Cary, NC (CYN)

211 North Academy Street
Cary, NC 27511

Station Ownership

Facility:
Town of Cary

Parking:
Town of Cary

Platform(s):
Town of Cary

Track(s):
North Carolina Railroad Company/ CSX

Amtrak Contact

Todd Stennis

Routes Served:

• Carolinian
• Piedmont
• Silver Star

History

The current Amtrak station in Cary was built in 1996. It contains a waiting area for Amtrak passengers and local and regional bus patrons, as well as a Department of Motor Vehicles driver’s license office.

Cary’s historic station had been torn down in the 1970s. When rail passenger service resumed in Cary in 1995, it was on a 200-foot platform beside the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR) tracks until the current station opened the following year. The station was made possible by $636,999 from the town and $100,000 from the Triangle Transit Authority. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Rail Division paid $100,000 to construct the platform and shelter on the “H” Line (North Carolina Railroad Company) prior to the opening of the depot building.

In 2006, a platform was constructed on the CSX “S” Line and the Silver Star began daily service to Cary. This platform was paid for NCDOT (90 percent of the costs) and the town ($30,000).

The town of Cary began in 1750 as a settlement called Bradford’s Ordinary. About 100 years later, the construction of the NCRR between New Bern and Hillsborough placed Bradford’s Ordinary on a major transportation route. Allison Francis Page, a Wake County farmer and lumberman, is credited with founding the town, and was its first developer, mayor, postmaster, and railroad agent. Page and his wife Catherine “Kate” Raboteau Page bought 300 acres there in 1854. Page named the development after Samuel Fenton Cary, a prohibition leader from Ohio whom he admired. The town was incorporated in 1879, several years after the Seaboard Air Line and NCRR railroads formed Fetner Junction just north of downtown.

When the Research Triangle Park was opened nearby in 1959, Cary began to experience significant growth and it became a favored spot to settle. The town’s continuing reputation as a community for transplants from outside the south has let to its name being said, jokingly, to be an acronym for “Containment Area for Relocated Yankees.” It is certainly one of the fastest growing municipalities in the region, and has won national awards for both its bicycle-friendliness and public safety in recent years. The town government has also been careful in requiring control of local growth by developers through Planned Unit Development zoning since 1971, a first in the state.

Cary High School, which was incorporated in 1896, was the first high school established in the state of North Carolina. Its immediate predecessor, Cary Academy, was founded in 1879. Cary High has had several buildings over the years; its current structure was built in 1938. In North Carolina, it is said that Cary is associated with its innovative and successful high school as much as neighboring Durham is associated with tobacco.

Amtrak does not provide either ticketing or baggage services at this facility.

Cary is served by eight daily trains.

ADA Compliance

Federal law requires compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by 2010. The following is a list of items typically required for transportation and public facilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Please check the regulations for guidance or contact us for more information.