Easy Access: The Train Concourse and Platforms

An elevated bridge once connected the south façade of the Main Terminal Building and its Passenger Concourse to the Train Concourse, where departing and arriving travelers would gather. The Train Concourse is 21 feet above the tracks, 50 feet wide and 480 feet long. Passengers would descend to the track-level platforms to board their train.

To the outbound passenger's right were seven stairways, each with a bulletin board indicting the departure time and destination of the train below. Arriving passengers would have used seven openings on the left. Although stairs were common to train stations at the time, a unique feature here was the use of ramps for arriving passengers to reach the Concourse.

The Train Concourse’s fourteen passenger tracks were served by seven concrete platforms. The platforms’ rounded end canopies would later be repeated by architects Fellheimer & Wagner at Cincinnati’s Union Terminal. These platforms were nine inches higher than track level, which allowed easy access to cars and for inspection by the operating department. Have you seen those movies and TV shows that show a person needing to step on a box to climb aboard their train? That wasn’t needed here!

Unfortunately, the bridge from the Main Terminal Building to the elevated Train Concourse was demolished in 1981, severing the connection to the Main Terminal Building so that the new, taller freight cars could pass through.

The Train Concourse, Train Platforms, and the surrounding acreage are owned by Amtrak. The train tracks behind the main buildings and the triangular parcel where the power plant originally stood are owned by CSX.

Photo courtesy of Ken Kraemer.