Reno station facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Reno, NV
Station house, 2014
Location	280 Commercial Row Reno, Nevada United States
Owned by	Structure: City of Reno Trackage: Union Pacific Railroad
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	2
Construction
Structure type	Below grade
Parking	None
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: RNO
History
Opened	1868
Rebuilt	1926 2007
Traffic
Passengers (FY2019)	75,397 (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Truckee toward Emeryville California Zephyr Winnemucca toward Chicago Sparks closed in 2009 toward Chicago
Former services Preceding station Southern Pacific Railroad Following station Verdi toward Oakland Pier Overland Route Sparks toward Ogden Preceding station Virginia and Truckee Railroad Following station Terminus Main Line Andersons toward Virginia City
Reno Southern Pacific Railroad Depot
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location in Nevada Show map of Nevada Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	280 Commercial Row Reno, Nevada
Built	1926
Architect	Ryberg-Sorensen Southern Pacific RR
Architectural style	Mission/Spanish Revival
NRHP reference No.	12000929
Added to NRHP	November 12, 2012

Reno station is an Amtrak intercity train station in Reno, Nevada, served by the California Zephyr train. It is also served by Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach routes to Sacramento.

Description

The back of the depot with escalator to the depressed tracks

The station is located at 280 North Center Street in downtown Reno. The tracks are owned by the Union Pacific Railroad, while the station and platform are owned by the city of Reno. The station does not have a parking lot. The tracks are placed below ground level as they pass through the heart of downtown Reno. As of 2014, the station was served by the once-daily California Zephyr, running between Chicago and Emeryville, California (in the San Francisco Bay Area). The previous year, the station served 78,827 passengers, or about 216 per day. The station is popular with passengers traveling in both directions between Northern California and Reno.

Three Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach routes, two originating at the station and one at the Nugget Casino Resort in Sparks, connect the station to Sacramento.

History

The Salt Lake Daily Telegraph ad dated May 17, 1869

A depot has existed at this location since the First Transcontinental Railroad arrived in Reno in 1868. A series of wooden depots built by the Central Pacific Railroad burned down. The current stucco depot was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1926. The Southern Pacific Depot was also used by the Virginia & Truckee Railroad until 1950, when the railroad ceased operations. The Western Pacific Railroad historically provided service to Reno, but never used this station, instead using the (now disused for rail service) Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad Depot, a few blocks to the east.

ReTRAC

The station was enlarged in 2007 as part of the Reno Transportation Rail Access Corridor (ReTRAC) project, which grade separated the tracks to mostly eliminate street running in downtown Reno. In the process of excavating around the depot, many artifacts from Reno's past were discovered including a long filled-in pedestrian tunnel and a previously unknown basement at a former masonic lodge. Many items from the excavation are on display in the station lobby, including an old cistern used by the fire department, a horse watering fountain, Native American artifacts, and several bottles dating as far back as the 1860s. As part of the renovation, Amtrak moved most of its operations to a glass-enclosed addition near the trench, though passengers can still use the original waiting area.

On December 4, 2012, it was announced that the station would be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.