Cary, NC (CYN)

211 North Academy Street
Cary, NC 27513

Station Hours

Annual Ticket Revenue (FY 2023): $4,255,269
Annual Station Ridership (FY 2023): 96,312

• Ownerships
• Routes Served
• Contact
• Local Community Links

• Facility Ownership: Town of Cary
• Parking Lot Ownership: Town of Cary
• Platform Ownership: Town of Cary
• Track Ownership: North Carolina Railroad ("H" Line) / CSX Transportation ("S" Line)

• Carolinian
• Floridian
• Piedmont

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

• Town of Cary
• NC By Train
• GoCary buses
• GoTriangle buses

The current Amtrak station in Cary was built in 1996 and sits where two rail lines diverge to head west and south. It contains a waiting area for Amtrak passengers and local and regional bus patrons. Cary’s historic station was torn down in the 1970s, so when rail passenger service resumed in Cary in 1995, it was on a 200-foot platform with shelter beside the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR) “H” Line tracks on the north side of the property. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Rail Division paid $100,000 to construct the platform and shelter prior to the opening of the new depot, which was funded through $637,000 from the town and $100,000 from the Triangle Transit Authority.

In 2006, a platform was constructed on the CSX “S” Line south of the depot, which allowed the Silver Star (New York-Tampa-Miami) to began service to Cary. NCDOT covered 90 percent of the platform costs while the town contributed $30,000. Five years later, the depot was expanded with NCDOT and Federal Railroad Administration funds totaling approximately $2 million; the building reopened on September 1, 2011.

The town of Cary began in 1750 as a settlement called Bradford’s Ordinary. About 100 years later, the construction of the NCRR between New Bern and Hillsborough placed Bradford’s Ordinary on a major transportation route. Allison Francis Page, a Wake County farmer and lumberman, is credited with founding the town, and was its first developer, mayor, postmaster, and railroad agent. Page and his wife Catherine “Kate” Raboteau Page bought 300 acres there in 1854. Page named the development after Samuel Fenton Cary, a prohibition leader from Ohio whom he admired. The town was incorporated in 1871; eight years later, the Seaboard Air Line and NCRR railroads formed Fetner Junction just north of downtown.

When the Research Triangle Park was opened nearby in 1959, Cary began to experience significant growth and it became a favored spot to settle. The town’s continuing reputation as a community for transplants from outside the south has led to its name being said, jokingly, to be an acronym for “Containment Area for Relocated Yankees.” It is certainly one of the fastest growing municipalities in the region, and has won national awards for both its bicycle-friendliness and public safety in recent years. The town government has also been careful in requiring control of local growth by developers through Planned Unit Development zoning since 1971, a first in the state.

Cary High School, which was incorporated in 1896, was the first high school established in the state of North Carolina. Its immediate predecessor, Cary Academy, was founded in 1879. Cary High has had several buildings over the years; its current structure was built in 1938. In North Carolina, it is said that Cary is associated with its innovative and successful high school as much as neighboring Durham is associated with tobacco.

The Piedmont and Carolinian services are financed primarily through funds made available by the State of North Carolina.

Station Building (with waiting room)