Providence station

{{short description|Railway station in Providence, Rhode Island, US}} {{for|the metro station in Belgium|Providence metro station}} {{Use American English|date=February 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox station | name = Providence, RI | style = Amtrak | image = Providence Station 2015.jpg | image_caption = Providence station in 2015 | alt = A low concrete building seen from across a lawn. It has a square clock tower at one corner and a low dome at its center. | address = 100 Gaspee Street | borough = Providence, Rhode Island | country = United States | coordinates = {{coord|41.82909|-71.41325|type:railwaystation_region:US-RI |display=inline,title}} | owned = Amtrak | line = Amtrak Northeast Corridor | platform = 2 island platforms | tracks = 5 (4 passenger; 1 freight) | connections = {{ubl|{{bus icon|12px}} RIPTA: {{MBTA other buses|Providence RIPTA}}|{{bus icon}} {{MBTA other buses|Providence Thruway}}}} | parking = Yes | bicycle = Yes | accessible = Yes | code = {{Amtrak code|PVD}} | iata = ZRV | opened = 1986 | mpassengers = {{rail pass box|system=Amtrak|passengers={{Amtrak ridership|Providence}} annually{{Amtrak ridership|citationRI}}|pass_year={{Amtrak ridership|date}}}} {{rail pass box|system=MBTA|passengers=1,462 daily boardings<ref name=CRcounts>{{MBTA Commuter Rail 2024 ridership}}</ref>|pass_year=2024}} | services_collapsible=yes | services = {{Adjacent stations |system1=Amtrak |line1=Acela Express|left1=New Haven|right1=Route 128 |line2=Northeast Regional|left2=Kingston|right2=Route 128|to-right2=Boston South |system3=MBTA |line3=Providence/Stoughton|left3=T. F. Green Airport|right3=Pawtucket/Central Falls|to-left3=Wickford Junction |line4=Foxboro event Providence|left4=|right4=Pawtucket/Central Falls }} | other_services2_header = Former services | other_services2_collapsible = yes | other_services2 = {{Adjacent stations|system1=Amtrak |line1=Cape Codder|left1=New Haven|right1=Attleboro|note-mid1=1986–1996|note-right1=1986–1989 |line2=Cape Codder|left2=New Haven|right2=Taunton|note-mid2=1986–1996 |note-row3=See Union Station (Providence) for earlier services }} | mapframe = yes | mapframe-marker-color = #000 | route_map={{Providence station|inline=1}} | map_state=collapsed }}

'''Providence station''' is a railroad station in Providence, Rhode Island, served by Amtrak and MBTA Commuter Rail. The station has four tracks and two island platforms for passenger service, with a fifth track passing through for Providence and Worcester Railroad freight trains. It is now the 11th busiest Amtrak station in the country, and the second-busiest on the MBTA Commuter Rail system outside of Boston.<ref name=CRcounts /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=am%2FLayout&cid=1246041980246 |title=Amtrak National Facts |publisher=Amtrak |access-date=5 September 2015 |archive-date=30 May 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120530155151/http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=am/Layout&cid=1246041980246 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The station was built in 1986, replacing the former Union Station, during a project to remove elevated tracks from downtown Providence. It is fully accessible for all trains.

==Design and service== thumb|left|The domed interior of the station The station was designed in the Washington, D.C. office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill by Milo Meacham under the direction of Marilyn Jordan Taylor. It is a simple building in the brutalist style, with a large square clocktower. Although largely subterranean and lacking the grand scale that was possible when Union Station was built in 1898, the station has been positively received by critics. The project received a citation in the 1983 Progressive Architecture Awards. Local architectural historian William McKenzie Woodward lauded the building for its aesthetics, calling its saucer dome "an obvious yet very gracious gesture toward the State House".<ref>{{cite book |last=Woodward |first=William McKenzie |title=Guide to Providence Architecture' |year=2003 |isbn=9780974284705 |pages=303–304 |publisher=Providence Preservation Society}}</ref> In 2010, ''Architect'' praised the forethought of the designers in planning for the revitalization of Providence's downtown, saying that "[i]ts design accommodated the complex geometries of a circulation pattern oriented toward the Capitol and a structure aligned with the tracks, while its splayed plan opened out to what was then an imagined city, one that Providence eventually made happen."<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.architectmagazine.com/transportation-projects/providence-in-providence.aspx |title=Providence in Providence |date=16 February 2010 |journal=Architect |author=Fisher, Thomas |access-date=5 July 2014}}</ref>

