Amtrak Standard Stations Program

[1] Elsewhere, route realignments, ownership conflicts, or a lack of existing facilities required the construction of new station houses.

[1] Additionally, existing grand terminals in many large cities were larger than Amtrak needed and were expensive to retain.

[1] The program's manual outlined the reasoning for such efforts: Amtrak is not a railroad of the past, but rather, a transportation system of the present and future.

We must compete with the airlines and their jetports, the interstate highway system and its convenient and modern service stations and restaurants, and inter-city busses with their new or upgraded terminals.

[1][2] A prominent cantilevered, flat black metal roof was to sit atop the buildings, with deep eaves to protect passengers from bad weather.

[1][5] Often, the top edge of the walls had a band of clerestory windows, which from a distance provided an optical illusion that the roof was floating above the station.