Houston station (Texas)

Houston station is an Amtrak intercity train station in Houston, Texas.

Not to be confused with Houston (Scotland) railway station.
Not to be confused with Union Station (Houston).
Houston, TX
General information
Location902 Washington Avenue
Houston, Texas
United States
Coordinates29.76727°N 95.36754°W / 29.76727; -95.36754
Owned byUnion Pacific Railroad
Line(s)UP Terminal Subdivision
Platforms1 side platform, 1 island platform
Tracks2
ConnectionsBus transport Amtrak Thruway
Bus transport Greyhound Lines
Bus transport METRO Bus
Construction
ParkingYes
AccessibleYes
Other information
Station codeAmtrak: HOS
History
Opened1959
Passengers
FY 202215,833[1] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
San Antonio
toward Los Angeles
 Sunset Limited Beaumont
toward New Orleans
Former services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Terminus Lone Star
Ended 1979
 Rosenberg
toward Chicago
Inter-American
Ended 1981
Texas Eagle
Until 1995
 College Station
toward Chicago
Preceding station Southern Pacific Railroad Following station
Rosenberg
toward Los Angeles
 Sunset Route Beaumont
toward New Orleans

History

The present Houston station, which opened on October 26, 1959, was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad to replace Grand Central Station, which was just east of the present station. That station operated from September 1, 1934 until the property was sold to the U.S. Government in 1959 to become the site of the Houston main post office. Grand Central Station had replaced the original Houston & Texas Central depot of 1886.[2] When Amtrak was created it was one of two stations in Houston that served Amtrak trains, the other being Union Station, now part of Minute Maid Park. All Amtrak trains moved to Southern Pacific Station by the end of July 1974, and all trains were canceled or rerouted out of Houston except the Sunset Limited. The station continued to be owned and operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad after the creation of Amtrak, and it has been owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad, who bought out Southern Pacific.

A third station, the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad Depot, was at the top of the Main Street viaduct, next to the campus of the University of Houston–Downtown (UHD). It was no longer an active passenger station by the end of 1958[3] and never served Amtrak. It was demolished, save for a section of platform under the Main Street viaduct.

Intermodal Transit Center

Whenever the funding would become available, the current Amtrak station was to be replaced by the Houston Intermodal Transit Center, just north of downtown, on the Union Pacific main line. It was planned to be a much larger facility with the tracks on a lower level, similar to Penn Station in New York. The project was cancelled in 2010.

Connections

See also

References
  1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2022: State of Texas" (PDF). Amtrak. June 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  2. "National Railway Bulletin". National Railway Historical Society. 47 (1): 18. 1982.
  3. "M-K-T Railroad Timetables". The Official Guide of the Railways. New York: National Railway Publication Co. 91 (5). November 1958.
  4. http://www.greyhound.com/scripts/en/TicketCenter/locations.asp?state=tx%5B%5D
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