Tacoma station (1984)


Tacoma is an Amtrak train station in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It is served by Amtrak's Cascades and Coast Starlight lines. The one-story building was constructed to a standard design that Amtrak developed in the 1970s and used at locations throughout the country for the next two decades. Typical features included at Tacoma are brick walls, floor-to-ceiling windows and a flat, black, cantilevered roof. The station was replaced by a new Amtrak facility at Tacoma Dome Station, an existing commuter rail and light rail hub, that opened in 2017; however, it was reopened 24 hours after closing due to the 2017 Washington train derailment on the new line to the new station. The station will stay open with service until the derailment is investigated and cleaned up.

Replacement

After an early plan from 2013 to build a new station in the west end of the building was rejected due to public criticism of the design, the state of Washington in 2015 completed a new design, placing the station in the center of the building. In March 2016, the state reached an agreement to purchase the required part of the building and demolish it to make way for the new station, with construction to begin in June 2016.
Amtrak trains were rerouted away from Tacoma's shoreline and onto a new inland cutoff route, the Point Defiance Bypass, on December 18, 2017. The reroute also resulted in the relocation of the city's Amtrak station to a new facility at Tacoma Dome Station in the Freighthouse Square building, a former warehouse rebuilt into a collection of small businesses and eateries near the Tacoma Dome. The trains were re-routed back onto the original route after a major derailment on the bypass near DuPont, Washington on that same day.
The Puyallup Avenue station will remain in use until the Point Defiance Bypass is re-opened to Amtrak service, which is tentatively scheduled for 2020.

Boardings and alightings