The Indiana Passenger Rail Alliance will hold another meeting in September to showcase issues surrounding Indianapolis’ dilapidated inter-city bus/Amtrak station (a.k.a. Indianapolis Union Station Terminal) at 350 S. Illinois Street. The facility is owned by the City of Indianapolis and stands in stark contrast to the city-owned Indianapolis International Airport and is a civic embarrassment. At a meeting on August 9, 2022 at the facility with the City, the Indiana Passenger Rail Alliance highlighted the many problems at the facility which need immediate attention. Unfortunately, other than blaming others, little was resolved to rectify the problems.
“The Amtrak station in Indianapolis is a civic embarrassment and stands in stark contrast to the city-owned airport,” said IPRA’s Steve Coxhead. “The station is a turn off for anyone wanting to use intercity bus or Amtrak service as an alternative to driving to Chicago on congested I-65,” continued IPRA’s Doug Yerkeson. “We need to follow the example of Milwaukee and other cities into developing a regional rail-bus multimodal transportation hub,” continued IPRA’s Tod Bassler. “The location of the facility within walking distance to the stadium, hotels, museums, and convention center is ideal but the facility needs attention to come up to airport standards,” Coxhead concluded.
Recent replacement of the exterior & interior overhead lights has been a welcome improvement, but other changes are desperately needed.
IPRA has identified the following actions needed to address issues:
- Repair large pavement potholes in passenger drop off / pick up at entrance
- Remove graffiti in restrooms by cleaning tile walls and paint as needed
- Ensure that the outside overhead lights turn on and off at the correct times
- Replace 1971 Amtrak logo with current logo making it visible from the street
- Remove exit sign directing passengers to very old public transportation name for IndyGo labeled “Metro”
- Hire security personnel to stop passengers from sleeping or laying on the floor
- Prevent Greyhound from locking passengers out of the facility
- Clean & repair the station in general
- Require FLiXBUS and OurBus to also use the facility
- Study multimodal facility improvements in other cities (Milwaukee, St. Louis, Denver, Bloomington-Normal, Champaign-Urbana)
- Ensure that the City of Indianapolis and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) use Federal Govt infrastructure improvement funds (i.e., Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, ADA dollars, etc.) to upgrade and remodel the facility (& not let these funds expire)
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