Charlottesville Union Station

Charlottesville
Charlottesville station in July 2009
Location	810 West Main Street Charlottesville, Virginia
Coordinates	38°01′53″N 78°29′31″W / 38.03139°N 78.49194°W / 38.03139; -78.49194Coordinates: 38°01′53″N 78°29′31″W / 38.03139°N 78.49194°W / 38.03139; -78.49194
Owned by	Union Station Partners LLC
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	4
Construction
Parking	10 short-term and 165 long-term parking spaces available
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	CVS
History
Opened	1885
Rebuilt	1915, Mid-1990s
Traffic
Passengers (FY2015)	134,485 annually  1.57% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station Staunton toward Chicago Cardinal Culpeper toward New York City Lynchburg toward New Orleans Crescent Lynchburg Terminus Northeast Regional Culpeper toward Boston South Station or Springfield

The Charlottesville Union Station, located in Charlottesville, Virginia, is served by Amtrak's Cardinal, Crescent, and daily Northeast Regional passenger trains. It is Amtrak's third busiest station in Virginia, aside from its all-auto Auto Train station in Lorton. The east-west line is owned by CSX Transportation and the north-south line by Norfolk Southern Railway. The station is within walking distance of the University of Virginia, which is the major employer in the area.

The original Union Station was built in 1885 to jointly serve the Charlottesville and Rapidan Railroad, the Virginia Midland Railway, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Major renovations in 1915 included the construction of a baggage handling facility.

When Amtrak took over most intercity passenger rail service in 1971, the Southern Railway opted to continue running the Southern Crescent itself. The Southern Crescent continued to use Union Station, while the James Whitcomb Riley (later the Cardinal) used Main Street Station to the east. Afflicted with rising costs, the Southern Railway relented and turned the Southern Crescent over to Amtrak on February 1, 1979. Amtrak renamed it as the Crescent and made Union Station the Charlottesville stop for the Cardinal as well.

Since 1999, the former baggage handling facility is home to the Amtrak ticket office and waiting area. The main facility has been privately developed into the commercial restaurant, Wild Wing Cafe. Plans coincident with the redevelopment to create a transportation hub at Union Station were not realized. Instead in 2007 Charlottesville completed the Downtown Transit Center one mile across town.