The station was designed in the Washington, D.C. office of
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill by Milo Meacham under the direction of
Marilyn Jordan Taylor. It is a simple building in the
brutalist style, with a large square clocktower. Although largely subterranean and lacking the grand scale that was possible when Union Station was built in 1898, the station has been positively received by critics. The project received a citation in the 1983 Progressive Architecture Awards. Local architectural historian William McKenzie Woodward lauded the building for its aesthetics, calling its
saucer dome "an obvious yet very gracious gesture toward the State House". In 2010,
Architect praised the forethought of the designers in planning for the revitalization of Providence's downtown, saying that "[i]ts design accommodated the complex geometries of a circulation pattern oriented toward the Capitol and a structure aligned with the tracks, while its splayed plan opened out to what was then an imagined city, one that Providence eventually made happen." Providence station is served by two
Amtrak intercity routes –
Acela Express and the
Northeast Regional – both of which run between Boston and Washington, D.C.
Amtrak Thruway bus service connects Providence with and
New Bedford. It is also served by
MBTA Commuter Rail Providence/Stoughton Line commuter service, which runs between and Boston. Providence is the southern terminus of some weekday service and all weekend service on the line. In a 2018 count, Providence averaged 2,091 inbound MBTA passengers on weekdays, making it the second-busiest station on the system (after ) outside of Boston
Kennedy Plaza, the main hub for
RIPTA bus service, is located to the south along Exchange Street. RIPTA routes stop at the south side of Providence station on Park Row; routes stop on Gaspee Street on the north side of the station. ==History==