Community Builds and Staffs Amtrak Station, Without Amtrak

Centennial Station, Olympia/Lacey, Washington. Image - Morgan Davis, flickr

Kudos to C.B. Hall at Seattle online news outlet Crosscut who daylights a legendary local story that deserves broader notice: A community comes together not only to build a wonderful, welcoming small town train station – but also to volunteer staff it. And staff it they have – in the nearly 20 years since the station was built, “volunteers have met every single train to help passengers.”

Here’s the kicker: Amtrak is not impressed. Official materials tells travelers the station is unstaffed. Why does that matter? You mean, other than the insult to the many volunteers and the hours they devote? “Unstaffed” could cause disabled, elderly and others needing assistance to use a more distant and less convenient station – or not use Amtrak at all.

If you’re a fan of passenger rail, or would like to read a story of positive community engagement, dedication and volunteerism, you’ll want to read this story:  ”Amtrak finds it hard to take citizens’ help, even when they build a station.”

Puget Sound-area readers may be interested in other C.B. Hall stories on transportation.