New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal

"New Orleans station" redirects here. For the census-designated place, see New Orleans Station, Louisiana.

New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal (NOUPT) is an intermodal facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, US. Located at 1001 Loyola Avenue, it is served by Amtrak, Greyhound Lines, Megabus, and NORTA with direct connections to the Rampart–St. Claude Streetcar Line.

New Orleans, Louisiana
General information
Location	1001 Loyola Avenue New Orleans, Louisiana United States
Coordinates	29°56′46″N 90°04′43″W
Owned by	City of New Orleans
Platforms	4 island platforms
Tracks	6 (formerly 9+)
Train operators	Amtrak
Bus stands	16
Bus operators	Greyhound Lines, Megabus
Connections	49 Rampart–St. Claude Streetcar Line New Orleans Regional Transit Authority
Construction
Parking	180 long term spaces
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: NOL
History
Opened	1954
Rebuilt	2005 (renovation)
Passengers
FY 2023	156,720[1] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Terminus City of New Orleans Hammond toward Chicago Crescent Slidell toward New York Schriever toward Los Angeles Sunset Limited Terminus
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Schriever toward Los Angeles Sunset Limited (1993–2005) Bay St. Louis toward Orlando or Miami Terminus Gulf Coast Limited Bay St. Louis (1996–1997) toward Mobile East New Orleans (1984–1985) toward Mobile Preceding station Illinois Central Railroad Following station Terminus Main Line Carrollton Avenue toward Chicago New Orleans – Baton Rouge Carrollton Avenue toward Baton Rouge Preceding station Kansas City Southern Railway Following station Carrollton Avenue toward Hope Louisiana and Arkansas Railway Terminus Preceding station Louisville and Nashville Railroad Following station Terminus Main Line Carrollton Avenue toward Cincinnati Preceding station Missouri Pacific Railroad Following station Avondale toward Alexandria Alexandria – New Orleans Terminus Carrollton Avenue toward El Paso Texas and Pacific Railway Main Line Carrollton Avenue toward Houston Houston – New Orleans Preceding station Southern Pacific Railroad Following station Carrollton Avenue toward Los Angeles Sunset Route Terminus Preceding station Southern Railway Following station Terminus New Orleans – Cincinnati Carrollton Avenue toward Cincinnati
Future services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Terminus Gulf Coast (early 2024) Bay St. Louis toward Mobile Jefferson Parish toward Baton Rouge New Orleans–Baton Rouge (possibly 2027) Terminus
Location

The station is the major southern terminus hub for Amtrak, serving three long-distance trains, the City of New Orleans, the Crescent, and the Sunset Limited. Between 1993 and the strike of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Sunset Limited continued east to Florida. Since the hurricane, New Orleans has been the eastern terminus of the route, although in 2016 Amtrak did propose bringing back service east of New Orleans.

Amtrak operates a coach and engine yard near the terminal.

History

The Kansas City Southern Railway's Flying Crow at New Orleans Union Terminal on November 22, 1967

Union Passenger Terminal was built just west of the older New Orleans Union Station to consolidate the city's passenger rail operations. Previously, New Orleans had been served by five stations–Union Station, the Southern Railway Terminal, T&P Station, Louisiana & Arkansas Station, and Louisville & Nashville Station.

Parts of the station property also are over what once was the turning basin for the New Basin Canal. The main lead track to the terminal follows the path of the old canal (which was filled in) and the Pontchartrain Expressway/I-10.

NOUPT was designed in 1949 by the New Orleans architectural firms of Wogan and Bernard, Jules K. de la Vergne, and August Perez and Associates. When it opened in 1954, it was considered an ultramodern facility, completed just at the time that air travel was taking off at the expense of rail travel.^[2]

Interior of New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal

The stub-end terminal consists of covered platforms and a modern waiting hall. A 120-foot (37 m) long mural of Louisiana and New Orleans history, painted by Conrad A. Albrizio with the assistance of James Fisher,^[3] was restored after 2005's Hurricane Katrina. The freight and express houses are now the domain of the Smoothie King Center and Main Post Office.

In the 1970s, parts of two platforms were shortened to allow for Greyhound Lines to move its service there, creating an intermodal facility.

Following Hurricane Katrina, Amtrak provided the first commercial transportation out of New Orleans. During the recovery efforts, the bus station at NOUPT was used for a temporary jail nicknamed Camp Greyhound.

In January 2013, the station became the terminus for the new mile-long Loyola Avenue-Union Passenger Terminal Streetcar Line connecting Canal Street with the Central Business District and destinations such as the Superdome. The $52 million project was largely funded through a $45 million Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant awarded to the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority by the U.S. Department of Transportation.^[4]

Megabus started operations at the Union Passenger Terminal in 2015.

Gulf Coast regional officials have been advocating for restoration of daily train service between New Orleans and Florida since 2016.^[5][6]

In February 2021, it was announced that passenger rail service would return to the Gulf Coast with a new Amtrak route between New Orleans and Mobile. Stops include Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula.^[7] Service is expected to begin in 2024.

v t e New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal track map
Legend

References

1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2023: State of Louisiana" (PDF). Amtrak. March 2024. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
2. "Centralization in the Crescent City". Classic Trains Magazine. 11 (4). Winter 2010. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
3. "Crescent City Choo Choo Page Four". New Orleans Public Library. July 24, 2002. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
4. "New Orleans, LA – Union Passenger Terminal (NOL)". Great American Stations. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
5. Hampton, Paul (July 19, 2017). "Gulf Coast leaders push to restore passenger train service with two New Orleans routes". The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
6. "Amtrak, officials taking tour for potential New Orleans to Orlando rail service". The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate. February 6, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
7. "Amtrak set to return to Gulf Coast in 2022 with 4 stops in South Mississippi". WLOX News. February 25, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2022.

External links

Media related to New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal at Wikimedia Commons

• New Orleans, LA – Amtrak
• New Orleans, LA – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• New Orleans Amtrak and Streetcar Station (USA Rail Guide — Train Web)
• New Orleans Regional Transit Authority Archived April 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
• Southern High-Speed Rail Commission
• The Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries
• Photographs of Albrizio mural on Flickr
• Article on restoration of Albrizio mural Archived May 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
• HawkinsRails' NOUPT scrapbook Archived December 3, 2019, at the Wayback Machine