Stanwood station

Stanwood is an Amtrak train station in the city of Stanwood, Washington, United States. It is served by intercity Amtrak Cascades trains and consists of a single platform and an adjacent parking lot. The station is in downtown Stanwood, near the intersection of State Route 532 and the Pioneer Highway, and is also served by Community Transit and Island Transit buses.

Stanwood, WA
Location27111 Florence Way
Stanwood, Washington
United States
Coordinates48°14′34″N 122°21′01″W
Owned byWashington State Department of Transportation
Line(s)BNSF Railway Bellingham Subdivision
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks2
ConnectionsCommunity Transit, Island Transit
Construction
Parking20 spaces
Disabled accessYes
Other information
Station codeSTW
History
OpenedNovember 21, 2009
Passengers
20175,172[1]  3.96%
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Everett
toward Eugene–Springfield
 Amtrak Cascades Mount Vernon
toward Vancouver, British Columbia
Former services
Preceding station Great Northern Railway Following station
Silvana
toward Seattle
 Vancouver, BC – Seattle Fir
toward Vancouver, BC
Location
Stanwood, WA
Location in Washington
Stanwood, WA
Location in the United States

Stanwood station opened on November 21, 2009, as an infill station on the Cascades route after several delays in design and construction. The $5 million project to build the station was approved in 2006 and began construction in March 2009 alongside a siding expansion. Stanwood was previously served by intercity passenger trains on the Great Northern Railway until 1971.

Description

Stanwood station has a single side platform, which runs northwest–southeast and measures 600 feet (180 m) long.[2] The platform has two covered shelters (designed to resemble barns), lighting, and ramps from street level. The unstaffed station lacks a ticket vending machine and baggage services, requiring passengers to buy their ticket online, on the phone, or at another station.[2][3] The station is located a block north of 271st Street Northwest, the main street through downtown Stanwood, and is adjacent to a public parking lot with 20 stalls reserved for Amtrak customers.[4][5]

History

Stanwood was settled in the 1870s and received its first train depot on the Seattle and Montana Railroad (later absorbed into the Great Northern Railway) in October 1891.[6][7] The depot was constructed one mile (1.6 km) east of the city's downtown, which was located on the Stillaguamish River, and necessitated the construction of the short H & H Railroad in 1904 to connect the two;[8] it was nicknamed the "Dinky" and claimed to be the shortest steam railroad in the world, but suspended operations in 1938 due to low patronage and competition from automobiles.[9][10][11] The city of East Stanwood was later established around the depot in 1906 and remained separate from Stanwood until the two communities were merged into one city in 1960.[4] The Stanwood depot was rebuilt in 1922 and was served by passenger trains until April 30, 1971, when all Seattle–Vancouver service was suspended after Amtrak took over passenger operations from Great Northern (by then part of Burlington Northern).[2][12] The depot was later demolished in the late 1970s.[13]

Vancouver's selection as host city of the 2010 Winter Olympics accelerated several long-term projects along the Amtrak Cascades corridor to improve train operations. The $3 million expansion of a siding through Stanwood was named as a high priority and was sent to the state legislature for funding.[14][15] Downtown boosters in Stanwood began pushing for a new train station in the early 2000s, hoping to piggyback off the siding expansion project, and appealed to state senator Mary Margaret Haugen for support.[16][17] Senator Haugen, chairwoman of the Senate transportation committee, introduced a bill to fund the project's $5 million design and construction cost.[18] The bill was passed by the state legislature in 2006, also approving $15 million for the original siding expansion.[5][16] The legislature also considered an earlier plan that would have included provisions for commuter rail service, which was later removed from the bill.[8]

Construction on the station was scheduled to begin in 2007, but was delayed by a year due to design changes requested by BNSF and a disagreement between state and federal officials over the height of the platform.[5][19] The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) began work on the siding expansion in May 2008 and on the station in April 2009.[20][21] The station's construction was further delayed after the discovery of lead contamination at the platform site, which cost $100,000 to cleanup and caused the removal of a public restroom from design plans.[22] Stanwood station opened on November 21, 2009, with a town celebration and ribbon-cutting after the arrival of the first northbound train.[2][17]

Services

The station is served by four daily trips on Amtrak Cascades, which travels south to Seattle via Everett and north to Vancouver, British Columbia, via Mount Vernon and Bellingham.[4][23] Stanwood has fairly low ridership compared to other Cascades stops, with only 5,000 passenger boardings annually.[1] In addition to Cascades, Stanwood station is adjacent to bus stops served by Community Transit and Island Transit routes to Camano Island and Arlington.[24]

References
  1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2017, State of Washington" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  2. Fiege, Gale (November 20, 2009). "Stanwood welcomes return of the train". The Everett Herald. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  3. Fiege, Gale (February 22, 2010). "Stanwood Amtrak station tallied hundreds of boardings in final weeks of 2009". The Everett Herald. Archived from the original on February 27, 2010. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  4. "Great American Stations: Stanwood, WA (STW)". Amtrak. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  5. Pesznecker, Scott (April 21, 2008). "Stanwood to join Amtrak line". The Everett Herald. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  6. Prasse, Karen (September 13, 2008). "Railroad between Seattle and British Columbia is completed near Stanwood on October 12, 1891". HistoryLink. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  7. "Rocks For Roadbed". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. October 15, 1891. p. 5. Retrieved July 7, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Stanwood Station Project" (PDF). Washington State Department of Transportation. May 2006. pp. 1–3. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  9. "Twin Cities: Stanwood and East Stanwood". The Seattle Times. October 30, 1949. p. 1.
  10. Federal Writers' Project (1941). The WPA Guide to Washington: The Evergreen State. American Guide Series. Works Progress Administration. pp. 476–477. OCLC 881468746. Retrieved July 7, 2018 – via Google Books.
  11. Schmidt, Carol (July 4, 2017). "News Files: Shortest steam train ran a mile in 1907". Stanwood Camano News. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  12. Essex, Alice (1971). The Stanwood Story, Volume I. Stanwood Camano News. pp. 16–17. OCLC 36113496.
  13. Essex, Alice (1998). The Stanwood Story, Volume III. Stanwood Camano News. p. 113. OCLC 40399950.
  14. Whitely, Peyton (April 7, 2004). "Potential traffic problems spoil view of 2010 Olympics". The Seattle Times. p. H6.
  15. Whitely, Peyton (December 31, 2003). "Siding work at Stanwood should help alleviate rail congestion". The Seattle Times. p. H16.
  16. Morris, Scott (May 14, 2006). "Platform to allow Amtrak's return". The Everett Herald. Archived from the original on June 14, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  17. Pipkin, Whitney (November 21, 2009). "Public officials, station advocates make inaugural Stanwood stop". Skagit Valley Herald. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  18. "Amtrak trains now arriving at $5 million Stanwood station". Whidbey News-Times. November 23, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  19. "Stanwood Station Quarterly Project Report Update for Quarter Ending December 2007". Washington State Department of Transportation. December 2007. Archived from the original on November 18, 2008. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  20. "Rail Projects: Stanwood Siding Upgrades". Washington State Department of Transportation. November 2010. Archived from the original on November 24, 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  21. Fiege, Gale (July 7, 2009). "Amtrak platform work resumes in Stanwood". The Everett Herald. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  22. Fiege, Gale (September 21, 2009). "Eagerly anticipated Stanwood train platform late, over budget". The Everett Herald. Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  23. "Amtrak Cascades timetable" (PDF). Amtrak. January 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  24. City of Stanwood Transportation Plan (PDF) (Report). City of Stanwood. March 2015. pp. 19–23. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
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