History
The New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal (NOUPT, located at 1001 Loyola Avenue), was designed by the New Orleans architectural firms of Wogan and Bernard, Jules K. de la Vergne, and August Perez and Associates in 1949. The structure opened in 1954 to consolidate passenger rail operations from the city's other railroad stations. It was considered an ultramodern facility - completed just at the time that air travel was taking off at the expense of rail travel. The station was constructed just to the west of the older New Orleans Union Station.
The stub-end terminal consists of a modern waiting hall, featuring a 120-foot (37 m)-long mural of Louisiana and New Orleans history, painted by Conrad A. Albrizio with the assistance of James Fisher (restored post-Katrina), and covered platforms. The freight and express houses are now the domain of the New Orleans Arena and Main Post Office.
The station is the major Southern hub for Amtrak, with three trains (Sunset Limited, City of New Orleans and Crescent) serving the city. Amtrak also operates a coach and engine yard near the terminal.
In the 1970s, parts of two platforms were shortened to allow for Greyhound Lines to build an intercity bus terminal, sharing the terminal with Amtrak and creating an intermodal facility.
NOUPT was built next to the old Union 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.
Hurricane Katrina affected NOUPT - at one point, the terminal was used as a temporary jail - however, it was spared from major damage. Amtrak provided the first commercial transportation after the storm out of New Orleans.
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.
Read more about this topic: New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal
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