Union Station is a Washington Metro station in Washington, D.C., on the Red Line. The station is located in the Northeast quadrant of the city under the western end of Washington Union Station, the main train station for Washington. It has a single underground island platform. With a daily average of 9,848 tapped entries, Union Station is the third-busiest in the system, behind Metro Center and Foggy Bottom–GWU.

Station layout

Like the other original stations of the Metro, Union Station sports coffered vaults of concrete in its ceiling. One end of the station has a lowered "box" cut out of the ceiling. The station features an island platform with two exits, one mid-platform mezzanine leading to the main hall of Union Station and Massachusetts Avenue and the one northern exit leading to 1st Street NE and to the main boarding concourse.

History

After groundbreaking in 1969, the station opened as Union Station-Visitor Center (National Visitor Center) on March 27, 1976, with the rest of the Red Line. It was renamed to simply "Union Station" in 1982 following the closure of the National Visitor Center. Union Station had dirtier walls than most stations as trains brought in soot from diesel engines in Union Station, resulting in a dimmer station. In March 2017, it was announced the station would be painted white at a cost of $75,000–$100,000. This sparked a debate amongst riders, as preservationists did not like the irrevocable act of painting the brutalist cavern, while other riders liked the brightened stations and cleaner feels that resulted from the white paint. Between January 15 to January 21, 2021, the station was closed because of security concerns due to the 2020 Inauguration. The street-level entrance on First Street, built into the existing retaining wall, was rebuilt to accessible-compliant standards, adding more space for extra fare gates and connections between the platform and track level. During initial construction of the station, a 600-foot (180-meter) pedestrian tunnel was constructed between the north mezzanine and H Street NE. However, prior to the station's opening, the tunnel was boarded up and the space is now used by WMATA to store equipment. There have been plans to incorporate the abandoned tunnel into future station planned improvements.