Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, anyone desiring to take an Amtrak train out of St. Louis had to first brave the drive down a bumpy gravel driveway, followed by a wait in a somewhat remote, cramped warehouse-esque building located underneath Interstate 64/Highway 40. Catching a Greyhound bus was still a hop, skip and 1.5-mile drive from the Amtrak station.

Boarding the MetroLink or a city bus would demand a walk of several city blocks from either Greyhound or Amtrak.
As of this month, however, the days of out-of-sync and unconnected alternative transportation could be at their end thanks to the brand-new, $28 million St. Louis Gateway Transportation Center.

An alternative transportation haven of sorts, the new multimodal station will serve as a central hub for city buses, the main terminal for Greyhound buses and the new Amtrak station and is located only steps from the Civic Center MetroLink stop.

As a result, different modes of transportation that were once disconnected from each other will be united under a single roof, creating what St. Louis Deputy City Engineer Joe Kuss described as “one-stop shopping for transportation.”

While the physical construction took about a year and a half, the idea itself has been about 15 years in the making, according to Tom Shrout, director of Citizens for Modern Transit.

“Our organization conceived of the idea . and began to work with elected officials to see if we could make it happen,” he said.
In addition to providing a central transportation center and link, the station will include new dining options, a lounge for Amtrak’s business and sleeper car passengers, a taxicab stand and all-weather, enclosed walkways to the trains, something that the current Amtrak station lacks.

“There is no comparison [between the old and new station]. This will be much nicer, more comfortable for passengers, with many more amenities,” Shrout said. “It’s bright, it’s airy and . not off of a gravel parking lot.”

Kuss agreed, calling the new station “a thousand times better.”
“There’s a lot more room in the station . and a lot more cheerful, more pleasant environment,” he said.

It is Amtrak in particular that may be heaving the biggest sigh of relief when they begin operations in the new station, hopefully sometime in September, according to Amtrak Spokesman Marc?Magliari.

The tale of the so-called “Amshack,” the nickname given to the interim station, dates back 30 years, when Amtrak first pulled out of St. Louis’ Union Station in 1978 and began running its trains out of a temporary building, essentially trailers next to the tracks.

Twenty-six years later, in 2004, the temporary building was replaced by another interim building, which serves as the current Amtrak station today, though not for much longer.

“We’re looking forward to moving and giving St. Louis the kind of station it’s deserved for many years now,” Magliari said.

According to Magliari, 219,593 people passed through the Amtrak station during its last fiscal year, from Oct. 1, 2006 to Sept. 30, 2007. Magliari also said he had every reason to believe they will greatly exceed that number when the latest figures come out in October.

Among those 219,593 Amtrak riders were a number of students at Saint Louis University, including senior Patrick Turner, who used the trains to get to and from his hometown of Bloomington, Ill.

“It was just really convenient,” he said. “It was really affordable as long as I [bought the] tickets far enough in advance.”

Turner said that particularly with the high price of gas now, using Amtrak to get home could often be cheaper than driving.

Like many others, Turner has spent his fair share of time at the current “Amshack” and said that having a new station could definitely help him to lean in favor of continuing to take the train.

“It’s kind of hard to get to [the old station], and . it just seems like you’re going into some random building in the middle of nowhere,” he said.

Though Amtrak has not quite yet opened up services on its four tracks at the new station, the St. Louis Gateway Transportation Center, located at 620 N. 16th St., is already open and in use for the city buses and MetroLink.

Greyhound, which will have 10 loading points for its buses (twice as many as at its current location) began, operations in the new station on Aug. 19.