Amtrak’s president expressed “significant concerns” to Mayor Brandon Johnson about the potential use of Chicago Union Station for Greyhound buses, about a month before the intercity bus company could be evicted from its West Loop terminal.

In a letter Tuesday to Johnson and Transportation Commissioner Tom Carney, Amtrak President Roger Harris urged the city to consider another location.

Harris said Union Station, owned by Amtrak, does not have the capacity to handle the expected 50 additional buses per day.

Amtrak should also be reimbursed for any additional costs incurred by accommodating bus passengers using the station’s Great Hall, Harris wrote.

We “believe that the challenges of this site raise significant safety, operational and financial concerns for Chicago Union Station users, tenants and the surrounding neighborhood,” Harris wrote.

“We have significant concerns about this potential site.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file

Instead, Harris asked the city to consider another location for an intercity bus stop, suggesting either the Ogilvie or La Salle Street Metra stations, both of which are commuter rail stations with restrooms, waiting rooms and unused ticket booths.

The Ogilvie Transportation Center, 500 W. Madison St., has two CTA bus lanes on Washington Boulevard that are protected by trolley rails, Harris wrote. The La Salle Street Station, 414 S. La Salle St., has one CTA bus lane with partial coverage on Financial Place.

“These and other locations would certainly provide greater safety and better accommodations for intercity bus passengers than the Jackson Boulevard block,” Harris wrote.

Metra declined to comment.

Amtrak’s letter comes nearly a week after the city’s chief operating officer, John Roberson, told the Sun-Times that the city was considering Union Station as a temporary stop for Greyhound and other intercity bus travelers.

“Based on what we’ve seen, we believe this is the best option from the city’s perspective right now,” Roberson told the Sun-Times.

A week earlier, Greyhound’s CEO told the Sun-Times that the city was not taking the process seriously.

Amtrak, which has been caught in the crossfire, says it has been excluded from the negotiations.

The mayor’s ally Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) said he has arranged a meeting between city and Amtrak officials to take place after the Democratic National Convention.

Ramirez-Rosa said he met with city officials, including Roberson, on Monday and asked them not to sign a permit to change the bus stop before the meeting.

Ramirez-Rosa wants the city to choose a location other than Union Station. He said Greyhound should cover some of the cost of a station and suggested bus companies use several of the available bus stops downtown.

“It shouldn’t really be up to an underfunded federal agency to secure the facilities of a for-profit company,” Ramirez-Rosa said in an interview.

“The city continues to evaluate alternative options to ensure bus service continues without interruption to meet our responsibility to our citizens and provide accessible and affordable transportation options,” CDOT said in a statement. “We will continue to work with Amtrak, Greyhound and other private and public stakeholders to determine a staging location for intercity bus service.”

Greyhound owner FlixBus declined to comment.

The problem with Greyhound stations began three years ago when the bus operation was sold to the German company FlixBus and the terminals were sold to another buyer. Greyhound lost one station after another, surprising some cities.

Joseph Schwieterman, a professor at DePaul University, first announced last year that Greyhound would lose its station at 630 W. Harrison St.

He has recommended that the city buy its own intercity bus station and lease it to bus companies, similar to how airports work with airlines.

When Greyhound loses its station in September, Chicago will be the largest city in the country without its own municipal bus station.