

and

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. The station closed in 1979 when

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 ...

discontinued its '' Lone Star'' (Chicago–Houston) line, ending passenger rail access to the city. The nearest inter-city station is in Newton, 25 miles north, which is served by the ''

Southwest Chief The ''Southwest Chief'' (formerly the ''Southwest Limited'' and ''Super Chief'') is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and Southwest via Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Flagsta ...

'' (Chicago–Los Angeles). The station terminal and nearby buildings have since been redeveloped as a commercial office and retail campus. Cox Communications used the station as its local headquarters until 2007. In 2013, local commercial real estate company Occidental Management purchased Union Station and began renovations. As of 2017, renovations continue while Occidental has resumed leasing commercial space in the neighboring buildings. The building's restoration was estimated at $54 million. Phase Two included the addition of 150,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space on the property's south side.

Future

In recent years, several proposals have been made to bring back Amtrak service back to Wichita. This has predominantly surrounded the plan to extend the

Heartland Flyer The ''Heartland Flyer'' is a daily passenger train that follows a route between Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Fort Worth, Texas. It is operated by Amtrak and jointly funded by the states of Oklahoma and Texas. The train's daily round-trip begins ...

, which currently runs between

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

and

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

, north to Newton, Kansas. In June 2021, Amtrak released a plan that would add two more round trips between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth while extending the original round trip to Newton. A timeline for the service has not been determined.

References

{{commonscat, position=left, Wichita Union Station Buildings and structures in Wichita, Kansas Railway stations in the United States opened in 1914 Wichita Wichita Wichita

Former Amtrak stations in Kansas Railway stations closed in 1979 1914 establishments in Kansas