New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

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 ...

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 ...

NORTA The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA or NORTA) is a public transportation agency based in New Orleans. The agency was established by the Louisiana State Legislature in 1979, and has operated bus and historic streetcar service throughou ...

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 ...

City of New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

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 the ''

Sunset Limited The ''Sunset Limited'' is an Amtrak passenger train that for most of its history has operated between New Orleans and Los Angeles, over the nation's second transcontinental route. However, up until Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it operated betwe ...

.'' Between 1993 and the strike of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

in 2005, the Sunset Limited continued east to Florida. Since the hurricane, New Orleans has been the eastern terminus of the route, although in 2016 Amtrak did propose bringing back service east of New Orleans. Amtrak also operates a coach and engine yard near the

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devic ...

.

History

Union Passenger Terminal was built just west of the older

New Orleans Union Station New Orleans Union Station was a railroad station in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was designed by Louis H. Sullivan for the Illinois Central Railroad and opened on June 1, 1892. It was located on South Rampart Street, in front of the current New Or ...

to consolidate the city's passenger rail operations. Previously, New Orleans had been served by five stations–Union Station, the Southern Railway Terminal,

T&P Station Texas and Pacific Station, commonly known as T&P Station, is a terminal Trinity Railway Express and TEXRail commuter railroad station is located at 1600 Throckmorton Street in Fort Worth, Texas, on the south side of downtown. It is the current we ...

, Louisiana & Arkansas Station, and Louisville & Nashville Station. Parts of the station property also are over what once was the

turning basin A turning basin, winding basin or swinging basin is a wider body of water, either located at the end of a ship canal or in a port to allow cargo ships to turn and reverse their direction of travel, or to enable long narrow barges in a canal to tur ...

for the

New Basin Canal The New Basin Canal, also known as the New Canal and the New Orleans Canal, was a shipping canal in New Orleans, Louisiana, operating from 1830s into the 1940s. History The New Basin Canal was constructed by the New Orleans Canal and Banking Comp ...

. The main lead track to the terminal follows the path of the old canal (which was filled in) and the

Pontchartrain Expressway The Pontchartrain Expressway is a parallel six-lane section of Interstate 10 (I-10) and U.S. Route 90 Business (US 90 Bus.) in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, with a brief stand-alone section in between junctions with these highway ...

/

I-10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...

. NOUPT was designed in 1949 by the New Orleans architectural firms of Wogan and Bernard, Jules K. de la Vergne, and August Perez and Associates. When it opened in 1954, it was considered an ultramodern facility, completed just at the time that air travel was taking off at the expense of rail travel. New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal Feb 2018 Interior

New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal Feb 2018 Interior

The stub-end terminal consists of covered

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 ...

s and a modern waiting hall. A long mural of Louisiana and New Orleans history, painted by Conrad A. Albrizio with the assistance of James Fisher, was restored after 2005's

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

. The freight and express houses are now the domain of the

Smoothie King Center Smoothie King Center (locally referred to as SKC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is located in the city's Central Business District, adjacent to Caesars Superdome. The arena opened in 1999 as New Orleans Arena and ...

and Main Post Office. In the 1970s, parts of two platforms were shortened to allow for

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 ...

to move its service there, creating an intermodal facility. Following

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

, Amtrak provided the first commercial transportation out of New Orleans. During the recovery efforts, the bus station at NOUPT was used for a temporary jail nicknamed

Camp Greyhound ''Camp Greyhound'' is the nickname of a temporary makeshift jail at the Greyhound Bus station next to the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal that was operational in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina of August 29, 2005. With local jails flooded, ...

. In January 2013, the station became the terminus for the new mile-long Loyola Avenue-Union Passenger Terminal Streetcar Line connecting Canal Street with the Central Business District and destinations such as the Superdome. The $52 million project was largely funded through a $45 million Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant awarded to the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

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 ...

started operations at the Union Passenger Terminal in 2015. Gulf Coast regional officials have been advocating for restoration of daily train service between New Orleans and Florida since 2016. In February 2021, it was announced that passenger rail service would return to the Gulf Coast with an Amtrak route from New Orleans to

Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

; stops include Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula. Service is expected to begin in 2022.

References

External links

New Orleans Amtrak and Streetcar Station (USA Rail Guide -- Train Web)New Orleans Regional Transit AuthoritySouthern High-Speed Rail CommissionThe Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University LibrariesPhotographs of Albrizio mural on FlickrArticle on restoration of Albrizio mural
{{Amtrak Louisiana stations Amtrak stations in Louisiana Transportation buildings and structures in New Orleans Union stations in the United States Railway stations in the United States opened in 1954 Economy of New Orleans Transit centers in the United States 1954 establishments in Louisiana Former Illinois Central Railroad stations Former Kansas City Southern Railway stations Former Southern Pacific Railroad stations Former Missouri Pacific Railroad stations Former Louisville and Nashville Railroad stations Former Texas and Pacific Railway stations Former Southern Railway (U.S.) stations