Amtrak to invest $12 million for Chicago Union Station rehab
Work on the station will include planning and design for a larger passenger concourse, making safety improvements, enhancing temperature controls and conducting necessary repairs to the Station’s exterior façade.
CHICAGO — Amtrak announced it will invest $12 million to continue renovations of Chicago’s 90-year-old Union Station, including a redesign of the often-crowded passenger concourses, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The Chicago Department of Transportation, Amtrak, which owns Union Station Co., Metra and other organizations have been working since 2010 on a master plan for a multibillion-dollar makeover of the station and to improve rail travel and commuting both in and outside the building, according to the report.
Ad Loading...
Union Station is the third busiest rail terminal in the U.S. with roughly 120,000 passengers served each day. With increased ridership of both Amtrak and Metra, the station often reaches its maximum capacity, resulting in overcrowded waiting areas and platforms.
Work on the station will include planning and design for a larger passenger c
Photo: Matt Clare via Flickr
oncourse, making safety improvements, enhancing temperature controls and conducting necessary repairs to the Station’s exterior façade.
Company officials said that this latest contract extension with Metrolinx consolidates the company’s position as the leading private provider of Operations and maintenance services in North America.
The new cars, model R262, will be funded by the MTA’s 2025-29 Capital Plan, which received a historic $68 billion in funding from Governor Hochul and the State Legislature in the FY26 Enacted State Budget.
Amtrak will open grant applications March 23 for community projects near the Frederick Douglass Tunnel alignment in Baltimore as part of a $50 million investment tied to the B&P Tunnel Replacement Program.
The Denmark Station $2.3 million construction investment project includes a new 280-foot concrete boarding platform, built eight inches above the top of rail, for improved accessibility for passengers with disabilities and families with small children and much more.
Caltrain and its partners have implemented safety improvements at specific locations in response to known risk conditions, operational needs, and available funding since the agency’s founding.
On a recent episode of METROspectives, METRO Magazine’s Executive Editor Alex Roman sat down with Ana-Maria Tomlinson, Director of Strategic & Cross-Sector Programs at the CSA Group, to explore a bold initiative aimed at addressing those challenges: the development of a National Code for Transit and Passenger Rail Systems in Canada.
Competitive FTA grants will support accessibility upgrades, family-friendly improvements, and cost-efficient capital projects at some of the nation’s oldest and busiest transit hubs.
The 3.92-mile addition will soon take riders west beyond its current Wilshire and Western station in Koreatown, continuing under Wilshire Boulevard through neighborhoods and communities including Hancock Park, Windsor Square, the Fairfax District, and Carthay Circle into Beverly Hills.
