Tukwila, WA (TUK)

Tukwila has long been a transportation crossroads; a new multimodal station opened in 2015 and includes public art that beckons approaching travelers.

Amtrak/Sounder Station
7301 Longacres Way
Tukwila, WA 98188

Annual Ticket Revenue (FY 2023): $1,244,953
Annual Station Ridership (FY 2023): 29,014

Ownerships
Routes Served
Contact
Local Community Links

Facility Ownership: Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority
Parking Lot Ownership: Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority
Platform Ownership: BNSF Railway
Track Ownership: BNSF Railway

Amtrak Cascades

Alex Khalfin
Regional Contact
governmentaffairssea@amtrak.com
For information about Amtrak fares and schedules, please visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).

The present Tukwila station was dedicated on February 18, 2015 and is served by Sounder commuter rail, Amtrak Cascades trains, and Sounder Transit and Metro Transit buses. It includes two concrete platforms, covered waiting areas, pedestrian underpass, bus transfer plaza, 390 parking spaces and bicycle storage racks and lockers. Artwork by artist Sheila Klein, incorporating steel, lighting, mirrored panels and shrubbery, creates a beacon for approaching travelers.

The $46 million facility replaces temporary structures that opened in 2000 and remained in use while the cities of Tukwila and Renton determined how a permanent station complex would best fit into long-term transportation and development plans for the area. Featured speakers at the dedication included U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Congressman Adam Smith and Washington State Department of Transportation Assistant Secretary Amy Scarton.

Sound Transit provided the majority of funding, but the project also received federal transportation grants. Those included $4.6 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds disbursed through the Federal Transit Administration (FTA); $1.5 million in FTA Fixed Guideway funds; and $7.4 million from the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program.

The FRA grant was part of a larger $814 million investment in the Pacific Northwest states that is helping to upgrade the vital rail corridor between Eugene, Ore., and Vancouver, B.C. The busy corridor is shared by transit agencies, Amtrak and private freight railroads. Numerous projects will relieve congestion, provide modern infrastructure and allow for future capacity increases.

In addition to regional transit agencies and the cities of Tukwila and Renton, the station planning process involved Amtrak, the Washington State Department of Transportation and BNSF Railway, owner of the tracks used by Sounder and Amtrak Cascades trains.

Tukwila, on the peninsula south of Seattle and just west of Renton, lies at the north-flowing conjunction of the Green and Black Rivers where they become the Duwamish. The area was named by the resident Duwamish peoples for the thick hazelnut forests that grew there. Non-native settlers first arrived in the 1850s via river and wagon to farm the rich soil of the Duwamish River Valley.

The community’s location at the crossroads of historic rivers and trails – and highways and railroads today – has made it a local center of commerce. In the 1860s, travel was by flat-bottomed river boat that ran from Seattle to Auburn and back, carrying coal, produce, and livestock as well as passengers. At that time, it took two days to get to Seattle from Tukwila.

Early electric trains provided an interurban line connecting to Renton and Tacoma, operating from 1902 to 1928, and travel to Seattle from Tacoma then took under an hour. The first macadam-paved road in the state was laid in Tukwila. In 1916, the first highway between Seattle and Tacoma made its way through Tukwila. The Pacific Highway section through Tukwila is known as Interurban Avenue.

In 1908, Tukwila incorporated as a city. Today, it is still a center of commerce, and is home to several Boeing corporate facilities as well as a number of Internet and corporate data centers, including Microsoft, InterNAP and the University of Washington. Most are located close to the Tukwila station on the Sabey Corporation’s Intergate Seattle campus near Boeing Field and only a few miles from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The Museum of Flight, the largest private air and space museum in the world, is located just north of Tukwila. It has an outdoor, large aircraft display area featuring the prototypes of the Boeing 737 and 747, America’s first jet Air Force One, an American Airlines 727-200, and a British Airways Concorde—the only one on display on the West Coast. The public can tour both Air Force One and the Concorde.

Tukwila was the birthplace of Nintendo America, as the company’s first U.S. warehouse was leased by landlord Mario Seagale, whose namesake is the world-famous video game pioneer.

The Amtrak Cascades are primarily financed through funds made available by the Washington State Department of Transportation and the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Image courtesy of Sound Transit.