Have ideas on how to improve Union Station? Amtrak wants to hear them

Amtrak wants your ideas and input as it reimagines the concourse at Chicago Union Station.

The passenger railroad company plans improvements to the boarding process, modernized amenities and new services during the first major enhancement at track level and above since 1991. It has launched a survey at ChicagoUnionStation.com to get public input on what users would like to prioritize.

The survey is open until the end of the month.

“The station first opened in 1925 and Amtrak will involve our partners and the general public to develop a preferred design that will take us into the next hundred years,” Jeannie Kwon, an Amtrak vice president, said in a statement.

Improvements to the Amtrak-owned station, which serves tens of thousands of Amtrak and Metra customers daily, will be paid for with federal capital funds and partner contributions. Grant funding is also being pursued.

The design team will be led by Chicago-based Epstein in partnership with FXCollaborative.

Epstein designed the $26.5 million Terminal 5 concessions area in Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Tunnel and Restroom Modernization at O’Hare and Terminal Redevelopment at Chicago Midway International Airport.

FXCollaborative designed the recently opened $24 million Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge and Office Complex in the Moynihan Train Hall for the Amtrak-owned New York Penn Station.

The two companies recently collaborated on the renovation and expansion of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York.

When the current concourse design was finished 32 years ago, Amtrak had an annual passenger count of 2.3 million in Chicago. In 2019, that total was 3.3 million, with new routes to and from Chicago in development in Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, among other Amtrak MidwestSM states.

Annual Metra ridership over the same period at Chicago Union Station has grown from 26.6 million to 32.6 million.