Holland received train service again with the start of state-sponsored Pere Marquette on August 5, 1984. The historic rail station, built in 1925 was rededicated on September 21, 1991 as the Louis and Helen Padnos Transportation Center. This building serves as the hub and the transfer center for MAX (Macatawa Area Express) Transit, and also receives limited intercity Indian Trails bus service. Additional The early and late hours of the Pere Marquette (as of September 2016) heading towards Chicago at 6:34am, and back at 10:34pm, mean few train to local bus connections are possible. The station is luckily left open, unstaffed from 6:00am to 11:00pm EST daily (although there is no MAX transit bus service on Sundays), a sign does advise patrons that the station is locked at 11:00pm and does not offer overnight accommodations. Inside the room feels modern, with a tiled floor, painted walls with bright oak trim. Most of the seating is modern wooden benches (without arms), around what resembles a wooden L-shaped coffee table shelf. Along one wall is a historic bench (with arms to prevent napping). The walls have photos of historic Holland on them, plus plenty of brochure racks. At one end of the room are restrooms. Strangely the main waiting room is designed to be unstaffed, the Pere Marquette stations (including in Grand Rapids) have never had station agents, and this stop (along with Grand Rapids) had a video vending machine starting in 1996 that has become a single Quik-Trak Machine, the waiting room lacks an information or ticket office for MAX transit as well. The exterior of the building has light brick walls and an angled gabled roof.
The station leads out to a small low-level platform that can accommodate two to three cars. The platform begins just beyond the grade crossing of 8th Street and runs north. Just north of the platform is the Holland siding and train junction where a short industrial track joins. This platform has a green covered canopy structure that is attached and in the same design as the depot. It covers most of the platform, with some benches, although it is quite set back from the platform edge. Tree boxes line the platform. The edge of the platform is just a simple yellow line, since the station was renovated back in 1991. There is an older-style brown shed with a wheelchair on it where the mobile lift is stored. Platform signage is strange and minimal with two small pointless arrow signs, one beyond each end of the platform in trees.
The opposite side of the station house is the bus loop for MAX Transit, the bus loop is unique because the 9 bus bays are on a central traffic island, meaning buses go around the loop counter clockwise. The island has just two simple green bus shelters, no complex structures. There is also a small drop-off loop for passengers getting dropped off, and a few ADA parking spaces. Near this area is a red caboose, numbered A967 and lettered for the Pere Marquette. The station's long-term parking lot is off of 8th Street across the tracks from the station platform.
All Photos Taken on 31 July, 2016 on a visit by automobile
Bangor, MI 