Providence station is served by two Amtrak intercity routes – ''Acela Express'' and the ''Northeast Regional'' – both of which run between Boston and Washington, D.C. Amtrak Thruway bus service connects Providence with {{amtk|Worcester}} and New Bedford.<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://media.amtrak.com/2023/08/providence-bus-service/ |title=Amtrak Introduces New Round Trip Bus Service for New Bedford and Worcester, Mass. Via Providence |date=August 3, 2023 |publisher=Amtrak}}</ref> It is also served by MBTA Commuter Rail Providence/Stoughton Line commuter service, which runs between {{bts|Wickford Junction}} and Boston. Providence is the southern terminus of some weekday service and all weekend service on the line. In a 2018 count, Providence averaged 2,091 inbound MBTA passengers on weekdays, making it the second-busiest station on the system (after {{bts|Salem}}) outside of Boston<ref name=CRcounts />

The station has four passenger tracks serving two island platforms, plus the FRIP (Freight Rail Improvement Project) freight track on the west side. The south platform is usually used by Amtrak, while the north platform is usually used by the MBTA. The FRIP track is used by Providence and Worcester Railroad freight trains, plus MBTA trains south of Providence station.<ref name=nec>{{cite web |url=https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot.gov/files/fra_net/15016/2010-05%20NEC%20Infrastructure%20Master%20Plan.pdf |title=The Northeast Corridor Infrastructure Master Plan |work=Part II: page 7 |publisher=Amtrak |date=May 2010 |author=The NEC Master Plan Working Group}}</ref>

Kennedy Plaza, the main hub for RIPTA bus service, is located {{convert|1/4|mi|km|sigfig=1|spell=in}} to the south along Exchange Street. RIPTA routes {{MBTA other buses|Providence RIPTA Park Row|yes}} stop at the south side of Providence station on Park Row; routes {{MBTA other buses|Providence RIPTA Gaspee|yes}} stop on Gaspee Street on the north side of the station. {{clear|left}}

==History== <!--left|thumb|Union Station in 1885, eleven years before it was destroyed by fire--> thumb|left|The second Union Station, which has been renovated for other uses Providence's first railroad station was built in 1835 by the Boston and Providence Railroad at India Point.<ref name=history>{{cite web |url=https://sites.google.com/site/rrstationsofprovidence/home |title=A HISTORY OF THE RAILROAD STATIONS WHICH SERVED PROVIDENCE RHODE ISLAND |author=Ozog, Edward J. |access-date=22 March 2012}}</ref> The Providence and Stonington built a depot at Crary Street in South Providence in 1838, and the two were soon connected by a ferry service.<ref name=history />

The first through service stopped at Union Station, a brick edifice built in 1847 by the Providence & Worcester, Providence & Stonington, and Boston & Providence Railroads. It was designed by 21-year-old architect Thomas Alexander Tefft.<ref name=history /> The building was lost to fire in 1896 and was replaced by a larger Union Station, completed in 1898 by the New Haven Railroad. It consisted of five large brick structures, which still form the northern side of Kennedy Plaza in the center of Downtown Providence.

Amtrak has served Providence since its inception in 1971, with Northeast Corridor trains from Boston to New York and Washington. Local commuter service - both intrastate service and service to Boston - has been intermittent during this era. After Penn Central discontinued its New London-to-Boston commuter train in 1972, Rhode Island sponsored a short-lived Westerly-to-Providence service (which lasted until 1979) in addition to the MBTA's Providence-to-Boston service.<ref name="netransit">{{NETransit}}</ref> Sunday service ended in October 1977 and off-peak and Saturday service ended in April 1979 due to Rhode Island's limited subsidies; rush-hour service ceased on February 20, 1981.<ref name=netransit />

In 1986, the Northeast Corridor through Providence was relocated north to free up land from a mass of elevated tracks, popularly called the "Chinese Wall," that had hemmed in downtown Providence. The new and smaller station was built across Gaspee Street from the Rhode Island State House. The five tracks and two platforms are located below ground level underneath the station building.

