Chicago Union Station: storage lockers?
 

We'll be arriving in Chicago by train where we'll stay one day/night before we begin a 3-week driving/camping trip. It would be most convenient if we could store our gear in a train station locker and pick it up - along with a rented car - when we leave town the next day. Does anyone know if there are storage lockers and/or car rental agencies in or near Union Station?

While I am not a real regular user of Union Station, I was there this weekend. I do not recall seeing any car rental places or storage lockers. I believe there are no lockers for security reasons and no cars because of parking space issues.

Unless you have some reason to stay directly in the city, I would recommend staying near O'Hare where cars are plentiful. The blue line will take you right out there for $1.75

I don't recall seeing storage lockers, so sorry I can't help on that issue. Hertz had a rental location on the Concourse Level and I believe it's still there. You could check with them and also ask about storage lockers.

Thanks, that's helpful. O'Hare certainly offers more hotels options (too) but we'll be arriving at 8am with only a day and a half to visit so unless - after an 18 hour train trip - we want to spend another couple hours taking our stuff out to O'Hare, I'll have to find someplace to store our gear while we see the sights (downtown). I won't want the car until the next day, but maybe someone at the Hertz desk can tell me whether there are lockers anywhere.

I have never seen lockers in any of the Chicago train stations. But there are several car rental places around the loop. Perhaps there's one closer to your hotel and you won't have to schlep back to Union Station.

As an alternative, how about taking the gear with you to your hotel. When you're ready to leave, go rent the car and drive back to the hotel to pick it up then check out? Then, you'll only have to lug it once.

I used storage lockers in Chicago Union Station on my way from Washington, DC-San Francisco last year. They're near the long-distance-train waiting area (Southwest Chief, California Zephyr, Empire Builder, Texas Eagle, etc...) and seem regularly dog-sniffed. I only used them for maybe 2 hours, so don't know about overnight storage.

DAN

Thanks; I did call Amtrak and they told me that a private company offers lockers at a rate of $9/day for small and $12/day for large. I didn't ask about overnight storage since we won't be needing it after all, but thought I'd post this info in case anyone else had the same question.

There is a Hertz rental desk at Union Station. Also Enterprise, Budget and Avis have loop offices too.

The locker information is what I came here looking for - can anyone update for 2008?