Union Station (Erie, Pennsylvania)

Union Station Erie, PA
General information
Location	125 West 14th Street Erie, Pennsylvania United States
Coordinates	42°07′15″N 80°04′55″W / 42.1209°N 80.0820°W / 42.1209; -80.0820
Owned by	Logistics Plus
Line(s)	Lake Shore Subdivision
Platforms	2 island platforms
Tracks	5
Connections	Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority: 20A
Construction
Parking	5 short-term, 5 long-term
Accessible	Yes
Architect	Alfred T. Fellheimer, Steward Wagner
Architectural style	Art Deco
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: ERI
History
Opened	December 3, 1927 (1927-12-03)
Rebuilt	2003
Passengers
FY 2023	15,236[1] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Cleveland toward Chicago Lake Shore Limited Buffalo–Depew toward New York or Boston South
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Cleveland toward Chicago Lake Shore Buffalo toward New York (Grand Central) Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station Swanville toward Chicago Main Line Harbor Creek toward New York Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station Terminus Erie – Harrisburg Waterford toward Harrisburg Swanville toward Pittsburgh Erie – Pittsburgh Terminus
Location

Union Station is an Amtrak railroad station and mixed-use commercial building in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. It is served by the Lake Shore Limited route, which provides daily passenger service between Chicago and (via two sections east of Albany) New York City or Boston; Erie is the train's only stop in Pennsylvania. The station's ground floor has been redeveloped into commercial spaces, including The Brewerie at Union Station, a brewpub. The building itself is privately owned by the global logistics and freight management company Logistics Plus and serves as its headquarters.

The first railroad station in Erie was established in 1851 but was replaced with the Romanesque Revival-style Union Depot in 1866. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions by competing railroad companies which started not long after the establishment of Erie's first railroads, Union Depot became jointly owned and operated by the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads. To meet the changing needs of the rapidly growing city, planners designed a more modern structure to replace the original depot. The new Art Deco Union Station, dedicated on December 3, 1927, was the first railroad station of that style in the United States.

While Union Station was busy from its opening and through World War II, passenger rail service began to dwindle after the war when air and highway travel became more popular. By the 1960s, the New York Central drastically cut service, while the Pennsylvania abandoned service to Erie altogether. Both railroads were merged in 1968 to form Penn Central, and passenger rail was transferred from Penn Central to Amtrak in 1971. At one point, from 1972 to 1975, even Amtrak service in Erie was suspended. With reduced demand for train travel, Union Station was neglected and allowed to decay until Logistics Plus bought it in 2003. Since then it has been restored, with portions re-purposed as commercial and retail space.