Midway (Amtrak station)
| Midway Amtrak regional station | |||||||||||
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| Station statistics | |||||||||||
| Address |
730 Transfer Road Saint Paul, MN 55114 | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 44°57′47″N 93°11′05″W / 44.9631°N 93.1846°WCoordinates: 44°57′47″N 93°11′05″W / 44.9631°N 93.1846°W | ||||||||||
| Line(s) | |||||||||||
| Platforms | 1 side platform, 1 island platform | ||||||||||
| Tracks | 3 | ||||||||||
| Parking | Yes; free | ||||||||||
| Baggage check | Yes | ||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||
| Opened | March 1, 1978[1] | ||||||||||
| Closed | March 2014 | ||||||||||
| Accessible |
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| Station code | MSP | ||||||||||
| Owned by | Amtrak. Some track owned by Minnesota Commercial Railway[2] | ||||||||||
| Traffic | |||||||||||
| Passengers (2013) | 116,991[3]  2.9% (Amtrak) | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
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| Location | |||||||||||
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Midway Station is the Amtrak train station in Saint Paul, Minnesota, named after the Midway area which is roughly halfway between the downtowns of St. Paul and neighboring Minneapolis. Its Amtrak station code is MSP and serves as the only intercity train station for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. It is served by Amtrak's daily Empire Builder. Midway will be replaced by the restored Saint Paul Union Depot in late February 2014.
History
When it opened in 1978, Midway Station took over traffic from the Minneapolis Great Northern Depot, which itself had combined the services of the Minneapolis station and the Saint Paul Union Depot when Amtrak began operating in 1971.[1] The Great Northern depot was later demolished.
Future
Current estimates are for all Amtrak service in the Twin Cities will move to the renovated and reopened Saint Paul Union Depot some time in early 2014, at which time the Midway station will be closed.[4] The station building itself will of course no longer be needed. It will either be demolished or sold and demolished so the space can be used for re-development of some sort. The Empire Builder will continue to stop here temporarily, but only for train servicing. Once the train servicing is done at Union Depot, the platforms at Midway will also probably be removed.[5]
Services
The only rail service at this station is the Empire Builder, named to honor Saint Paul-based mogul James J. Hill who constructed most of the rail system connecting the area to other major U.S. and Canadian cities (and whose nickname was "The Empire Builder"). Westbound trains are headed for Spokane, Washington (splitting to serve Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon) while eastbound trains are headed for Chicago. There are several intermittent stops between. About one-eighth of Empire Builder passengers board or alight at this station.
The station served the North Coast Hiawatha until that was consolidated into the Empire Builder in 1979. Amtrak's Thruway Motorcoach bus service has been available to connect to Duluth, Minnesota since 1985, when the North Star rail service was discontinued.
Layout
The station is located next to tracks owned by the Minnesota Commercial Railway and marks a division point between running on the Canadian Pacific Railway (former Milwaukee Road tracks between Chicago and St. Paul) and the BNSF Railway (former Great Northern Railway tracks between Minneapolis and Seattle.)
There are two platforms at the station, though the Empire Builder only uses the side platform nearest the station building. There is a second island platform that serves two tracks, but it is rarely used. There are also two spurs behind the main platform which are used for storage and display of historic train cars.
See also
- Saint Paul Union Depot – Future St. Paul passenger train destination replacing Midway
- Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot Freight House and Train Shed – Former Minneapolis destination for Milwaukee Road, Soo Line, and Rock Island passenger trains
- Minneapolis Great Northern Depot – Former Minneapolis destination for Chicago and Northwestern, Great Northern, and Northern Pacific passenger trains
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Empire Builder 75th Anniversary". Great Northern Railway Historical Society. June 11, 2004. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
- ↑ "St. Paul-Minneapolis, MN (MSP)". Great American Stations. Amtrak. Retrieved September 20, 2010.
- ↑ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2013, State of Minnesota" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
- ↑ Kevin Duchschere (Novelber 13, 2013). "Amtrak arrival at St. Paul's Union Depot now early 2014". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
- ↑ http://www.universityunited.com/pdf/MidwayIndustrial_Issues%20and%20Opportunities_3.pdf
External links
- Amtrak – Stations – St. Paul-Minneapolis
- St. Paul-Minneapolis Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide -- Train Web)
- Minneapolis-St. Paul's Midway Station (The SubwayNut)
- March 2004 Photo by Greg Smith (Amtrak Photo Archives)
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