New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal

New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal (NOUPT) is an intermodal facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, US. Located at 1001 Loyola Avenue, it is served by Amtrak, Greyhound Lines, Megabus, and NORTA with direct connections to the Rampart–St. Claude Streetcar Line.

New Orleans, LA
Amtrak inter-city rail station
Location1001 Loyola Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70113
United States
Coordinates29°56′46″N 90°04′43″W
Owned byCity of New Orleans
Platforms4 island platforms
Tracks6 (formerly 9+)
Train operatorsAmtrak
Bus stands16
Bus operatorsGreyhound Lines, Megabus
ConnectionsRampart–St. Claude Streetcar Line
RTA buses
Construction
Parking180 long term spaces
Disabled accessYes
Other information
Station codeAmtrak code: NOL
History
Opened1954
Rebuilt2005 (renovation)
Passengers
2017189,189[1]  3.37%
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Terminus City of New Orleans Hammond
toward Chicago
Crescent Slidell
toward New York
Schriever
toward Los Angeles
 Sunset Limited Terminus
Former services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Schriever
toward Los Angeles
 Sunset Limited
(1993–2005)
 Bay St. Louis
toward Orlando or Miami
Location
New Orleans, LA
Location within Louisiana

The station is the major southern terminus hub for Amtrak, serving three long-distance trains, the City of New Orleans, the Crescent, and the Sunset Limited. Between 1993 and the strike of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Sunset Limited continued east to Florida. Since the hurricane, New Orleans has been the eastern terminus of the route, although in 2016 Amtrak did propose bringing back service east of New Orleans.

Amtrak also operates a coach and engine yard near the terminal.

History

Union Passenger Terminal was built just west of the older New Orleans Union Station to consolidate the city's passenger rail operations. Previously, New Orleans had been served by five stations–Union Station, the Southern Railway Terminal, T&P Station, Louisiana & Arkansas Station, and Louisville & Nashville Station.

Parts of the station property also are over what once was the turning basin for the New Basin Canal. The main lead track to the terminal follows the path of the old canal (which was filled in) and the Pontchartrain Expressway/I-10.

The Kansas City Southern Railway's Flying Crow at New Orleans Union Terminal on November 22, 1967

NOUPT was designed in 1949 by the New Orleans architectural firms of Wogan and Bernard, Jules K. de la Vergne, and August Perez and Associates. When it opened in 1954, it was considered an ultramodern facility, completed just at the time that air travel was taking off at the expense of rail travel.[2]

The stub-end terminal consists of covered platforms and a modern waiting hall. A 120-foot (37 m) long mural of Louisiana and New Orleans history, painted by Conrad A. Albrizio with the assistance of James Fisher,[3] was restored after 2005's Hurricane Katrina. The freight and express houses are now the domain of the Smoothie King Center and Main Post Office.

In the 1970s, parts of two platforms were shortened to allow for Greyhound Lines to move its service there, creating an intermodal facility.

Following Hurricane Katrina, Amtrak provided the first commercial transportation out of New Orleans. During the recovery efforts, the bus station at NOUPT was used for a temporary jail nicknamed Camp Greyhound.

In January 2013, the station became the terminus for the new mile-long Loyola Avenue-Union Passenger Terminal Streetcar Line connecting Canal Street with the Central Business District and destinations such as the Superdome. The $52 million project was largely funded through a $45 million Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant awarded to the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority by the U.S. Department of Transportation.[4]

Megabus started operations at the Union Passenger Terminal in 2015.

Gulf Coast regional officials have been advocating for restoration of daily train service between New Orleans and Florida since 2016. [5]

References
  1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2017, State of Louisiana" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
    • "Centralization in the Crescent City". Classic Trains Magazine (Winter 2010). Kalmbach. 11 (4). 2010.
  3. Crescent City Choo Choo exhibit
  4. Great American Stations (NOL). Accessed April 13, 2013.
  5. Paul Hampton, The New Orleans Advocate, July 19, 2017 http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/business/article_c4156654-6c7f-11e7-a8ae-9b949731c5f0.html

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