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The Boston South Station location is an Amtrak station, subway ( Red Line), commuter rail line ( going south( Providence) and west (Worcester), AND a bus terminal, for all points ( NYC, Albany, Burlington VT/Montreal, Portland/Bangor ME)...and an airport bus.
Union Station will never be close to Penn Station. Get real.
There are currently 750,000 daily train passengers to Penn Station.
Union Station has something like 50,000 daily passengers.
And Penn Station has vast, vast expansion plans that dwarf anything in North America. The entire block of 8th to 9th Avenue between 29th & 30th streets will be demolished for the expanded Penn Station. And the first stage of the expansion, the Moynihan Station (now underway) is a billion-dollar project (and that's just the reuse of the old post office).
Then separately, there are plans for huge concourses west into Hudson Yards, and a new concourse is being planned heading north to Times Square.
Penn Station has four major rail agencies all planning expansions (Amtrak, Metro North, LIRR and NJ Transit). The Union Station agencies (MARC, VRE and Amtrak) do not have comparable traffic, and won't ever, short of a disaster-movie style event wiping NYC and environs off the map.
You are talking about passenger's which I am not. I know Union Station will never have as many people as Penn Station. I'm talking about it being a destination. Have you ever been to Union Station before? It's nothing like Penn Station. You can actually go there for more than just catching a train. That is what I mean.
The Boston South Station location is an Amtrak station, subway ( Red Line), commuter rail line ( going south( Providence) and west (Worcester), AND a bus terminal, for all points ( NYC, Albany, Burlington VT/Montreal, Portland/Bangor ME)...and an airport bus.
All your mass transit needs in one location..
Good things to point out. It truly is a transit hub and the station itself, while not as big as Penn or Grand Central, is still nice and open and it looks nice.
Of all of them, I enjoy Grand Central the most. The architecture (inside and out), shopping (while not the most), and dining(while not the most either) are excellent. I've been to each of these stations and Grand Central Terminal is the most pleasant experience. Union in D.C. would be my next choice.
Color me unimpressed with the "volume" of people at ANY U.S. railroad station. Having been through Shinjuku Station in Tokyo at rush hour, Penn Station may as well be a farm in rural Nebraska in terms of the amount of people. Penn serves 300,000 passengers daily. Shinjuku serves more than 3.5 million daily. You want to see a lot of people? Go there.
*edit*
I feel obligated to comment on South Station as a Bostonian.
It's pretty in the primary waiting area and on the exterior (at least, the Dewey Square facade). It feels quite a bit smaller than the others (because it is), but it does seem to be buzzing with activity at most hours regardless of the size.
My biggest beefs with S. Station? The connectivity to the Bus Terminal is weak from the train station. It's essentially a separate unit. The food options suck. Shopping? What shopping? There is terrible connectivity to North Station, especially considering it's only about a mile away. I don't think the North-South rail link is feasible, but it's ridiculous that one would have to get on the red line and switch to either the green or orange just to cover such a short distance. Why there isn't a light rail connection along the Rose Kennedy Greenway is beyond me (esp. seeing as it would pass right by the Aquarium, Rowe's Wharf, Faneuil Hall, and the North End). I like South Station, but boy does it have some flaws.
This is interesting. How do you feel about this? Wouldn't it be better to have a multi-modal station where the commuter rail lines connect with the high speed rail line? I know this probably has more to do with the route and the rail grid but wouldn't it be better for Philly to have a multimodal mega station?
This is interesting. How do you feel about this? Wouldn't it be better to have a multi-modal station where the commuter rail lines connect with the high speed rail line? I know this probably has more to do with the route and the rail grid but wouldn't it be better for Philly to have a multimodal mega station?
Market East is fully connected to all regional rail lines (philly has three stations in Center City that all RR lines go to, regional rail is bascially another subway between 30th and Market East today with another underground Suburban station in the heart of the West Market CBD) plus Septa Subways, Subway Surface Trollys underground here already, and PATCO subway already are there with current stations connecting to ME regional rail. As a station it is already fukly connected and fully multimodal (as much as 30th sans the AC NJT line and the Amtrak metro/nec acela and harrisburg services)
Seems like a lot of money for saving a little time. 30th would still serve the slower trains on Amtrak and this is both capactiy and speed
BTW I heard this morning that today 75% of air/rail travel is on Amtrak for routes between DC and Boston. This is up from 34% prior to the Acela
But this option is solely the new HSR and also adds capacity which the NEC (between Philly and NYC) runs out by 2025 I believe
The HSR would be attached likely perpendicular alignment and deeper with tunnel boring
Who knows is a lot of money but is getting more and more attention since originally discussed with Amtrak
This helps the whole of the NE corrider though, plus 37 minutes from Market Street to Broadway
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