Columbus station is a railway station that serves

Columbus, Wisconsin Columbus is a city in Columbia (mostly) and Dodge Counties in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 5,540 at the 2020 census. All of this population resided in the Columbia County portion of the city. Columbu ...

. The station is served by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

, the national railroad passenger system, with daily service by the ''

Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that operates daily between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great Northe ...

'' line. Beginning in 2024 Columbus will also be served by an additional Chicago-Twin Cities round trip via the new TCMC route with Columbus serving as the Madison area stop along the corridor until additional trackage through Madison via WSOR's Watertown Subdivision and CP's M&P Subdivision is brought up to passenger grade and an additional station in Madison proper is built. This station and the Portage station serve the Madison metropolitan area, with Columbus reckoned as the official stop for Madison proper.

History

Built in 1906 by the

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experience ...

(Milwaukee Road), the station is well preserved, and looks much as did when first built. The station area also includes an older freight station. In 2016, a safety fence was constructed between the two mainline tracks running by the station.

Amenities

Until 2017, the station was staffed Mondays through Fridays by an Amtrak station agent with full ticketing and baggage handling services. On weekends and holidays, the station was only opened and closed by support staff, and tickets had to be purchased in advance. Baggage service on weekends and holidays was self-serve; passengers checked bags trainside after tagging their own bags at the station. Since May 2017, however, the station has been unstaffed, even though a large number of

Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches ...

passengers used the station and almost always bought their tickets at the window. According to Rod Musel, who was station agent in Columbus from 2004 to 2017, many Amish passengers were likely to drive to the other two staffed stations in the state,

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

La Crosse La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County, Wisconsin, La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's populat ...

. Baggage service is self-serve seven days a week.Columbus station information
/ref> The ''Empire Builder'' comes twice a day, heading toward

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

at 12:57 PM, and toward

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

at 5:02 PM. The depot has a bulletin board with photos of past trips aboard the ''Empire Builder'' by former passengers. Also on the wall is a map of Glacier National Park, a popular destination for those travelers on vacation. There is no food service available within the station, but numerous restaurants are located within two blocks of the station. Columbus is not a smoke-break stop for the Empire Builder, and continuing passengers may not step off the train in Columbus.

Gallery

File:Builder at CBS.jpg, The ''Empire Builder'' arriving at Columbus File:Columbus Wisconsin Amtrak Station from street view March 2014.jpg, View from the street File:Amtrak CBS.jpg, Platform view File:Columbus Wisconsin Amtrak station.jpg, Closeup of station building File:Amtrak Station.jpg, Amtrak station sign

References

External links

Columbus Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide - Train Web)
{{Amtrak Wisconsin stations Buildings and structures in Columbia County, Wisconsin Amtrak stations in Wisconsin Railway stations in the United States opened in 1906 Former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad stations Columbus, Wisconsin

History

Amenities

Gallery

See also

References

External links