Chicago Union Station on New Year's Eve
Yesterday, almost on a whim, I stopped by Chicago Union Station, the city's busiest train terminal and the city's only Amtrak station. I've been curious what the station looks like on major holidays, like Thanksgiving, Christmas and, well, New Year's Eve. But I've never actually done it (usually because I was, you know, celebrating them) until last evening.
I entered the station through one of the entrances favored by commuters, walking through the food court level. Some eateries were doing brisk business, while others closed altogether. And all around me, there were commuters trying to figure out which trains they were supposed to catch.
Union Station is the terminal for more Metra commuter train lines than any other Chicago terminal. Like other Metra lines, the lines leaving and arriving at Union Station operated on special schedule on New Year's Eve, to confusion and frustration of the passengers. I swear, you could practically make a drinking game out Metra announcer saying something along the lines of "train [x] of line [IV] has been cancelled. You can take train [y] instead."
(Fun fact - Union Station has separate announcers for Amtrak and Metra announcements. It's something you probably won't notice if you're just passing through, but if you sit there a while...)
To be fair to Metra, they did distribute paper copies of the special holiday schedules ahead of time - though, in a weird oversight, they didn't post them online. Which might be where some of the confusion came from.
This being the tail end of the holiday season, there were Christmas decorations everywhere. Even on the escalator leading to North Concourse.
(None of the pictures of that were any good, I'm afraid. But I will say that I saw riders from Hiawatha, Amtrak's Chicago-Milwaukee train, getting off and walking briskly toward the exit with suitcases on hand. I'm guessing they were in Chicago to watch the fireworks/otherwise enjoy themselves, and they planned on spending the night and catch one of the morning trains back)
Next, I headed toward what is indisputably the architectural centerpiece of the Union Station - the Great Hall. The seats were removed (forcing the waiting passengers to sit by the walls), but the Christmas decorations didn't disappoint.
(The quality of the photos, on the other hand, is a bit iffy at times, so bear with me)
The Christmas music playing from the speakers near the Christmas Tree display added to the atmosphere
Even the "Untouchables staircase" was dolled up for the holidays.
Great Hall often gets reserved for parties, corporate get-togethers, award ceremonies, etc. Amtrak, which owns the station, has really been trying to promote Great Hall is an event venue as part of its ongoing effort to expand its revenue beyond the usual sources. And when I was there, a wedding party took some wedding photos there.
I get taking wedding photos at Union Station. I even kind of get wanting to get married on New Year's Eve. But I was kind of surprised to see both at the same time.
After taking the pictures of the Great Hall, I headed back to the less scenic part of the Union Station.
The concourses. The Amtrak boarding lounges, to be more specific.
This was the part I was most curious about. How many people would be taking Amtrak on New Year's Eve?
To my surprise, the south boarding lounge looked about as busy as it would on a regular weekday evening.
Okay, maybe a little less busy, but the lines for the trains that already started boarding were, if anything, a bit longer than average.
Before long, I figured out that the lines were for two shorter, state-supported routes - Wolverine (which runs from Chicago to Detroit and onward to Pontiac, MI) and Hoosier State (running between Chicago and Indianapolis). Assuming there are no delays... Wolverine does get to Detroit after midnight and reaches its final destination at 1:19 AM. Hoosier State gets to Indianapolis before midnight, but, at 11:50 PM, it's cutting it kind of close.
I was fairly sure that not everyone was going all the way to Detroit, or Pontiac, or Indianapolis. But it was still interesting to realize that at least some of the people in those long lines marked the beginning of 2015 on a train.
On Wolverine, at least, they could mark it in style. The train has a cafe car, where they could buy beer and wine (and snacks). The train has wi-fi, so they can stream a countdown live. But Hoosier State doesn't have a cafe car or wi-fi. If the train runs late, they'll have to mark the new year from the coach car seats.
But judging by the size of the line, riders didn't mind too much.
After the two trains finished boarding, the crowd in the south boarding lounge got noticeably smaller
And it got smaller still when riders started lining up to board Capitol Limited, which (as you may recall from my Amtrak misadventures in the spring of 2014) runs between Chicago and Washington DC. A decent chunk of people in that line probably weren't traveling to a nearby state - they were traveling two or more states. They were definitely going to not only mark the new year on the train, but spend a decent chunk of the first day of 2015 on the train.
But like their counterparts on the Wolverine, they were able to celebrate with wine. And while Capitol Limited doesn't have wi-fi, it does offer full (if a bit overpriced) meals.
Once the Capitol Limited passengers boarded... There were still a few trains left - the Lincoln Service train to St. Louis, the City of New Orleans train to, well, New Orleans, and the Lake Shore Limited train to New York City and Boston. Everybody who rode those trains celebrated New Year on the train, with wine and, in case of Lincoln Service, wi-fi.
But I didn't stick around to see how many passengers boarded which trains. I headed out, taking one last picture of the South Boarding Lounge before departing.
