Union station

:"For other meanings, see Union Station. See list of Union Stations for a specific station with the name."A union station or union terminal is a train station where tracks and facilities are shared by two or more railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently between them. Often the station is used by all passenger trains serving the city, but this is not necessarily true; specifically, commuter trains in Chicago, Illinois, for example, still use four different terminals.

North America

In North America, a union station is usually owned by a separate corporation whose shares are owned by the different railways which use it, so that the costs and benefits of its operations are shared proportionately among them. This contrasts with the system of "trackage rights" or "running rights", where one railway company owns a line or facility, but allows another company to share it under a contractual agreement. However, the company that owns the union station and associated trackage does assign trackage rights to the railroads that use it. Many of the jointly-owned stations were built by terminal railroads.

Europe

Outside the United States, railroads are often owned and operated by state enterprises. Where only one railway company exists, there is no need for a "joint station". However, before nationalisation many companies existed and sometimes they had "joint stations". In some cases this persists today. "Joint stations" are often found near borders, where two state owned railway companies meet, e.g. Basel Badischer Bahnhof.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, before the railways were nationalized in 1948, the term used was joint station. This term has occasionally been revived since the railways were returned to the private sector in the 1990s, but is not as familiar or as well-understood as "union station" in the United States.

Germany, Austria and Switzerland

In Germany, the equivalent term "Gemeinschaftsbahnhof" is used in administrative language only. The term "Hauptbahnhof" corresponds to "Central Station" and means the most important and usually most frequently used station of a city.

Bohemia and Moravia

In Bohemia (part of the territory of the Czech Republic today) some stations were called the "společné nádraží" (the common station) before the state took over the private railway companies. "Praha-Smíchov společné nádraží" is to this day the functional name of the second station built in 1872 by the same investor near the first station Smíchov of the Pražská západní dráha (Prague Western Railroad). The new station served as the main marshalling yard of Prague. Three routes flowed into it: Pražská spojovací dráha (the Prague Connecting Railroad, 1872), the extension of Buštěhradská dráha from Hostivice (1872) and Pražsko-duchcovská dráha (the Railroad Prague – Duchcov, 1873). Nowadays the "společné nádraží" forms an unremarkable separate platform of the station Praha-Smíchov, known in timetables as "Praha-Smíchov severní nástupiště" (the northern platform).

"Společné nádraží" was built 1845 – 1848 at Brno.

"Společné nádraží" was at Železná Ruda as well, station at border Bavaria – Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was in operation 1878 – 1938.

Nowadays the biggest of stations are called "hlavní nádraží" (main station).

External links

* [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a800729.html The Straight Dope: "Why do so many cities have a "Union Station"?"]