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A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a
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 Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently between them. The term 'union station' is used in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
and 'joint station' is used in Europe. In the U.S., union stations are typically used by all the passenger trains serving a city, although exceptions exist. For example, in Chicago, the
Illinois Central The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also c ...
and Chicago & North Western depots coexisted with Union Station, and although most
Metra Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines ...
commuter trains (and all
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. ...
services) continue to use Union Station today, some lines depart from other terminals, such as Ogilvie Transportation Center or
Millennium Station Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Terminal; sometimes called Randolph Street station or Randolph/South Water Street station) is a major commuter rail terminal in the Loop (downtown), Chicago. It is the northern terminus of the Metr ...
. The busiest station to be named "Union Station" is Toronto Union Station, which serves over 72 million passengers annually. The first union station building was
Columbus Union Station Columbus Union Station was an intercity train station in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, near The Short North neighborhood. The station and its predecessors served railroad passengers in Columbus from 1851 until April 28, 1977. The first station buildin ...
in 1851, though Indianapolis Union Station, planned in 1848 and built in 1853, had more elements of a cooperative union station.


Europe

In most countries in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, throughout much of the 20th century, railways have been owned and operated by
state enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...
s. Where only one railway company exists, there is no need for a "joint station". However, before nationalisation many companies existed and sometimes they had "joint stations". In some cases this persists today. "Joint stations" are often found near borders where two state-owned railway companies meet.


Austria, Germany, and Switzerland

In
German-speaking countries The following is a list of the countries and territories where German is an official language (also known as the Germanosphere). It includes countries that have German as (one of) their nationwide official language(s), as well as dependent terr ...
, the similar term ''Gemeinschaftsbahnhof'' is used in administrative language only; it applies for stations with joint facilities as well as for stations with side-by-side facilities; some border stations also fall under that term. The general public often call them " Hauptbahnhof" (main station), but this is a misnomer, as stations administratively classified as "Hauptbahnhof" need not be served by multiple operators. Many major stations in Germany are served by various trains operated by incumbent
Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the ...
and other railways that operate local passenger trains, sometimes also by railway companies of neighbor states that operate trans-border connections; a special term like union station is usually not used. The stations are generally owned and operated by DB Station&Service. As another example,
Leipzig Hauptbahnhof Leipzig Hauptbahnhof (Leipzig main station, ) is the central railway terminus in Leipzig, Germany, in the district Mitte. At , it is Europe's largest railway station measured by floor area. It has 19 overground platforms housed in six iron train ...
, the main station of
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
, originally consisted of side-by-side parts that were used by the Prussian and Saxonian Railways until the federal
Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...
was founded in 1920, but were essentially two stations operated separately by the two neighbors.


Bohemia and Moravia

In
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
(part of the territory of the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
today) some stations were called the "společné nádraží" (the common station) before the state took over the private railway companies. "Praha-Smíchov společné nádraží" is to this day the functional name of the second station built in 1872 by the same investor near the first station
Smíchov Smíchov () is (since 1909) a district of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and is part of Prague 5. It is on the west bank of the Vltava river. History Between 1945 and 1989, the district contained a monument dedicated to Soviet ta ...
of the Pražská západní dráha ( Prague Western Railroad). The new station served as the main
marshalling yard A classification yard (American and Canadian English (Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard ( British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English (Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ...
of
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
. Three routes flowed into it: Pražská spojovací dráha (the Prague Connecting Railroad, 1872), the extension of Buštěhradská dráha from
Hostivice Hostivice () is a town in Prague-West District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,800 inhabitants. Administrative parts The village of Břve is an administrative part of Hostivice. Geography Hostivice is locat ...
(1872) and Pražsko-duchcovská dráha (the Railroad
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
Duchcov, 1873). Nowadays the "společné nádraží" forms an unremarkable separate platform of the station Praha-Smíchov, known in timetables as "Praha-Smíchov severní nástupiště" (the northern platform). "Společné nádraží" was built 1845–1848 at
Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
. "Společné nádraží" was at Železná Ruda as well, station at border
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
. It was in operation 1878–1938. Nowadays the largest stations are called "hlavní nádraží" (main station).


United Kingdom

In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
, before the railways were nationalised in 1948, stations shared by multiple operators were referred to as "joint stations". This term has occasionally been revived since the railways were returned to the private sector in the 1990s, but is not as familiar or as well understood as "union station" is in the United States.


Japan

In Japan, such a railway station is referred to as a . At railway junctions where two or more railway lines operated by different companies meet, the companies may reach an agreement to entrust one of the companies to manage the entire station, resulting in the establishment of a joint-use station. In contrast, an in Japan is where different sections of a station are managed by different companies at the same time. Many joint-use stations in Japan are located at or near the boundary of two railway lines operated by different companies that operate
through service A through service is a concept of passenger transport that involves a vehicle travelling between lines, networks or operators on a regularly specified schedule, on which the passenger can remain on board without alighting. It may be in form of eith ...
s to each other, such as
Meinohama Station is a railway station in Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is jointly operated by JR Kyushu and the Fukuoka City Transportation Bureau. The station symbol of the subway station is a yacht in yellow, symbolising nearby Odo yacht ...
in
Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...
, where
JR Kyushu The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan and the JR Kyushu Jet Ferry Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Str ...
's
Chikuhi Line The is a railway line in Kyushu, Japan, connecting Meinohama Station in Fukuoka, Fukuoka (and via a subway through service, Fukuoka itself) to Karatsu Station in Karatsu, Saga, and from Yamamoto Station in Karatsu to Imari Station in Imari, ...
meets the Fukuoka City Subway's Kūkō Line. Joint-use stations may also be built at places where railway lines operated by different companies share the same tracks, as is the case from Meguro Station to Shirokane-Takanawa Station in
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...
, which is shared between the Tokyo Metro Namboku Line and the Toei Mita Line. Depending on the extent of agreements reached by the different operators, joint-use stations may feature a unified
paid area In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A sys ...
, where ticket gates are shared between all operators serving the station, or separate paid areas, where different operators have individual paid areas, thus requiring commuters to exit a paid area and then enter another to transfer between different operators.


North America

In
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
, a union station is usually owned by a separate
corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...
whose shares are owned by the different railways which use it, so that the costs and benefits of its operations are shared proportionately among them. This contrasts with the system of ''
trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may ...
'' or ''running rights'', where one railway company owns a line or facility, but allows another company to share it under a
contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...
ual agreement. However, the company that owns the union station and associated trackage does assign trackage rights to the railroads that use it. Many of the jointly owned stations were built by terminal railroads. Examples include the Ogden Union Railway & Depot Company, jointly owned by Southern Pacific and
Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...
to manage the
Ogden Union Station Union Station, also known as Ogden Union Station, is a train station in Ogden, Utah, at the west end of Historic 25th Street, just south of the Ogden Intermodal Transit Center. Formerly the junction of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Rai ...
in Ogden, Utah, and the Denver Terminal Railway Company, representing the
Denver & Rio Grande Western The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south from ...
, Chicago Burlington & Quincy, Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe,
Colorado & Southern The Colorado and Southern Railway was an American Class I railroad in the western United States that operated independently from 1898 to 1908, then as part of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad until it was absorbed into the Burling ...
and Chicago Rock Island & Pacific and the Union Pacific railways, which managed the station in Denver, Colorado.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Union Station