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Wilmington (Amtrak station)

Wilmington
Wilmington Station from parking garage, July 2014.JPG
The Wilmington station in July 2014
Location 100 South French Street
Wilmington, Delaware
United States
Coordinates 39°44′12″N 75°33′04″W / 39.736759°N 75.551093°W / 39.736759; -75.551093Coordinates: 39°44′12″N 75°33′04″W / 39.736759°N 75.551093°W / 39.736759; -75.551093
Owned by Amtrak
Line(s) Northeast Corridor
Platforms 2 side platforms, 1 island platform
Tracks 3
Connections Intercity Bus Thruway Motorcoach
Local Transit DART First State
Construction
Parking Garages and side street parking
Bicycle facilities In parking garage on French Street
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Station code WIL (Amtrak Only)
Fare zone 4 (SEPTA)
History
Opened 1908
Rebuilt 2011
Electrified 1928
Previous names French Street
Wilmington Pennsylvania Station
Traffic
Passengers (2016) 691,694 annually Decrease 1.2% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station   BSicon LOGO Amtrak2.svg Amtrak   Following station
Acela Express
Vermonter
toward St. Albans
toward Chicago
Cardinal
toward Charlotte
Carolinian
toward New Orleans
Crescent
toward Savannah
Palmetto
Northeast Regional
toward Miami
Silver Meteor
Silver Star
SEPTA.svg SEPTA
toward Newark
Wilmington/Newark Line
  Former services  
Pennsylvania Railroad
Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad
toward Philadelphia
Terminus Wilmington Line
toward Cape Charles
Delmarva Division Terminus
BSicon LOGO Amtrak2.svg Amtrak
toward Newport News
Federal
Hilltopper
Montrealer
toward Montreal
Wilmington Station
Area 2 buildings and 1 structure on 3.3 acres (1.3 ha)
Architect Furness, Evans & Co.
Architectural style Romanesque Revival
NRHP Reference # 76000581
Added to NRHP November 21, 1976

Joseph R. Biden Jr. Railroad Station, also known as Wilmington, is a passenger rail station in Wilmington, Delaware. One of Amtrak's busiest stops, it serves nine Amtrak trains and is part of the Northeast Corridor. It also serves SEPTA commuter trains on the Wilmington/Newark Line as well as local and intercity buses.

Built in 1907 as Pennsylvania Station, the station was renamed in 2011 for then-Vice President and former U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr., an advocate for passenger rail who routinely took the train from Wilmington to Washington, D.C. Located on Front Street between French and Walnut Streets in downtown Wilmington, the station has one inside level with stores, a cafe, ticket offices, a car rental office, and a post office. Passengers board their trains on the second-story train platforms.

The station replaced an earlier station erected by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.

It was built in 1907 for $300,000 by the PW&B successor, the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was designed by renowned architect Frank Furness, who also designed the adjacent Pennsylvania Railroad Building (which housed the offices for the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad) and the nearby Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's Water Street Station. (The Pennsylvania Railroad Building has since been renovated; as of 2014, it holds the offices of ING Direct United States.)

Admired for his use of new and innovative materials and his forceful architectural statements, Furness chose to have the trains move right through the second floor of the station, with room for a ticketing and retail concourse at ground level underneath the tracks. This unconventional arrangement celebrated the power of the locomotive and America’s industrial strength. The north end of the station has a four-faced rectangular clock tower that rises an extra story above the main roof. It is decorated with stone and terra cotta work that is repeated in plainer form throughout the station.


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