Richmond Main Street Station

For the other Amtrak station in Richmond, see Richmond Staples Mill Road station.
Main Street Station

Richmond Main Street Station in 2008
Location 1500 East Main Street
Richmond, Virginia
Coordinates 37°32′05″N 77°25′45″W / 37.53472°N 77.42917°W / 37.53472; -77.42917Coordinates: 37°32′05″N 77°25′45″W / 37.53472°N 77.42917°W / 37.53472; -77.42917
Owned by City of Richmond
Platforms 1 side platform
Tracks 2
Connections
Megabus: M21, M22, M23, M24, M27
RamRide: Sanger Hill Express
GRTC: 43, 44, 45, 52, 53, 62, 63, 73
Construction
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Station code RVM
History
Opened 1901
Rebuilt 2003
Traffic
Passengers (FY2014) 40,834 annually[1] Increase 6.03%
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station
toward Newport News
Northeast Regional
  Future service  
Preceding station   GRTC BRT   Following station
toward Willow Lawn
Broad & Main Street Line
Main Street Station and Trainshed

Richmond Main Street Station in 1971
Location Richmond, Virginia, USA
Architect Wilson, Harris, & Richards
Architectural style Beaux Arts, Other
NRHP Reference # 70000867
VLR # 127-0172
Significant dates
Added to NRHP October 15, 1970[2]
Designated NHL December 8, 1976[3]
Designated VLR July 7, 1970[4]
Location
Main Street Station
Location within Virginia

Richmond Main Street Station is a historic railroad station and office building in Richmond, Virginia. Originally built in 1901, it is currently served by Amtrak, and is planned in the future to become the northern terminus of the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor as well as an intermodal station with Richmond's city transit bus services, currently performed by Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC). With uppermost sections located adjacent to the James River Bridge of Interstate 95, it is locally referred to by some passersby as The Clock Tower. The Main Street Station and Trainshed is a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

Starting in 2018, the station will be a stop along the GRTC Pulse bus rapid transit line.

History

Richmond's Main Street Station in the downtown area was built in 1901 by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O). Seaboard had newly introduced service to Richmond, and C&O had consolidated the former Virginia Central Railroad and the Richmond and Allegheny Railroad, which had previously maintained separate stations.

The ornate Main Street Station was designed by the Philadelphia firm of Wilson, Harris, and Richards in the Second Renaissance Revival style.[5] In the 1950s, Seaboard shifted its Richmond passenger service to Broad Street Station (now the Science Museum of Virginia), but C&O maintained offices in the upper floors, and its passenger service continued at Main Street Station until Amtrak took over in 1971. In 1970, Main Street Station and its trainshed, one of the last surviving trainsheds of its type in the nation, were added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1976 it was designated a National Historic Landmark.[3][5]

In 1972, Hurricane Agnes caused the James River to flood the station. The damage was so severe that Amtrak moved its Richmond stops to a much smaller suburban station in Henrico County in 1975. To make matters worse, the station was damaged by fires in 1976 and 1983.[6] [7] Rail service did not return to Main Street Station until 2003, when it was renovated and returned to service on December 18.[8]

Future services

Local officials hope to increase the number of trains by extending some service which currently terminates at the suburban Henrico County station, Richmond Staples Mill Road. More importantly, Main Street Station is located on the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor (SEHSR), a passenger rail transportation project planned to connect with the existing high speed rail corridor from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, D.C., known as the Northeast Corridor (served by Amtrak's Acela Express and Northeast Regional services and many commuter railroads) and extend similar high speed passenger rail services south through Richmond and Petersburg in Virginia through Raleigh and Charlotte in North Carolina. Since first established in 1992, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has since extended the corridor to Atlanta and Macon, Georgia; Columbia, South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; and Birmingham, Alabama.

Most funding for the SEHSR to date has been by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the states of North Carolina and Virginia. Both states already fund some non-high speed rail service operated by Amtrak on their behalf and own locomotives and passenger cars. The first large section of the SEHSR, from Washington, D.C. through Virginia and North Carolina south to Charlotte, is planned to be in service by 2020 depending on funding availability.[9]

In 2018, the station will be a stop on the GRTC Bus Rapid Transit's Broad and Main Street Line.

There are also plans for Main Street Station to become an intermodal station with Richmond's city bus services operated by GRTC, a public service company owned jointly by the City of Richmond and Chesterfield County.[10]

Main Street Station in fiction

The Main Street Station appears in an exterior shot in the 1994 film Trading Mom. It also served as a backdrop for a 2004 episode of the TV series Alias, posing as the British Embassy in Vienna.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2014, Commonwealth of Virginia" (PDF). Amtrak Government Affairs. November 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  2. ↑ National Park Service (2008-04-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  3. 1 2 "Main Street Station and Trainshed". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  4. ↑ "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
  5. 1 2 Dennis M. Zembala and Eric DeLony (August 2, 1976). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Seaboard Airline/Chesapeake & Ohio Railroads: Main Street Station & Trainshed / New Union Station" (pdf). National Park Service. and Accompanying four photos, exterior and interior, from 1971 (32 KB)
  6. ↑ The History of Main Street Station (Richmond Metropolitan Authority)
  7. ↑ Heidi Schwartz (August 2005). "Richmond's Rail Revival". Today's Facility Manager. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  8. ↑ "RICHMOND Main Street Station VIRGINIA (RVM)". TrainWeb. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  9. ↑ http://www.sehsr.org/history.html
  10. ↑ http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/business/transportation/article/COVR01_20090529-224209/270831/

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