The Union Station in Raleigh

Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 was constructed in 1890 by the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad

Raleigh and Gaston Railroad

The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad was a Raleigh, North Carolina-based railroad opened in 1840 between Raleigh and the town of Gaston, North Carolina on the Roanoke River...

, a predecessor of the Seaboard Air Line, at the corner of Dawson and West Martin streets. It also served the original Norfolk Southern Railway

Norfolk Southern Railway (former)

The Norfolk Southern Railway was the final name of a railroad running from Norfolk, Virginia southwest and west to Charlotte, North Carolina. It was acquired by the Southern Railway in 1974, which was merged with the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1990 to form the current entity of the Norfolk...

 and the Southern Railway

Southern Railway (US)

The Southern Railway is a former United States railroad. It was the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s, formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894...

, with a total of four tracks. Being a stub-end station, Union Station was inconvenient to operate. Seaboard built a new run-through station for itself in 1942, as did Southern in 1950 (now used

Raleigh (Amtrak station)

The Raleigh Amtrak Station, located in Raleigh, North Carolina, is served by three passenger trains, the Silver Star, Piedmont and Carolinian. The street address is 320 West Cabarrus Street, and is located just to the southwest of downtown Raleigh....

 by Amtrak). By that time, the original Norfolk Southern had discontinued its passenger trains.

The head-house of Union Station survives as an office building. The former platform area was redeveloped as industrial property.

On April 23, 2010 the city of Raleigh announced a plan to construct a new "Union Station" not far from the 1890 site. The facility would serve the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor

Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor

The Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor is a passenger rail transportation project in the United States to extend high speed passenger rail services from Washington, DC south through Richmond and Petersburg in Virginia through Raleigh and Charlotte in North Carolina and connect with the existing...

, conventional Amtrak trains, future Commuter rail over the North Carolina Railroad

North Carolina Railroad

The North Carolina Railroad is a state-owned rail corridor extending from Morehead City, North Carolina to Charlotte, North Carolina. The railroad carries over seventy freight trains and eight passenger trains daily...

, Capital Area Transit (Raleigh)

Capital Area Transit (Raleigh)

Raleigh CAT, or Capital Area Transit operates 43 public transit routes to serve the city of Raleigh, North Carolina.-Early days:Previous to the CAT system CP&L provided public transit to the city, starting in 1886 with mule-drawn vehicles and covering routes in of central Raleigh...

, Triangle Transit, and Greyhound Lines

Greyhound Lines

Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and...

.