Pacific Central Station

Architecture & Buildings

North America, Canada, Vancouver

Pacific Central Station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is a railway station that acts as the western terminus of Via Rail's cross-country The Canadian to Toronto and the northern terminus of Amtrak’s Cascades to Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and Eugene, Oregon. Until Via Rail took over operations around 1979, Canadian Pacific Railway’s passenger trains went further west to Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver, now used by the SkyTrain and the West Coast Express commuter railway. Pacific Central Station is adjacent to Main Street SkyTrain station. The station is wheelchair-accessible and is staffed with full Via services. The station also provides intercity coach service, being the head office and bus depot of Pacific Coach Lines and the main Vancouver terminal for Greyhound Canada. Also Malaspina bus, which serves the Sunshine communities of Gibsons, Sechelt and Powell River Rather than stopping for an immigration inspection at the border, as happens with Adirondack (Amtrak) to Montreal and Maple Leaf (train) to Toronto, passengers for the Cascades to Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and Eugene, Oregon pass through U.S. border preclearance facilities and airport-style X-ray machines in the station before entering a special, fenced in platform where they can board the train. This is meant to expedite border-crossing times for the train, which otherwise might be delayed hours on an already 4.5 h trip to nearby Seattle. The Rocky Mountaineer operated from Pacific Central Station until moving to the nearby Rocky Mountaineer Station in 2005. The building was designated a heritage railway station in 1991. On 8 November 2010, the Canadian government announced a $5.1 million plan to rebuild parts of the station, including refubishing windows, masonry, and the roof of the building.