KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Amtrak passengers will be displaced from Kansas City Union Station for five days beginning April 26 as the landmark facility hosts the NFL Draft.
Passengers will need to use a shuttle bus arriving and departing west of the station on West 25th Street or face a 15-minute walk to the station platform, according to an Amtrak advisory. A map of the shuttle-bus location is below. No parking is available in usual locations adjacent to the station and some neighboring streets are closed. With those restrictions and anticipated additional traffic, the passenger operator is suggesting that passengers arrive at least 2 hours ahead of their scheduled train time.
Shuttles will run from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.; from 1:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., and from 8:45 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. Ride-share services will also operate from the West 25th Street location.
The station is served by the Southwest Chief and Missouri River Runner. The eastbound Chief is scheduled to arrive at 6:53 a.m. and depart at 7:28 a.m., while the westbound Chief is scheduled for a 10 p.m. arrival and 10:42 p.m. departure. Missouri River Runners depart at 8:40 a.m. and 4 p.m. and arrive at 1:55 p.m. and 8:45 p.m.
The NFL draft will be held April 27-29. More information is available here on other closures and disruptions at Union Station.
I’m curious, how many Amtrak passengers use the station on an average day?
Pretty sure this never be allowed to happen in New York City’s Penn Station or Grand Central Terminal or at Washington Union Station or even Phildelphia or Chicago. This just goes to show what is controlling this country now The big bucks sports leagues and sports businesses. I’m pretty sure the NFL could have their pick of any arena or convention hall and not have to take over a major transportation hub and inconvience thousands of travellers needing and wanting to take the train to their destinations. Once again another case of Amtrak and passenger rail travel being treated like stepchilden and unwanted.
Joseph C. Markfelder
Wanna bet that the nfl wouldn’t commandeer the stations you mentioned?
I used to favor Amtrak returning to great stations of yesteryear but not anymore. These cities woo Amtrak into these old stations. Once they do (St. Paul and Kansas City for example) Amtrak becomes the unwanted step child.
Ridiculous. NFL has all of USA, Mexico and England to hold its draft.
Probably all depends on the language in their lease agreement – whatever was negotiated at the time.
Here’s another idea. Move out of Kansas City Union Station and move the stop to Kansas City, KANSAS. I lost interest in the nfl when it went woke. This move possibly killed any further interest I have in the nfl. Bet if Reistrup, Claytor or Gunn were still Amtrak president, Amtrak wouldn’t have assumed the position and grabbed its ankles. Sadly Amtrak has been doing that since Boardman.
Looks like KC’s indoor arena, the T-Mobile Center, holds 19,252 for concerts. It has arena seating, concessions, washrooms.
Other than the NFL gets what it wants when it wants it, how is KC Union Station better for this event than an actual arena?
KC does not have either an NBA or NHL team. There doesn’t seem to be a Division 1 NCAA basketball team that plays in KCMO. The building has hosted NCAA basketball tournaments.
Amtrak is already a minor presence in the “Station”, shunted off to a small side area away from the great hall. Truth is, the main building is no longer a “train station”. It is a tourist attraction.
– Ed Kyle
Same with St. Paul Union Depot
That stinks. What is a person to do if they parked at the alternative location and return 2 weeks later and their car is not at the station…and it’s raining…hard. Similar thing happened to me. waited an hour for a cab in the rain.
The NFL Draft should be held in Kansas City’s convention centre or the ballroom of one of its major hotels. Major league sports hog airtime on television (a nuisance for non-sports fans). And now the NFL is hogging a railway terminal.
Better yet, a football stadium, say, in Buffalo, dead of winter.
Amtrak has its priorities. Here, it’s clearly the NFL Draft. As a dividend, it clearly discurages long distance travel even further.
This is total garbage on the part of the nfl and the city of Kansas City. Amtrak as usual these days just bends over and submit.
When super bowl 52 was in Mpls in 2018, the Vikings closed off the concourse at Union Depot so Amtrak passengers had to gather by the ticket office below the concourse and walk a great distance to board and detain for #7.
As an Amtrak employee in St. Paul told me shortly after moving in from Midway Station ‘Union Depot is not a train station. It’s an event center where the train happens to stop. Sounds like Kansas City Union Station is the same.
I’ll end my rant in saying, Amtrak should move back to Midway.
This is not something that should be tolerated by Amtrak. They use the station on a daily basis with not one but several trains. The Southwest Chief also provides for baggage service. What are those passengers supposed to do? As mentioned it seems Kanas City does not value the fact that many of their local citizens and visitors come or go by train. This station is an old large building. With good planning I am sure there could have been other arraignments done to accommodate the passengers through the building with just letting passengers know no regular services inside the building would be available.
I couldn’t agree more.
After my horrible experience there in 2017, it is painfully obvious to me that Kansas City does not value the rail passengers who pass through their city.