Salem station is an

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 ...

train station in Salem,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is served by ''

Amtrak Cascades The Amtrak ''Cascades'' is a passenger train route in the Pacific Northwest, operated by Amtrak in partnership with the U.S. states of Washington (state), Washington and Oregon. It is named after the Cascade Range, Cascade mountain range that ...

'' corridor trains going to and from

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, ...

, as well as the long-distance ''

Coast Starlight The ''Coast Starlight'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland, Oregon, Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, ...

.''

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of Intercity bus service, intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as interci ...

and some regional buses also stop at the station.

History

This station was constructed for the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

in 1918 and is the third station to be built at this location. The two previous stations were built in 1871 and 1889. The 1871 depot burned down in 1885. It is commonly believed that the Queen Anne style 1889 depot burned down on March 5, 1917, but newspaper reports from the time say it was unsightly and, except for the baggage wing, demolished.Salem Depots Historic Explanation.pdf
/ref> The current Beaux-Arts-style structure was designed by Southern Pacific's chief architect John H. Christie. It is constructed of

masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...

, and is one of five masonry depots that still exist along the original Southern Pacific West Coast line. The other depots are in Albany, Medford, Roseburg and

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

. A restoration project by the

Oregon Department of Transportation The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway De ...

(ODOT) was completed in 2000. Amtrak leases the station from ODOT for $1 a year, in exchange for maintenance of the building and grounds. An 1889

Railway Express Agency Railway Express Agency (aka REA Express) (REA), founded as the American Railway Express Agency and later renamed the American Railway Express Inc., was a national package delivery service that operated in the United States from 1918 to 1975. REA ...

(REA) freight depot/baggage shed from the previous station was kept and is the oldest freight depot still in existence in the state. Either after the 1917 fire or in preparation for constructing the new depot, the Queen Anne-style REA depot was relocated from its original site to the south. The REA depot had not been used since the mid-1970s, but ODOT restored it in the late 2000s for use by Greyhound. The station and baggage depot were added to 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 ...

on February 12, 2010. In 2011, daily ridership on Amtrak between Salem and

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

reached 24,146 boardings.

moved operations from its downtown station to here in 2013, first to the north wing of the station building and, upon completion of renovations in 2018, to the former freight shed.

References

External links

Historic images of the 1889 and 1918 depots
from Salem Public Library
Greyhound Lines station page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salem (Amtrak Station) Amtrak stations in Oregon Former Southern Pacific Railroad stations in Oregon Buildings and structures in Salem, Oregon Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Railway stations in the United States opened in 1918 Transportation in Salem, Oregon 1918 establishments in Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Salem, Oregon Transportation buildings and structures in Marion County, Oregon