text: This is not a review of Amtrak, traveling via train, or any particular train line. I repeat, THIS IS A STATION REVIEW! I don't care if a train is on-time, late, or not running at all. That's a problem for another review. What I want to tackle here is the ode to modernist architecture that is the Charlotte Amtrak Station. This thing, oy. \n\nLet's start with the fact that it's a station with multiple overnight passengers, but they maintain one vending machine and one coke machine that sells--get this--Pepsi. Foul language may have tumbled out of my mouth when I stumbled into the station past midnight to see that sorry sight. Bless their little hearts. \n\nThen we can turn to the actual lobby of the station. The imposing (?) concrete (?) walls (?) that tower two whole stories up and are finished with thrown gravel both inside and out do bring to mind a certain era. It's like the 1960s municipal architecture experience has never been reconsidered. The thrown gravel panels inside the building are an odd choice, but I understand that we don't all have the money for good taste. \n\nThe benches are hard and of a certain era when people were meant to slide off them, I think. I certainly did. There was some sleep to be had, and I appreciated that it was quiet and safe inside the station...even though the station was ugly. And it is ugly. Don't visit hoping to see one of the great humanist temples of old. But consider taking a nap on the benches...provided you are a ticketed passenger, of course. \n\nAccessibility notes: Doors open in. Ramps are plentiful. Well-lit. Braille signage. Ticket counters are high.