Wilmington station (Delaware)

History

The station replaced an earlier station erected by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.

It was built in 1907 for $300,000 (equal to $ today) by the PW&B successor, the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was designed by renowned architect Frank Furness, who also designed the adjacent Pennsylvania Railroad Building (which housed the offices for the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad) and the nearby Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Water Street Station. The Pennsylvania Railroad Building has since been renovated; as of 2014, it holds the offices of ING Direct United States.

Admired for his use of new and innovative materials and his forceful architectural statements, Furness chose to have the trains move right through the second floor of the station, with room for a ticketing and retail concourse at ground level underneath the tracks. This unconventional arrangement celebrated the power of the locomotive and America's industrial strength. The north end of the station has a four-faced rectangular clock tower that rises an extra story above the main roof. It is decorated with stone and terra cotta work that is repeated in plainer form throughout the station.

Wilmington Station has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. A renovation project was conducted in 1984.

In 2009, the station began a two-year restoration; about two-thirds of the $37.7 million in funding came from United States government stimulus funds. During construction, customer operations, including platform access, were moved to a temporary station next door.

On March 19, 2011, the station's name was changed from Wilmington Station to Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Railroad Station. The ceremony honored U.S. Vice President (and later President) Joe Biden, who took over 7,000 round trips from the station to Washington, D.C. during his U.S. Senate career and was noted as an advocate for Amtrak and passenger rail more generally. On January 20, 2017, within an hour after completing his tenure as vice president, Biden boarded an Amtrak Acela train in Washington, D.C. bound for his namesake station.

The adjacent Wilmington Transit Center for DART First State bus service opened in May 2020. A $11.6 million renovation of the station, which included two new escalators, was completed in October 2023.

Services

Trains

The station is served by Amtrak Northeast Regional and Acela trains along the Northeast Corridor going south to Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and going north to Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston. It is also served by several long-distance trains including the Cardinal to Chicago, the Carolinian to Charlotte, the Crescent to New Orleans, the Palmetto to Savannah, the Silver Meteor to Miami, and the Vermonter to St. Albans, Vermont. Amtrak Thruway service is provided through the station to Dover, Delaware and Salisbury, Maryland via Greyhound Lines.

Despite being just 25 miles south of Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, the third-busiest Amtrak station in the country, Wilmington Station is a major Amtrak station in its own right. It is the seventh-busiest Amtrak station in the Mid-Atlantic region (behind New York Penn, Washington Union, 30th Street, Baltimore Penn, Albany-Rensselaer and BWI) and the 13th-busiest nationwide.

It is also served by SEPTA Regional Rail's Wilmington/Newark Line with service to Center City Philadelphia and Newark, Delaware. Like all stations in Delaware, SEPTA service is provided under contract and funded through DART First State, which also provides extensive local bus service as they have since 1994.

Intercity buses

Greyhound Lines intercity buses stop at the Wilmington Bus Station adjacent to the Wilmington station at 101 North French Street. The bus terminal is attached to the station's parking garage. Greyhound Lines provides direct, one-seat ride service from the bus terminal to various cities including Baltimore, New York City, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Richmond, and Washington, D.C.

Local transit

DART First State bus routes serving Wilmington station include 2, 5, 6, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 28, 33, 35, 40, 301, and 305 (seasonally). Most buses stop at the Wilmington Transit Center adjacent to the station.

The Wilmington Transit Center was built as a DART First State bus hub adjacent to Wilmington station. A groundbreaking ceremony for the transit center was held on November 19, 2018, with Governor John Carney, U.S. Senator Tom Carper, Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki, DelDOT Secretary Jennifer Cohan, and DART First State CEO John Sisson in attendance. The Wilmington Transit Center serves most DART First State bus routes in Wilmington and includes a covered waiting area with seats, real-time bus displays, a ticket sales office, restrooms, vending machines, bicycle racks, and parking. Construction of the transit center cost $19 million and opened on May 17, 2020.

References

References

1. "Wilmington Station".
2. (April 16, 2023). "Wilmington/Newark Line Timetable".
3. (October 1, 1928). "Electric Trains in Service on Pennsy". The Every Evening.
4. (February 9, 1935). "N.Y.-Washington Electric Train Service Starts Sunday on P.R.R.". [[The Home News Tribune.
5. (June 2020). "Fiscal Year 2021 Service Plan Update". [[SEPTA]].
6. {{NRISref
7. [http://www.greatamericanstations.com/Stations/WIL/Station_view Great American Stations]. Accessed March 8, 2013.
8. [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/DE/New+Castle/state8.html New Castle County Listings at the National Register of Historic Places (Building – #76000581)]
9. The National Register added the adjacent railroad viaduct in 1999. SEPTA has been running to Wilmington since 1989.[http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/DE/New+Castle/state8.html New Castle County Listings at the National Register of Historic Places (Structure – #99001276)]
10. Taylor, Adam. (April 3, 2010). "Delaware transportation: For now, it's a headache on all sides of the tracks". Gannett.
11. Travers, Karen. (March 16, 2011). "'Amtrak Joe' Biden Gets His Own Train Station". [[ABC News (United States).
12. Bothum, Kelly. (March 19, 2011). "Biden: 'I don't deserve' Amtrak station honor". [[The News Journal]].
13. Cherry, Amy. (January 20, 2017). "VIDEO: Crowd cheers, chants 'Welcome Home Joe' for the homecoming of Delaware's own". WDEL.
14. (May 20, 2020). "New DART bus hub opens near train station". Delaware Business Now.
15. (October 23, 2023). "Amtrak Completes Wilmington Station Renovations". Amtrak.
16. "Wilmington Bus Station". Greyhound Lines.
17. (November 19, 2018). "Groundbreaking for Wilmington Transit Center Celebrated Today". DART First State.
18. "Join DART for a Community Conversation". DART First State.
19. "DART Statewide Service Change – Effective: Sunday, May 17, 2020". DART First State.