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Discover Kansas City Between Trains

  • Discover Kansas City Between Trains

    A Guide for Amtrak Passengers

     
    Kansas City's Amtrak Station is at the heart of this great city, the "Heart of America."
    Many of Kansas City's most popular attractions can be reached easily from here,
    either on foot or by local public transit. Check us out, and come back when you
    can stay longer. Here are more than a dozen ways to make your stay in
    Kansas City a treat.

    Within Walking Distance…
    UNION STATION / SCIENCE CITY - Built in 1914, this monumental
    structure has been completely refurbished and now includes shops
    and eating places, as well as Science City at Union Station, an Iwerks theater,
    live theaters, and a planetarium.

    Admission to the station itself is free; admission to Science City is up to $12,
    but free if you are a member of a cooperating museum. Get there by going
    up to the Main Street level and exiting the Amtrak station, then walk about
    100 yards down the street to your right. Enter Union Station through the
    Transit Center entrance off Main Street, or through the main entrance on the south
    side of the station. (Amtrak will be moving its station back to Union Station in the
    Fall of 2001.) Trolley tours of the city ($7) leave from the Transit Center on the
    West side of the station.

    CROWN CENTER - This massive project just south and east of the Amtrak station
    surrounds the corporate headquarters of Hallmark Cards. It includes a shopping
    center, movie theaters, "Kaleidoscope" children's center, ice skating (in season),
    legitimate theaters, two convention hotels, apartments, and a number of commercial
    office buildings. Explore much of the complex via "The Link," an enclosed, elevated
    walkway that you can enter from the Union Station Transit Center on Main Street,
    just south of the Amtrak station.

    CHECK OUT THE TRAINS - Kansas City is the second busiest rail freight hub in the US
    after Chicago. Dozens of cross-country freight trains of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe,
    the Union Pacific, and other railroads pass by the Amtrak station every day, and you can get a
    first-class view of them from Science City's "Train Room". Five miles east of the station the
    new $55 million Sheffield bridge carries BNSF trains over the north-south tracks of the UP
    and Kansas City Southern railroads, eliminating one of the nation's busiest rail bottlenecks.

    Just a Transit Trip Away…
    DOWNTOWN KANSAS CITY - Catch the blue north/south "Downtowner" shuttle
    bus weekdays at the stop on Main Street just outside the Amtrak station entrance.
    Fare is 25 cents. Ask for a transfer and use it to return free. Downtown attractions
    include:

    KANSAS CITY STEAKS / BBQ

    THE VISUAL ARTS - Take #56 or #57 bus south to 45th and Main, walk one block
    east to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, 45th and Warwick, then through
    the grounds of the Kansas City Art Institute to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,
    45th and Oak. Excellent Chinese collection plus outdoor sculpture garden (collection
    of Henry Moore sculptures) and whimsical giant shuttlecocks on north and south
    lawn. A real gem in the Heartland.

    COUNTRY CLUB PLAZA - Developed by J.C. Nichols beginning in the 1920's,
    this unique shopping district displays a Spanish architectural style and is generally
    recognized as the first suburban shopping center in the US. Great place to walk,
    to see and be seen. South and east of 47th and Main. Take #56 or #57 bus
    southbound from the stop on Main Street just outside the Amtrak station.

    RIVERBOAT CASINOS - Ride the "Casino Express" bus to visit three of Kansas
    City's four major casinos, as well as "Worlds of Fun" - family amusement park.
    Each has eating places, movie theaters and other entertainment in addition to "gaming."
    Catch the #173 bus southbound on Main, just outside the Amtrak station entrance.

    HARRY TRUMAN'S INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI. Visit the historic
    Harry S. Truman Courthouse on the square, or the nearby Truman Home and
    Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. Take blue Downtowner bus to 11th and
    Grand, transfer to #24 Independence bus. Pay full $1 fare and ask for a full-fare
    transfer. Courthouse is one block east of Independence Transit Center; Truman
    home and library can be reached via local circulator route from the Independence
    Transit Center. Or, if you're traveling on the St. Louis-Kansas City trains, just get
    off at the Independence stop, just a half-dozen blocks from downtown Independence.

    SIGHTSEEING BY BUS. Routes #56 and #57 take you through Kansas City's
    midtown, past the Country Club Plaza and Brookside, and through the city's
    Country Club residential district. Round trip to Waldo (75th Street) takes less than
    two hours. Route #173 lets you see Kansas City's downtown and much of its
    industrial riverfront. Round trip takes less than two hours.

    LOCAL TRANSIT SERVICE
    Routes #56, #57 and #173 serve the stop just outside the Amtrak station on Main
    Street. Other routes serve the Union Station Transit Center just 100 yards south
    on Main, and the 10th and Main Transit Center downtown (take the blue Downtowner
    bus). Downtowner fare is 25 cents. Regular adult transit fare is $1, children 6-11 25 cents,
    children under 5 free. Transfers are free.

    Connections to other inter-city transportation:
    BUS LINES: GREYHOUND STATION, 12th and Troost. Take #56, or #57 bus
    northbound (toward downtown) on Main; transfer to eastbound #12 or #25 bus at
    12th and Walnut stop. Fare is $1; get transfer as you board bus.

    AIRLINES: KANSAS CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

    Vans depart about every 30 minutes. One-way fare is approximately $11.00

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