I guess the big takeaway from all this is that Chicago Union Station on New Year's Eve isn't that much different from Chicago Union Station on any other day. Just a bit more festively decorated. Now, the New Year's Eve aboard one of the trains leaving the Union Station... That might be a bit different.
Maybe.
I entered the station through one of the entrances favored by commuters, walking through the food court level. Some eateries were doing brisk business, while others closed altogether. And all around me, there were commuters trying to figure out which trains they were supposed to catch.
Union Station is the terminal for more Metra commuter train lines than any other Chicago terminal. Like other Metra lines, the lines leaving and arriving at Union Station operated on special schedule on New Year's Eve, to confusion and frustration of the passengers. I swear, you could practically make a drinking game out Metra announcer saying something along the lines of "train [x] of line [IV] has been cancelled. You can take train [y] instead."
(Fun fact - Union Station has separate announcers for Amtrak and Metra announcements. It's something you probably won't notice if you're just passing through, but if you sit there a while...)
To be fair to Metra, they did distribute paper copies of the special holiday schedules ahead of time - though, in a weird oversight, they didn't post them online. Which might be where some of the confusion came from.
This being the tail end of the holiday season, there were Christmas decorations everywhere. Even on the escalator leading to North Concourse.
(None of the pictures of that were any good, I'm afraid. But I will say that I saw riders from Hiawatha, Amtrak's Chicago-Milwaukee train, getting off and walking briskly toward the exit with suitcases on hand. I'm guessing they were in Chicago to watch the fireworks/otherwise enjoy themselves, and they planned on spending the night and catch one of the morning trains back)
Next, I headed toward what is indisputably the architectural centerpiece of the Union Station - the Great Hall. The seats were removed (forcing the waiting passengers to sit by the walls), but the Christmas decorations didn't disappoint.
(The quality of the photos, on the other hand, is a bit iffy at times, so bear with me)
The Christmas music playing from the speakers near the Christmas Tree display added to the atmosphere
Even the "Untouchables staircase" was dolled up for the holidays.
Great Hall often gets reserved for parties, corporate get-togethers, award ceremonies, etc. Amtrak, which owns the station, has really been trying to promote Great Hall is an event venue as part of its ongoing effort to expand its revenue beyond the usual sources. And when I was there, a wedding party took some wedding photos there.
I get taking wedding photos at Union Station. I even kind of get wanting to get married on New Year's Eve. But I was kind of surprised to see both at the same time.
After taking the pictures of the Great Hall, I headed back to the less scenic part of the Union Station.
The concourses. The Amtrak boarding lounges, to be more specific.
This was the part I was most curious about. How many people would be taking Amtrak on New Year's Eve?
To my surprise, the south boarding lounge looked about as busy as it would on a regular weekday evening.
Okay, maybe a little less busy, but the lines for the trains that already started boarding were, if anything, a bit longer than average.
Before long, I figured out that the lines were for two shorter, state-supported routes - Wolverine (which runs from Chicago to Detroit and onward to Pontiac, MI) and Hoosier State (running between Chicago and Indianapolis). Assuming there are no delays... Wolverine does get to Detroit after midnight and reaches its final destination at 1:19 AM. Hoosier State gets to Indianapolis before midnight, but, at 11:50 PM, it's cutting it kind of close.
I was fairly sure that not everyone was going all the way to Detroit, or Pontiac, or Indianapolis. But it was still interesting to realize that at least some of the people in those long lines marked the beginning of 2015 on a train.
On Wolverine, at least, they could mark it in style. The train has a cafe car, where they could buy beer and wine (and snacks). The train has wi-fi, so they can stream a countdown live. But Hoosier State doesn't have a cafe car or wi-fi. If the train runs late, they'll have to mark the new year from the coach car seats.
But judging by the size of the line, riders didn't mind too much.
After the two trains finished boarding, the crowd in the south boarding lounge got noticeably smaller
And it got smaller still when riders started lining up to board Capitol Limited, which (as you may recall from my Amtrak misadventures in the spring of 2014) runs between Chicago and Washington DC. A decent chunk of people in that line probably weren't traveling to a nearby state - they were traveling two or more states. They were definitely going to not only mark the new year on the train, but spend a decent chunk of the first day of 2015 on the train.
But like their counterparts on the Wolverine, they were able to celebrate with wine. And while Capitol Limited doesn't have wi-fi, it does offer full (if a bit overpriced) meals.
Once the Capitol Limited passengers boarded... There were still a few trains left - the Lincoln Service train to St. Louis, the City of New Orleans train to, well, New Orleans, and the Lake Shore Limited train to New York City and Boston. Everybody who rode those trains celebrated New Year on the train, with wine and, in case of Lincoln Service, wi-fi.
But I didn't stick around to see how many passengers boarded which trains. I headed out, taking one last picture of the South Boarding Lounge before departing.
I guess the big takeaway from all this is that Chicago Union Station on New Year's Eve isn't that much different from Chicago Union Station on any other day. Just a bit more festively decorated. Now, the New Year's Eve aboard one of the trains leaving the Union Station... That might be a bit different.
Maybe.