The William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center (RTC) is an

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 ...

intermodal transit station serving the Syracuse area. It is owned and operated by Intermodal Transportation Center, Inc, a subsidiary of

Centro Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil *Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Duq ...

, and is also served by

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 ...

Megabus Megabus may refer to: *Megabus (Europe), a low-cost coach service with services in Europe owned by ComfortDelGro. *Megabus (North America) Megabus, branded as megabus.com, is an intercity bus service of Coach USA/ Coach Canada operating in the ...

, and

Trailways The Trailways Transportation System is an American network of approximately 70 independent bus companies that have entered into a brand licensing agreement. The company is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia. History The predecessor to Trailwa ...

. Local and regional bus transportation is provided by

. Various

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

firms provide service to the Center, as well. The Regional Transportation Center is located at 1 Walsh Circle, near the Central New York Regional Market,

NBT Bank Stadium NBT Bank Stadium is a publicly owned, 10,815-seat, minor league baseball stadium in Syracuse, New York. It is the home stadium for the Syracuse Mets Triple-A baseball team of the International League. The stadium, owned and at times operated b ...

and

Destiny USA Destiny USA (stylized as destiny usa and also known by its former name Carousel Center) is a six-story, automobile-oriented super-regional shopping, dining, and entertainment complex on the shore of Onondaga Lake in the city of Syracuse, New York ...

. The station is named for

William F. Walsh William Francis Walsh (July 11, 1912 – January 8, 2011) was a Republican-Conservative member of the United States House of Representatives from New York State.

, a former mayor of Syracuse and representative in the U.S. Congress. Syracuse is served by the daily round trip of the ''

Lake Shore Limited The ''Lake Shore Limited'' is an overnight Amtrak intercity rail, intercity passenger train that runs between Chicago and either New York City or Boston via two Section (rail transport), sections east of Albany, New York, Albany. The train bega ...

'', two daily ''

Empire Service The ''Empire Service'' is an Inter-city rail service operated by Amtrak within the state of New York in the United States. The brand name originated with the New York Central Railroad in 1967. Trains on the line provide frequent daily service ...

'' round trips, and the daily ''

Maple Leaf The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is the most widely recognized national symbol of Canada. History of use in Canada By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by the French Canadians along the ...

'' round trip.

History

When the financially desperate

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

sold off its elevated right-of-way through downtown Syracuse to the State of New York in 1962, all rail service was re-routed onto a former freight bypass to the north of the city center. The elevated line and

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing suc ...

had been in service for less than 30 years, having replaced tracks that ran at-grade through the center of Washington Street. With the former train route converted into

Interstate 690 Interstate 690 (I-690) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway that extends for through the vicinity of Syracuse, New York, in the United States. It is a spur of I-90 (here part of the New York State Thruway) that travels southeast from Thruwa ...

, rail passengers were forced to use a "temporary" structure near the freight yards in

East Syracuse East Syracuse is an incorporated village and a suburb of the City of Syracuse in eastern Onondaga County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the village had a population of 3,084. It is located immediately east of Syracuse, i ...

, opened on August 29, 1962. The East Syracuse station remained in use well into the Amtrak era, long after the end of its useful life. Bus service remained at the former train station until a 1996 fire. Both options proved decidedly unpopular, with the train station in particular becoming synonymous with Amtrak's many woes. Opened in 1998, the Regional Transportation Center replaced both venues, re-integrating bus and rail service for the first time since the early 1960s. There were provisions built for

OnTrack KiwiRail Holdings Limited is a New Zealand state-owned enterprise responsible for rail operations in New Zealand, and operates inter-island ferries. Trading as KiwiRail and headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, KiwiRail is the largest rail ...

, Syracuse's

commuter train Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are consi ...

line built on the former Lackawanna right-of-way through Armory Square, to call at the station. However, a bridge that was intended to connect the two lines was never built after

CSX 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. ...

claimed construction could destabilize its freight rail bridge, and the OnTrack program was axed due to low ridership.

Station layout

The station is built at ground level, with bus loading/unloading areas in front of the main entrance, and stairs and an elevator leading up to the tracks, which are on an embankment. A central concourse with Subway and a waiting room links the two areas. Trains call at a single high-level

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

serving one (nominally eastbound) track; provisions were made for cross-platform transfers with

on the other side, but the program was canceled before service ever reached the station.

Bus service

Centro bus routes serve the Regional Transportation Center from

Fulton Fulton may refer to: People * Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship * Fulton (surname) Given name * Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer * Fult ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, Oswego,

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

and Syracuse. The station is served by routes 16, 40, 46, 50, and 246. It is also served by intercity bus service: *

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 resurge ...

: **Syracuse – New York-Port Authority via Cortland,

Binghamton Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

, and

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

**Syracuse –

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

via

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

, Buffalo, and

Erie Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

**Syracuse –

Boston 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- mo ...

via Utica,

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

, Albany,

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

: **Syracuse – New York-33rd Street **Syracuse – Rochester *

Trailways of New York Trailways of New York is one of the largest privately held transportation companies based in New York State. It employs over 450 people and carries passengers more than 80 million miles annually. TrailwaysNY, as it is known, operates over 150 tr ...

**Syracuse – New York-Port Authority via Cortland, Binghamton, and Scranton **Syracuse – Buffalo via Rochester

References

External links

*
Syracuse Amtrak Station (USA RailGuide – TrainWeb)
{{Syracuse, New York, state=collapsed Syracuse Buildings and structures in Syracuse, New York Syracuse Transportation in Syracuse, New York Transit centers in the United States Railway stations in the United States opened in 1998