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  • Dead Mall - Union Station, DC | the full history - 1907 to its demise in 2021

  • Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua

 #1570329  by TheOneKEA
 
An urban exploration YouTuber based in Baltimore named Salvatore Amadeo just premiered a 42-minute video on Washington Union Station:

https://youtu.be/IN0ohdR3Rss

I was utterly surprised and shocked at the state of the retail operations and the near desertion of the concourses, food court and main hall. I “knew” that train travel on all modes in and out of DC had been affected by the pandemic, the riots and the pervasive telework but I wasn’t expecting the level of desertion that the video showed us.

Even if train travel returns all the way to pre-pandemic levels, or expands further once the Acela IIs arrive, will Union Station have the opportunity to recover? Or will we see another long slow decline that Amtrak, MARC and VRE services will have no opportunity to prevent?
 #1570378  by STrRedWolf
 
I watched the video for a good portion of the tour around when he visited in January 2021. It's... a bit sobering but I think I'll need to go down there again and look. I remember the theaters, and also a big bakery next to the escalators where you could buy A BIG CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE. Not a few cookies, not dinky things, not regular sized stuff, A BIG CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE. You only need one. Any more would be overkill. sigh

This pandemic sucks.
TheOneKEA wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 7:55 pm I was utterly surprised and shocked at the state of the retail operations and the near desertion of the concourses, food court and main hall. I “knew” that train travel on all modes in and out of DC had been affected by the pandemic, the riots and the pervasive telework but I wasn’t expecting the level of desertion that the video showed us.
January 2021. Vaccinations were still starting up. This was expected.
Even if train travel returns all the way to pre-pandemic levels, or expands further once the Acela IIs arrive, will Union Station have the opportunity to recover? Or will we see another long slow decline that Amtrak, MARC and VRE services will have no opportunity to prevent?
Yes. People will want to grab some food after a long train trip off Amtrak or grab a dinner to go heading home on MARC or VRE. Folks waiting for some LD trains will want to do *something* while waiting for that train to board. It'll recover, but it will be slow -- probably a year as folks get vaccinated and demand starts returning.