Owned by WMATA Opened 27 March 1976 | Structure type Underground Tracks 2 | |
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Location 701 1st Street, NEWashington, DC 20002 Connections Amtrak, VRE, MARC via Union Station Metrobus: 13Y, 80, 96, 97, D6, D8, X8 DC Circulator MTA Maryland Bus: 903, 922 Loudoun County Transit PRTC OmniRide Similar Judiciary Square station, NoMa–Gallaudet U station, Forest Glen station, Rhode Island Avenue, Friendship Heights station | ||
Union Station is a Washington Metro station in Washington, D.C. on the Red Line. It has a single underground island platform.
The station is located in the Northeast quadrant of the city under the western end of Union Station, the main train station for Washington, where connections can be made to Amtrak intercity trains, as well as Virginia Railway Express and MARC commuter rail trains to suburbs in Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia.
The station was originally named "Union Station–Visitor Center" but when the National Visitor Center there failed, it was renamed Union Station. One or two pylons still read "Union Station-Visitor Center", and a number of older stations still display this name on signage. Like the other original stations, Union Station sports coffered vaults of concrete in its ceiling.
Service began on March 27, 1976 with the opening of the Red Line. It is the busiest station in the Metrorail system, averaging 28,864 passengers per weekday as of May 2016.
Station layout
The station features an island platform with two exits, one mid-platform leading into the main part of the station and Massachusetts Avenue and the other at the northern end emptying onto 1st Street NE and to the main boarding concourse.