Uptown Station

Uptown Station Bloomington–Normal, IL
General information
Location	11 Uptown Circle Normal, Illinois United States
Coordinates	40°30′31″N 88°59′03″W / 40.50861°N 88.98417°W / 40.50861; -88.98417
Owned by	Town of Normal
Line(s)	UP Joliet Subdivision
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	Amtrak Thruway Burlington Trailways Connect Transit Peoria Charter SHOW Bus
Construction
Parking	380 spaces
Accessible	Yes
Architect	Ratio Architects
Architectural style	Four-story red brick structure with limestone lintels and doorways
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: BNL
History
Opened	1990
Rebuilt	2012
Passengers
FY 2023	203,842[1] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Lincoln toward St. Louis Lincoln Service Pontiac toward Chicago Lincoln toward Los Angeles or San Antonio Texas Eagle
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Lincoln toward Laredo or Houston Inter-American Pontiac toward Chicago Lincoln toward Springfield Loop Preceding station Alton Railroad Following station Bloomington toward St. Louis Main Line Towanda toward Chicago Preceding station Illinois Central Railroad Following station Panola toward Freeport Freeport – Centralia Colonial toward Centralia
Location

Uptown Station is an intermodal transportation center^[2] in Normal, Illinois, United States. It is served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system, and is the major intercity rail station in north-central Illinois. It appears on Amtrak timetables as Bloomington–Normal.

Amtrak runs two routes through the station–the Lincoln Service and the Texas Eagle. This was also a stop for the Ann Rutledge until April 2007. Amtrak Thruway motorcoach routes serve the station via Davenport, Galesburg, Peoria, Champaign-Urbana, and Indianapolis.

In 2022, 178,018 train passengers boarded or alighted from Amtrak trains at Uptown Station, making it the second busiest Amtrak station in Illinois behind Chicago^[3] This is primarily due to the large number of passengers traveling to and from Chicago and St. Louis. In 2019 Uptown station was the 44th busiest Amtrak station in the United States with 229,894 passengers.^[4]

The original station serving Bloomington-Normal was Bloomington Union Depot.^[5] This station was located on Bloomington's west side, just south of West Washington Street and on the west side of the Chicago & Alton Railroad tracks.^[5][6] It had been constructed in the mid-1880s, and survived well into the Amtrak era because Bloomington-Normal is located along the most direct route from Chicago to St. Louis.^[5] The station was closed on June 10, 1990 to be replaced by a much smaller facility in Normal.^[5][6] Seven years later, on October 31, 1997, a then-partially demolished Union Station was destroyed by fire.^[5][6]

The original Normal station was built to the specifications of the Amtrak Standard Stations Program.^[5][7] Located near the campus of Illinois State University, this station lasted until the new facility opened in 2012.^[5]

On August 7, 2010, construction began on a new intermodal facility, located across the tracks from the 1990 facility. The new facility includes administrative offices and council chambers for the town in addition to serving Amtrak, city and long-distance buses.^[2][5] The facility opened on June 14, 2012.^[8] Construction, which cost between $43 and $47 million, was funded by a combination of federal, state and local grants.^[9][10]

The new 68,000-square-foot (6,300 m²) transportation center was designed by Ratio Architects of Champaign; it is composed primarily of red brick with limestone trim.^[11] The building's prominent corner clock tower has become a landmark for the neighborhood. Numerous environmentally sustainable features are also included, such as a green roof partially planted in vegetation that will absorb rainwater and cool the building; the rest of the roof is covered in reflective materials to deflect sunlight.^[11]

Bus transportation providers are: ^[12]

• Burlington Trailways^[13] between Indianapolis, IN and Burlington, IA
• Connect Transit regular routes A, B, D, E, G, H, I, and Nite Ride and Redbird Express serving Illinois State University.
• Peoria Charter: Peoria – O'Hare/Midway^[14]

Media related to Uptown Station at Wikimedia Commons

• Bloomington-Normal, IL – Amtrak
• Bloomington-Normal, IL – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• Bloomington-Normal, IL – Texas Eagle (Amtrak)
• Bloomington-Normal Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide – Train Web)
• Uptown Normal Webcam of Multimodal Station Construction (Normal.org)