Station Review #138: Indianapolis Union (Amtrak/Greyhound)


Indianapolis Union Station is a station served by Amtrak's Cardinal train and numerous intercity buses, most notably from Greyhound. 

History



Indianapolis Union Station was the second ever Union station in the United States, built in 1853 by the Madison and Indianapolis railroad. The original station building eventually became too small for the demand faced, and a newer large station building was built in 1888 with the leadership of the civil engineer Thomas Rodd. A large train shed built in a similar style to the likes of Newark Penn was built for the station in 1900. 
 
There once was a time where one could get to fifteen different states with one train from Indianapolis station, with trains going to Chicago, Saint Louis, New York City, and Miami, as well as many destinations in between. Those days are no more. The fall of American passenger rail hit Indianapolis Union station hard, and it never truly recovered. The most recent example of this is with the discontinuation of the Hoosier State in 2020. This train ran daily between Chicago and Indianapolis. Now it's just the Cardinal, running every other day between Chicago and New York City via Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Charleston, Charlottesville, DC, and Philadelphia. Who knows how long that'll last, Indianapolis will be left as the 33rd largest metropolitan area, and one of the largest without train service. 
 
In the 1980s, the old station hall was turned into a mall, while a new station hall was built near the train shed. The old station hall from 1888 is still standing, and is now a convention center.  

Services


Train

One train and various buses run to Indianapolis Union Station. These include:

Amtrak:

  • Cardinal - This is a train that goes between NYC and Chicago, but does the scenic route, following the Roanoke branch of the Northeast Regional to Charlottesville, before branching off and going through West Virginia and along the Ohio River in Kentucky to Cincinnati. The Cardinal then goes through Indiana to Chicago. This route runs six trains a week, running a train in each direction every other day. 

  • Kentucky Cardinal - This used to be a train that ran between Chicago and Louisville, KY via Indianapolis between 1999 and 2003. The reason it's mentioned here is because there is a thruway bus that runs between these three cities in a similar route nowadays, operated by Greyhound. 
Greyhound:

  • Chicago to Louisville (and possibly Nashville?)
  • Springfield, IL to Pittsburgh
  • Toledo to either Effingham, IL or St. Louis. 
 
All of these pass through Indianapolis and stop there. I'm not entirely sure if some of these still exist or not, as the Greyhound map is from 2017, notably pre-COVID. 

Tour


The platform

Unsurprisingly, Indianapolis is not fully accessible. The platform is also incredibly eerie. 

Stairs

The elevator

More stairs

There is a lot of seating downstairs in the waiting room. 

Greyhound ticket booth

Bathrooms

What a way to say the bathrooms are unusable. This also means the water fountains are unusable

Vending machines

Indianapolis Union Station has a very large selection of vending machines for buying snacks and drinks. 

Outside the station, with the taxi/uber bay

Bus Connections 

Greyhound bus bays

Outside of many greyhound buses, most buses in Indianapolis are multiple blocks away. No IndyGo buses actually go to the train station itself, despite that being a useful place for people to want to go to. 

Points of Interest near Indianapolis Union Station

There's a lot nearby. There's the old train station hall, which is a convention center now, as well as the Lucas Oil Stadium, shown above, along with multiple stores and restaurants. Despite this, Downtown Indianapolis feels completely empty and devoid of life. One could chalk this up to me having ended up there at five in the morning, but even in street view of the place taken later in the day, along with anecdotes from people I know who actually live or have been there, it's not much better in the day time. 
 

Statistics


Name: Indianapolis Union
Agency: Amtrak/Greyhound
Line(s): Cardinal, various Greyhound lines
Locality: Wholesale District
Municipality: Indianapolis
County: Marion
State: Indiana
Ridership: 12,121 (2024)

Amenity Checklist


Accessible: ×
Bathrooms: ×
Bicycle parking: ×
Clean Station: ×
Connections to other transit routes: ×
Convenience Store inside: ✓
Easy passage for each side: ✓ (island platform)
Existence is justifiable: ✓ 
Fare Payment Kiosks (if applicable): ×
Good Wayfinding: ✓
Indoor Shelters: ✓
Maps: ×
Multiple entrances/exits: ✓
Multiple Rooms: ✓
Adequate Parking: ✓
Restaurant inside: ✓
Safe to use: ✓ 
Adequate Seating: ✓
Shelters: ✓
Station In Good Condition: ×
TVMs: ✓
Ticket Offices: ✓
TOD: ×
Train Departure/Arrival Info (signs that update/screens): ×
Updated/Useful Signage: ×

Final Verdict: 3/10. This is by far the worst big station I have reviewed, especially for a major city. I know of worse, but they're all not the main train stations of their metropolitan area. Indianapolis Union Station is just all around terrible for a major station. 
 

Station Directory 

--------NEW YORK--------
--------Manhattan Borough-------- 
New York Penn
--------NEW JERSEY--------
--------Essex County-------- 
Newark Penn
--------Mercer County-------- 
--------PENNSYLVANIA--------
--------Philadelphia County-------- 
Philadelphia-30th Street
--------DELAWARE--------
--------New Castle County--------- 
--------MARYLAND--------
--------City of Baltimore-------- 
--------DC--------
DC Union Station
--------VIRGINIA--------
--------City of Alexandria--------
Alexandria Union
--------City of Manassas--------
Manassas
--------Culpeper County-------- 
Culpeper
--------City of Charlottesville-------- 
Charlottesville Union
--------City of Staunton-------- 
Staunton
--------Allegheny County--------
Clifton Forge
--------WEST VIRGINIA--------
--------Greenbrier County-------- 
White Sulfur Springs
--------Monroe County--------
Alderson
--------Summers County-------- 
Hinton
--------Fayette County-------- 
Prince
Thurmond
Montgomery
--------Kanawha County-------- 
Charleston
--------Cabell County-------- 
--------KENTUCKY--------
--------Boyd County--------
Ashland
--------Greenup County-------- 
South Portsmouth-South Shore
--------Mason County-------- 
Maysville
--------OHIO--------
--------Hamilton County--------
Cincinatti Union
--------INDIANA--------
--------Fayette County--------
Connersville
--------Marion County-------- 
Indianapolis Union
--------Montgomery County--------
Crawfordsville
--------Tippecanoe County-------- 
Lafayette
--------Jasper County-------- 
Rensselaer
--------Lake County-------- 
Dyer
--------ILLINOIS--------
--------Cook County-------- 
Chicago Union  

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