Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 95.djvu/1693

 PUBLIC LAW 97-125—DEC. 29, 1981

95 STAT. 1667

Public Law 97-125 97th Congress An Act To amend the National Visitor Center Facilities Act of 1968 to provide for the rehabilitation and completion of Union Station in Washington, District of Ctolumbia, and for other purposes.

Dec. 29, 1981 [S. 1192]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be Union station cited as the "Union Station Redevelopment Act of 1981". ASTigsi"^''* SEC. 2. The Congress finds and declares that— 40 USC 80i note. (1) Union Station in Washington, District of Columbia, com- 40 USC sii note. missioned by Congress in 1903, designed by Daniel H. Bumham in monumental Beaux Arts style, and completed by the Washington Terminal Company in 1907, is an important historic and architectural landmark of the Nation's Capital; (2) Union Station was built and used exclusively as a rail passenger station until Congress decided to make the historic Union Station building a National Visitor Center in 1968, allocating rail passenger operations to a replacement facility behind the historic building; (3) the use of rail passenger service to and from Washington, District of Columbia, declining when the National Visitor Center Facilities Act of 1968 was enacted, has dramatically increased 40 USC soi note. since that time with the advent of and substantial Federal investment in the National Railroad Passenger Corporation and the northeast corridor improvement project, justifying a reversal of the policy adopted 13 years ago; (4) the historic Union Station building is now unsafe and unusable, and the replacement railroad station is inconvenient and inadequate for present and projected rail ridership demand; (5) it is in the national interest to preserve the architectural features of Union Station and to provide in the Union Station complex a sound and fully operational transportation terminal; (6) the Union Station complex and its vicinity present an opportunity for successful commercial development integrated with the transportation functions of the facility; and (7) the purposes of this Act are to achieve the goals of historic preservation and improved rail use of Union Station with maximum reUance on the private sector and minimum requirement for Federal assistance. SEC. 3. Title I of the National Visitor Center Facilities Act of 1968 (40 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) is amended— (1) by striking "National Visitor Center" in the caption of title I and inserting in lieu thereof "Union Station"; (2) by inserting a new caption "Subtitle A—National Visitor Center" immediately after the new title I caption; and (3) by adding at the end of title I the following new subtitle:

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