Saint Paul Union Depot

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
VAStationDude
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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby VAStationDude » January 23rd, 2014, 3:35 pm

Likely the bus terminal since the official Union Depot twitter account announced it. Though, I suppose, they could still operate on the street and have an understanding with SPUD as opposed to the unauthorized freeload at Chicago Union Depot.

at40man
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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby at40man » January 23rd, 2014, 4:38 pm

This is great news!

I'm curious what the clearance is beneath the waiting room. Amtrak Superliners are 16' 2", which is why they have the "bridge" at the end of the waiting room. I read that Megabuses generally are 13' tall. It certainly would be better if they stopped at the bus platform. The only other location near the depot where I could see them logistically stopping is in front of the new ticketing area. But that is used as a passenger drop-off zone.

And what an embarrassing blow for Greyhound.

Nevertheless, it is pretty exciting to see SPUD turning into a true multi-modal transit hub!

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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby mulad » January 23rd, 2014, 8:22 pm

The main height restriction for buses at Union Depot is the entrance at Kellogg and Broadway, where the new bike trail link (not yet connected to anything on the east end) crosses over the roadway. I'm pretty sure it's too tight for Megabus's double-decker equipment, but I'll try to remember to swing by there tomorrow to re-check the height.



There are a couple of ramps at the far eastern end of the train deck which don't have height restrictions -- one is used for a bikeway, while the other is a service road. However, they don't currently have a proper connection to the bus pickup/dropoff area, and I suspect the turns may be a bit too tight for them to ever be used for bus access. (I guess there is a way to do it, but it would probably cause a bus to bottom out climbing another small ramp, and has another sharp turn.)

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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby mulad » January 29th, 2014, 2:33 pm

I had gone over to SPUD last Friday to check for height restriction signs, but didn't find any for the main entrance. There is a limit of 7' 6" for the parking underneath the train deck, but the clearance for going under the bike bridge is much better than that -- the bike bridge is only about half as deep as the rest of the train deck, apparently.

Image

But it turns out that Megabus, which was supposed to start using SPUD today, isn't running any service to the Twin Cities right now -- the weather over the past couple of days has required them to cancel service (in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Louisiana, according to their site). They're working on getting their system back up and running today, but have decided to wait until tomorrow to get the leg to Minneapolis and Saint Paul running. https://www.facebook.com/uniondepot/pos ... 4593583226

I haven't heard any announcements of when Amtrak will start. I thought they were going to tell us about it on Monday. Amtrak's network has been somewhat screwed up by weather too, so maybe they're holding off a bit.

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Andrew_F
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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby Andrew_F » February 7th, 2014, 1:51 pm

I guess I haven't been keeping up with this thread, as I was caught totally off guard when the driver of the Megabus I'm sitting on announced that the Saint Paul stop has moved to SPUD (aka "Saint Paul Transit Center", but hey, at least we're not going to "Minnessippi" this time...)

Their weather service disruptions have been pretty lame lately. I had two scheduled trips cancelled day of last month.

I'll be able to confirm whether they're using the actual terminal or not tonight. If they are, it will be the first time I've ever seen a full-on Megabus route use an actual intercity terminal. The Coach USA locals use them all the time, but they operate under a different model than the routes marketed under the Megabus name.

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Andrew_F
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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby Andrew_F » February 8th, 2014, 12:19 am

The bus did indeed stop at the terminal proper.

mplser
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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby mplser » February 10th, 2014, 9:21 pm

that was much more than a week ago. anyone hear of any actual opening date for Amtrak?

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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby Silophant » February 10th, 2014, 9:34 pm

Nope. Apparently the continuous bone-chilling cold is causing problems.
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commissioner
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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby commissioner » February 10th, 2014, 9:36 pm

Doubt it will be before spring, BNSF still has signals that need to be finished and they didn't want to do it over the winter.

Wedgeguy
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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby Wedgeguy » February 12th, 2014, 5:57 pm

BNSF has enough problems and issues right now with the Northstar trackage that they need to get crews working on.

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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby mulad » February 12th, 2014, 8:09 pm

Corporations are indeed capable of doing more than one thing at a time.

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mister.shoes
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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby mister.shoes » February 12th, 2014, 9:02 pm

It's been proven repeatedly that people can't actually multi-task.

*cough*
The problem with being an introvert online is that no one knows you're just hanging out and listening.

Didier
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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby Didier » February 23rd, 2014, 10:31 am

Any chance Obama's visit corresponds to some sort of announcement here?

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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby Silophant » February 23rd, 2014, 12:16 pm

Hope so! We're well overdue for more news, at least.
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mplser
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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby mplser » February 23rd, 2014, 3:57 pm

what about Obama?

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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby mulad » February 23rd, 2014, 4:12 pm


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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby mulad » February 25th, 2014, 9:01 pm

Looks like vehicle traffic is going to mostly be cut off in a roughly 2 block radius around the depot for the presidential visit, which includes parts of Kellogg Boulevard and Shepard / Warner Road -- certainly no access at Sibley, and probably not at Jackson Street either, except maybe in the 4-5 pm range. MVTA is assuming the depot will be closed all day, and Metro Transit is detouring most routes that directly serve the depot from the wee hour of 4 am until 5 pm. For routes on the 5th / 6th Street main trunks in downtown St. Paul, it looks like things will be pretty normal west of Sibley (Mears Park), but a few seem to be more messed up than that.

http://www.metrotransit.org/presidential-visit-detours
http://www.metrotransit.org/presidentia ... -detours-1
http://www.metrotransit.org/presidentia ... -detours-2

Jefferson Lines claims that passengers will be able to board as normal at the depot, but any tickets would need to be picked up over in Minneapolis at Hawthorne (say wha?). I haven't seen any notices for Megabus. Probably best to call up those companies a few hours ahead to figure out what the real deal is (basically the question should be, "Can I board in Minneapolis?").

http://www.ridejeffersonlines.com/presi ... n-st-paul/

mattaudio
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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby mattaudio » February 25th, 2014, 10:36 pm

Rumblings are there may be an announcement about Tiger 3 tomorrow.

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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby Silophant » February 25th, 2014, 10:49 pm

That's the program that helped fund the Interchange, right?
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mulad
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Re: Saint Paul Union Depot

Postby mulad » February 25th, 2014, 11:51 pm

I think we're up to the fifth or sixth iteration now...

SPUD got $35 million under TIGER I (FY2009). In TIGER II, there was a bridge project in Staples, MN (crossing over the BNSF tracks/yard and US-10 -- a project I remember Chuck Marohn didn't like at all) and a bit of change for the St. Paul Complete Streets plan. The Interchange got $10 million under TIGER III. The state of Minnesota didn't get anything under TIGER IV, as far as I can tell. For TIGER V (FY2013), there's a "Minnesota Rural Roads ITS" project ("Intelligent Transportation Systems"? -- digital signage and the like?) and "Port of Duluth Intermodal".

http://www.dot.gov/tiger


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