Why are there so many Union Stations in America?

The short answer

Many train stations in the United States are named Union Station because it was common for private railroad companies to collaborate on building a single shared terminal within a city in an effort to save money and make train travel more convenient for passengers.

The long answer

If you've ever traveled by train in the United States, you've probably come through one of our many Union Stations.

Here's a picture of me outside of a Union Station on a blustery day in 2016 when I lived in Washington, D.C.

There's a good reason for this common name (and it's not that Americans are simply uninspired when it comes to train station naming).

The name "Union Station" originated from the fact that these train stations were joint ventures of multiple private railroad companies that operated in the same city. Rather than have each railroad company build and run through its own terminals in different spots in a city, these companies decided to come together to build a central station to save money and make train travel more convenient for passengers.

Indianapolis boasts the world's first Union Station, which opened in 1853. Four companies – the Peru and Indianapolis Railroad Company, Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad Company, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad Company, and Indianapolis and Bellefontaine Railroad Company – worked together to build the innovative station and connect the tracks.

An 1852 railroad map of Indianapolis. Red circles note the original terminals of the four railroad companies that joined together to create the first Union Station. The site of the Union Station is noted as a yellow star. Source of original: ​Library of Congress​

The popularity of these Union Stations grew throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In total, there have been 106 railway stations in the United States that have ever used the name "Union Station." Our friend to the north, Canada, also seemingly jumped on the trend and has had five Union Stations of its own.

However, many of these Union Stations are either no longer in existence or no longer serve as train stations, as automobile and airline travel became more popular and siphoned off much of the demand for trains.

Are Union Stations only found in the United States?

No, other countries do have similar stations, but they're far more common in the United States. In European and Asian countries, these types of stations are more often called joint stations, joint-use stations, or common stations.

While many non-American countries have a history of nationalized rail (i.e. the government owns and operates the trains and railroads), there have been periods of time when multiple private railroads have existed and thus created the need for a joint station.

A European "Union Station" in Brno which kept the name but no longer is a multi-railroad-company station since the railroads have been nationalized. "​Brno - Hlavní nádraží​" by ​Kirk979​ is licensed under ​CC BY-SA 3.0​.

For example, in Brno, Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic), a "společné nádraží" (common station) was built before the government nationalized the rail system.

There are also "joint stations" in places near borders where two state-owned railroad companies meet. But it's the United States, with its long history of a private railroad industry, that overwhelmingly has had the most Union Stations.

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Sources

Bilger, N. (2018, October 21). History of Indianapolis Union Station, Part 1. Historic Indianapolis. https://historicindianapolis.com/history-of-indianapolis-union-station-part-1/

Fandom, Inc. (n.d.). List of Union stations. Cooperatives Wiki. https://coop.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Union_stations

Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit. (2023, July 12). Why are there so many Union Stations across the United States?. Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit. https://www.frrandp.com/2023/07/why-are-there-so-many-union-stations.html

Jaffe, E. (2013, April 3). Why Are There Still So Many Train Stations Named Penn Station?. Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-04-03/why-are-there-still-so-many-train-stations-named-penn-station

John, K. (2023, June 7). Who Owns the Railroad Tracks in North America?. Railinc. https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-faq/who-owns-us-railroad-tracks/

Simpson, R. M. (2019, March 3). Indianapolis Union Station: How the Tracks Came to Be. Indiana Transportation History. https://intransporthistory.home.blog/2019/03/07/indianapolis-union-station-how-the-tracks-came-to-be/