Kansas City, Mo ? Trains are scheduled to arrive at Union Station again by November, returning the historic station to its roots as a transportation gateway.

A $5 million contract has been signed to build a new Amtrak station for the six trains and 300 to 400 passengers who ride trains each day into Kansas City. Construction will start soon and is expected to be completed by November.

The new station also is being designed to accommodate commuter rail service that has been envisioned to serve Johnson County and other suburban areas.

Currently, train travelers enter the city at an underground station under the Main Street viaduct.

Turner White, chief executive of Union Station Kansas City Inc., called the return of train service the pinnacle of a $250 million project that restored the 88-year-old station in 1999.

“The arrival of Amtrak gives the station a complete package of educational and civic use, and now transportation,” White said. “If Union Station was a person, it would be standing a bit taller once Amtrak comes back.”

Jeff Reeder, project manager for TranSystems Corp., the engineering firm in charge, said planning for the new station had been in the works for several years. Amtrak will use a passenger waiting and ticketing area already set aside in the northeast corner of the station’s Grand Hall.

At its peak in 1920, the station was served by 207 trains daily operated by 12 railroads, including the Santa Fe, the Frisco, the Wabash, the Missouri Pacific, the Kansas City Southern and the Chicago Great Western. Amtrak took over passenger service in 1973. The last passenger train pulled out of Union Station in 1985, when operations were shifted to the current facility.

Kansas City now is served by six trains daily. There is one national route, the Southwest Chief, that has a daily eastbound train to Chicago and a westbound train to Los Angeles. A route between Kansas City and St. Louis is served by two westbound and two eastbound trains daily.

Kevin Lewis, the service manager for the Kansas City Amtrak operation, said employees were looking forward to working in Union Station.

“They’re excited about it,” Lewis said. “It’s going to bring a lot of visibility we’ve been lacking since we’re under an overpass.”

Ultimately, Union Station is intended to serve as a transportation hub, with Amtrak and commuter rail passengers arriving and then departing to downtown and the Country Club Plaza on special express buses, light rail or both.