by Arborwayfan
I lived there when the Illinois Terminal Building was built, and the reasons I heard were the bus situation that byte mentions, the desire to have direct, ADA access to the Amtrak platform, and the hope to redevelop part of the downtown. The old IC station was mostly rented to other tenants, so there was no room to expand Amtrak there. The old IC station was twenty or thirty feet from the tracks, which were and are on an embankment to allow underpasses for all the city streets. There had formerly been two tracks, and the platform in use was the former center platform, which you got to by walking out of the waiting room, through small parking area, into a tunnel, and up a set of stairs. (The agent used to (c. 1996-1999) call trains for "Track One on the upper elevation" -- I think he had a sense of humor.) It would have been hard to fix for ADA unless they'd switched to using the platform on the west side of the track, between the station and the track, which they only used for the baggage carts. However, it was great for pickup and drop off. The stairs from the platform led to a tunnel that opened into the city parking lot on the east side of the tracks AND into the parking area in front of the waiting room doors. So when I got off the train alone, I could just walk off to the east towards home. If I was getting picked up, the person could meet me outside the station and take me to the car. If I needed to go into the station, I could do that. And, of course, everyone could go out onto the platform whenever they wanted to.
In the new station, there is only one way onto the platform (without trespassing), a bridge from the second floor waiting room. The bridge crosses over the bus loop, which is between the building and the track. They only unlock the doors to the bridge when the train is about to come, and, at least the last time I was there, they don't let anyone off the bridge onto the platform until the train stops. Since the open door isn't always right in front of the bridge, that causes delays in loading and unloading. I suspect part of the reason for the new station was precisely to take control of the platform -- someone didn't like having open access to the platform 24-7, even though most stations, Heritage or new, that aren't major multi-track city terminals have open access to the platforms.
The old station was on a little rise, so there would not have been room for a bus loop to go under a bridge from the station to the train platform, and it might even have been too steep for buses to get up there at all.
In the new station, there is only one way onto the platform (without trespassing), a bridge from the second floor waiting room. The bridge crosses over the bus loop, which is between the building and the track. They only unlock the doors to the bridge when the train is about to come, and, at least the last time I was there, they don't let anyone off the bridge onto the platform until the train stops. Since the open door isn't always right in front of the bridge, that causes delays in loading and unloading. I suspect part of the reason for the new station was precisely to take control of the platform -- someone didn't like having open access to the platform 24-7, even though most stations, Heritage or new, that aren't major multi-track city terminals have open access to the platforms.
The old station was on a little rise, so there would not have been room for a bus loop to go under a bridge from the station to the train platform, and it might even have been too steep for buses to get up there at all.