Rush-hour MBTA commuter service began again (to the new station) in February 1988, with off-peak service added in December 2000 and weekend service added in July 2006.<ref name=netransit /> A new layover facility for MBTA commuter trains, located north of the station in Pawtucket, opened in 2006, allowing the MBTA to increase service to the city. Service was further extended to {{bts|T.F. Green Airport}} in December 2010 and to {{bts|Wickford Junction}} in April 2012.<ref name=netransit /> Additionally, some game-day service to {{bts|Foxboro}} has run from Providence since 1997, as well as from 1971 to 1973.<ref name=hopefully>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68251470/the-boston-globe/ |first=A.S. |last=Plotkin |title=Parking facilities can handle 15,000 cars hopefully, so can Rte. 1's four lanes |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=August 11, 1971 |page=51 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101752921/the-boston-globe/ |title=Patriots halt train service |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=October 25, 1973 |page=50 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101755419/the-boston-globe/ |title=[Advertisement] |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=October 11, 1996 |page=90 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60718319/the-boston-globe/ |title=If you're going to the game... |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=September 14, 1997 |page=64 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Special trains run for New England Patriots football games as well as some New England Revolution soccer games and college sporting events. The first revenue Acela Express service to Providence was on December 11, 2000, concurrent with the expansion of MBTA service.<ref name=netransit />

In August 2019, the Federal Railroad Administration awarded RIDOT up to $12.5 million for a 'major rehabilitation' of the station.<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://railroads.dot.gov/newsroom/us-transportation-secretary-elaine-l-chao-announces-272-million-%E2%80%98state-good-repair%E2%80%99-program |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828051257/https://railroads.dot.gov/newsroom/us-transportation-secretary-elaine-l-chao-announces-272-million-%25E2%2580%2598state-good-repair%25E2%2580%2599-program |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 28, 2019 |title=U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao Announces $272 Million in 'State of Good Repair' Program Grants |publisher=Federal Railroad Administration |date=August 21, 2019}}</ref> The $25 million project is also funded by RIDOT ($5.25 million) and Amtrak ($7.25 million).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190819/arriving-soon-25m-makeover-at-providence-station |title=Arriving soon: $25M makeover at Providence Station |newspaper=Providence Journal |date=August 19, 2019 |first=Patrick |last=Anderson}}</ref> In March 2025, RIPTA identified two sites adjacent to the station as preferred locations for a new bus terminal to replace Kennedy Plaza.<ref>{{cite report |url=https://www.ripta.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Task-2-part-1_2025.3.28_published.pdf |title=Providence Transit Center Joint Development Project Task 2, Part I – Site Evaluations & Commercial Feasibility |date=March 2025 |publisher=Rhode Island Public Transit Authority}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite journal | last1=Young | first1=Henry S. | last2=Shaw | first2=Robert B. | last3=Lee | first3=K. Wayne | title=Trip Generation Study of Passenger Rail Station at Providence, Rhode Island | journal=Transportation Research Record | volume=1677 | issue=1 | date=1999 | issn=0361-1981 | pages=10–20 | doi=10.3141/1677-02 | s2cid=108765637 }}

== External links == {{commons category}} {{Amtrak web|PVD|Providence, RI}} *[https://www.mbta.com/stops/place-NEC-1851 Providence – MBTA]

{{Amtrak Rhode Island stations}}

Category:Amtrak stations in Rhode Island Category:MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Rhode Island Category:Stations on the Northeast Corridor Category:Transportation in Providence, Rhode Island Category:Transportation buildings and structures in Providence County, Rhode Island Category:Buildings and structures in Providence, Rhode Island Category:Railway stations in the United States opened in 1986 Category:Clock towers in Rhode Island Category:Towers in Rhode Island Category:1986 establishments in Rhode Island