Head to Union Station any time during the busy holiday season, and you’re likely to encounter a familiar ritual: scores of train passengers shuffling into long, snaking lines that extend past the shops and cafes, perhaps beginning at one gate but stretching two or three others past it. Inevitably, a passenger will ask whether they’re in the correct line. It seems suspect, after all, to be lining up at Gate F for a departure from Gate J.
Meanwhile, long train platforms that could accommodate the crowds are ghost towns until the boarding process begins — and the sudden stampede of luggage wheels against the pavement signals the coming departure.
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