Bangor station (Michigan)

Bangor is a train station in Bangor, Michigan, serving Amtrak's Pere Marquette line. The station, originally built in 1926 by the Pere Marquette Railway, was renovated in 2005, and includes an enclosed waiting area, washrooms, a coffee shop, free parking, and payphones. It serves northern Van Buren County and the South Haven area.

Bangor, MI
The Amtrak station in Bangor in November 2016.
Location541 Railroad Street
Bangor, MI 49013
Coordinates42°18′51″N 86°6′42″W
Owned byBangor, Michigan
Line(s)
  Pere Marquette
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks1
Construction
ParkingShort-term only; free
Disabled accessYes
Other information
Station codeBAM
History
Opened1926
Rebuilt2005
Passengers
20174,376[1]  11%
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
St. Joseph
toward Chicago
 Pere Marquette Holland
toward Grand Rapids

History

The brick Bangor station house was built in 1926 by the Pere Marquette Railway, replacing an 1870 wooden station that burned.

Amtrak shared the station with a toy train manufacturer from 1984 (when Amtrak service began) to 1991, when the manufacturer ceased production. The station was in declining condition, and Amtrak vacated it in favor of a smaller adjacent structure.

In November 2001, the City of Bangor purchased the station from CSX Transportation to prevent it from demolition. In 2004, they sold it to a health care provider, who doubled the floor space of the building by expanding the attic (once used as a sleeping space for railroaders) into a second floor. The city still owned the south portico, and they enclosed it as a waiting room.

In July, the Michigan Department of Transportation awarded a $125,000 grant to the city and Amtrak to rebuild the waiting room and railway platform (owned by Amtrak). After floor, windows, doors, and washrooms were replaced and the benches were refinished, the station was fully reopened to trains on May 6, 2005.

The portico is now the waiting room, the waiting room is now a coffee shop, and the freight agent office and freight room are now space for the health care provider.

References
  1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2017, State of Michigan" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.