Fargo Station is a

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...

Fargo, North Dakota Fargo is the List of cities in North Dakota, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, Cass County. The population was 125,990 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, which was e ...

, United States. It is served by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's ''

Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is a daily long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great North ...

''. It is the only railway station in use in the Fargo-Moorhead area and is the third-busiest in North Dakota. The platform, tracks, and station are currently all owned by

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

. The station is currently located in the former BNSF freight house. The former main station building is now home to Great Northern Bicycle Co.

History

Fargo station was originally built by the Great Northern Railway in 1906. It was designed by Samuel L. Bartlett in a

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

style. He also designed other stations for the Great Northern, including stations in Minot and Rugby, North Dakota. The Great Northern also built a nearby freight warehouse in Fargo, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. At the time of the station's construction, Fargo was served by both the Great Northern Railway and the

Northern Pacific Northern Pacific may refer to: * Northern Pacific Airways, an upcoming airline * Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference, an NCAA Division I conference * Northern Pacific Hockey League, an American Tier III junior ice hockey league * Northern Paci ...

. The station was served by Great Northern trains, while Northern Pacific operated its own station along Fargo's Main Avenue. In 1970, the two railway companies merged to form the

Burlington Northern The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...

. Freight trains used the Northern Pacific tracks, while passenger trains used the Great Northern tracks. All passenger service in Fargo began using the Great Northern depot. From 1971, passenger service was operated by Amtrak. Amtrak currently uses the former BNSF freight house as the station building, as the main building became unused in 1986. The former main station building is now used for retail. Various businesses have operated in the building, since 1995. Fargo station is listed as a contributing property on

Downtown Fargo District as the Great Northern Depot.

Operation

Fargo station is served by Amtrak's ''

'' service. Westbound trains are headed for

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

(splitting to serve

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

and

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

) while eastbound trains are headed for

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. There are several intermittent stops between. About one-eighth of ''Empire Builder'' passengers board or alight at this station. The station previously served the ''

North Coast Hiawatha The ''North Coast Hiawatha'' was a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington. The train was a successor to the Northern Pacific Railway's '' North Coast Limited'' and '' Mainstreeter'' ...

'' until that service was discontinued in 1979. The Minnesota Department of Transportation has proposed

regional rail Regional rail is a public transport, public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city rail, and unlike commuter rail, operate beyond the limits of urban areas, connectin ...

services to connect Fargo-Moorhead with the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

in Minnesota. The route is listed as a Phase 1 project for Minnesota's regional rail projects, to be completed by 2030. Due to existing infrastructure, Fargo Amtrak station would be used. Fargo station is served by MATBUS within one block of the station. Route 11 stops at the corner of 4th Avenue North and 5th Street North on its way from the downtown transfer hub to the Northport neighborhood in northern Fargo.

Ridership

While the largest city in

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

, Fargo has only the third-most rail passenger traffic in the state, behind Minot and Williston. This is chiefly because Amtrak's daily ''Empire Builder'', which makes stops in six other North Dakota cities, stops in Fargo during the middle of night—between 2 am and 4 am—on both its eastbound and westbound journeys. In Amtrak's 2010 fiscal year, an average of about 60 passengers boarded or detrained at the station each day.

References

External links

Fargo Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide – Train Web)Great Northern Bicycle Co
{{Amtrak North Dakota stations Amtrak stations in North Dakota Buildings and structures in Fargo, North Dakota Former Great Northern Railway (U.S.) stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1906 Clock towers in North Dakota Romanesque Revival architecture in North Dakota 1906 establishments in North Dakota Historic district contributing properties in North Dakota Transportation in Cass County, North Dakota