Reno, NV (RNO)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$5,593,822

Station Ridership

FY 2011

69,257

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

Amtrak's Reno station is the fourth train station to stand on that site. The first one, built in 1869, burned down in the Reno fire of 1879. The second one opened a decade later–and it burned down as well.

The third one survived until the station was bought by the Southern Pacific (SP) Railroad in 1925, which replaced that station with the one built in the Mediterranean Revival style popular among SP's holdings. It features a long, stucco-clad building with five tall, rounded arches that form door and window openings. The design is nearly symmetrical and is mirrored on both sides of the station – facing the platform as well as the street. A red tile roof covers the center of the station and its palladian windows. The station is known for its high, coffered ceiling and the back-to-back wooden benches that are still used by Amtrak passengers.

Along a 2.2-mile stretch in downtown Reno, a $282-million, nine-year project began in November 2005 to lower the Union Pacific mainline and eliminate 11 street crossings in the heart of the city. In January 2006, Amtrak moved back into the both the renovated historic station and a newly constructed section of the historic building. This new space includes a ticket office, a second waiting room in addition to the one in the historic building, offices and a long escalator that leads down to the lowered platform and tracks.

In 2007, the Reno Gazette-Journal newspaper reported a large fountain that once stood in downtown Reno to "quench the thirst of all of God's creatures" went on display in the lower lobby of the rail station. The Women's Christian Temperance Union had the 14-foot-tall fountain built and dedicated it on Oct. 17, 1908, thinking if men had a place to get water for themselves and their horses and dogs, it would keep them out of saloons. Throughout the country, temperance leagues built these grandiose water fountains that doubled as monuments.

The Reno City Council provided most of the $50,000 in funding for the fountain restoration/relocation, fulfilling a public art component to the project to lower the tracks through downtown. While it no longer serves water, the monument welcomes travelers.

The city of Reno, known as the “biggest little city in the world”, is Nevada's third largest city. The area was settled as early as the 1850s, when pioneers made a living off of subsistence farming and supporting travelers making their way further westward. After the discovery of the Comstock Lode in 1857, Charles Fuller built a log toll bridge across the Truckee River in 1859 to support those moving along the California Trail and those seeking to access the silver rush – best accessed from the region that is now Reno. A small community grew up around the bridge, which Fuller sold to Myron Lake, who developed the community by adding a grist mill, kiln, and livery stable to the hotel and eating house. At that point, the town started calling itself Lake's Crossing.

Myron Lake realized in the late 1860s that his business would be greatly helped by the Central Pacific Railroad's expansion and connection with the Union Pacific, and sought to attract some of the traffic of the transcontinental railroad to his town. In 1868 he deeded land to the Central Pacific in exchange for their promise to build a train station at Lake's Crossing. When that was accomplished, the town of Reno was officially founded on May 13, 1868, named after Major General Jesse L. Reno, a Union officer killed in the Civil War.

Reno experienced several other booms over the years. In 1871, Reno tailor Jacob Davis started reinforcing his pants with copper rivets, patenting the idea with his canvas supplier, Levi Strauss, creating the fabulously successful Levi's product. Around 1931, Reno's legalization of gambling and its new, liberal divorce laws created another business boom in the region. As other states began to liberalize their divorce laws, however, that business faded. Before the 1960s, Reno was also known as the gambling capital of the world, and, though that business also remains, the rise of Las Vegas has led Reno to diversify.

In recent years, Reno has experienced rapid growth and a strong economy as an area with a low cost of living compared to most towns in California. New construction is constant, and housing prices have increased dramatically. Meanwhile, some of the old downtown casinos are being turned into condominiums, leading to a revitalization of the downtown area. With the Amtrak station still in the center of town, Reno continues its long tradition of growing and prospering around the railroad.

This facility has two waiting rooms and is staffed by an Amtrak employee.

Reno is served by two daily trains.