L.A.’s Union Station rolls out new lounge for premium passengers

Taking a page from tony airline lounges, Los Angeles Union Station on Thursday officially opened its first-class Metropolitan Lounge for train passengers.

The second-story lounge features leather chairs with movable laptop desks, free Wi-Fi, a snack area and a conference room that premium passengers may reserve for meetings.

Who can use the space in Union Station? Sleeping-car passengers on long-haul routes — such as the Coast Starlight between Los Angeles and Seattle or on the Southwest Chief from L.A. to Chicago — as well as business-class Pacific Surfliner passengers with same-day tickets may use the new space. Amtrak Guest Rewards members at the Select Plus and Select Executive levels also get access.

“It really took a village to get this together,” Marcos Gonzalez, Union Station’s assistant superintendent, said during ceremonies Thursday while thanking a long list of people. The lounge had been open for about two weeks before the ceremony.

From ground level, premium passengers take an elevator and enter the lounge from a reception area. The lounge area had been an employee gym and offices before being transformed by builders Gingerich Construction, architects Rengel & Associates and interior designer Laura McCants.

There are lots of nice artistic touches too. Original paintings of trains and stations by Eric Smith and classic rail posters decorate the walls. There are also cases filled with rail memorabilia and model trains, and a sculpture by Yuan Xijunm, “Pioneer of Railway Construction,” that pays tribute to early Chinese American rail workers.

The lounge replaces a pre-boarding area near Traxx restaurant that had been open to premium passengers. It will be open 5 a.m.-10 p.m.

Union Station is Amtrak’s fifth-busiest station in the country, serving 1.7-million passengers annually. Other such lounges exist in Chicago, Portland, Ore.; Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Mary.Forgione@latimes.com
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