Centralia station (Washington)

Centralia Union Depot
Amtrak inter-city rail station
Centralia Union Depot in 2011
Location	210 Railroad Avenue Centralia, Washington 98531[1]  United States
Coordinates	46°43′03″N 122°57′10″W / 46.7174°N 122.9529°W / 46.7174; -122.9529
Owned by	BNSF Railway & City of Centralia[2]
Line(s)	Amtrak Cascades   Coast Starlight
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Connections	Twin Transit
Construction
Parking	Free
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	CTL
History
Opened	1912[3][2]
Rebuilt	2002[2][4]
Traffic
Passengers (2015)	24,791[5]  2.88%
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station Kelso toward Eugene–Springfield Amtrak Cascades Olympia-Lacey toward Vancouver, BC Kelso toward Los Angeles Coast Starlight Olympia-Lacey toward Seattle   Former services   Olympia-Lacey toward Seattle Pioneer Discontinued in 1997 Kelso toward Chicago
Centralia Union Depot
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	210 Railroad Avenue Centralia, Washington
Coordinates	46°43′03″N 122°57′10″W / 46.7174°N 122.9529°W / 46.7174; -122.9529Coordinates: 46°43′03″N 122°57′10″W / 46.7174°N 122.9529°W / 46.7174; -122.9529
NRHP Reference #	88000608
Added to NRHP	1988[6]

The Centralia Union Depot is an Amtrak train station in Centralia, Washington, United States. It is served by the Cascades and Coast Starlight trains.

The track and platforms are owned by BNSF Railway. Local transit connections are provided by Twin Transit.

History

The station was constructed by the Northern Pacific Railway (NP) and opened in 1912. It is the third station to have been constructed in Centralia since rail service began in 1880.^[7]

The large brick structure was built to accommodate a 400% population boom in the area from 1900-1914. Only 2 years after its opening, Centralia Union Depot was being served by 44 passenger trains and 17 freight trains daily. The station faced 14 hotels along Tower Avenue, as well as 5 theaters and 8 banks in the downtown core.^[8]

The demise of NP with its merger into Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) in 1970 and the creation of Amtrak to provide passenger rail service in 1971, coupled with increased automobile traffic on Interstate 5 saw the Centralia Union Depot deteriorate, much as the city's downtown core was experiencing economic decline. Local civic leaders recognized the problem during the mid-1980s and began a two-decade project that would see the structure acquired by the city and restored as part of a larger downtown revitalization project.^[8]

The 1996 merger of BN with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to form the BNSF Railway (BNSF) spurred both the city and the state Department of Transportation (Rail Branch) to negotiate with BNSF to acquire the depot.^[8] Following its purchase, the city began the design process for the historic restoration which took place as follows:

• Phase 1 (1996) consisted of exterior work. Stabilize structure deterioration, restore roof dormers that had been removed, install new tile roof, re-point brick exterior, new utilities, new parking lots at each end of the building.^[8]
• Phase 2 (2000) consisted of interior work. New floors, restored mill work and brass fittings, Amtrak ticket office, baggage room, freight room, express building, HVAC, elevator.^[8]

The restoration project was completed in April 2002 and celebrated in the city's "Railroad Days" festival.^[8]

The depot is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[9]

Schedule

Although the Amtrak Cascades runs between Eugene, Oregon and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, there is no train that starts at one terminus and ends at the other. However, each day eight Amtrak Cascades trains (four northbound and four southbound) stop at the Centralia Union Depot.^{[Note 1]}

• The Coast Starlight has a simpler, less frequent schedule and runs daily in each direction between Los Angeles, California and Seattle.^{[Note 2]} (The next northbound stop on both Amtrak trains is in Lacey and the next southbound stop is in Kelso.)

Boardings and Alightings

Of the eighteen Washington stations served by Amtrak, Centralia was the twelfth busiest in fiscal year 2010, boarding or detraining an average of about 65 passengers daily.^[12]

Notes

References

External links

Media related to Centralia Union Depot at Wikimedia Commons

• Amtrak – Stations – Centralia, WA
• Twin Transit website
• waymarking.com - Centralia Union Depot
• Restoration report for Centralia Union Depot - archive.org
• Centralia, WA (CTL) (Amtrak's Great American Stations)

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