Amtrak Train Station Barstow, California (BAR) stands at 685 N 1st Ave, Barstow, CA 92311 and is served by the Southwest Chief between Chicago and Los Angeles, with Victorville the next stop west and Needles the next stop east. Amtrak counted 3,287 passengers at BAR in fiscal year 2025. The station formerly saw the Desert Wind from 1979 to 1997 and the Las Vegas Limited in 1976. One side platform remains in use beside BNSF’s Southern Transcon; the others are out of service, and only a passing siding and a through track are left.
Barstow — Live Arrivals & Departures
Updated 2 seconds ago · Times are localBarstow Amtrak Station Contact Details
Nobody represents Amtrak at Barstow, and there is not even a Quik-Trak machine to collect a pre-booked ticket from. That makes advance booking essential: reservations are made online, by telephone or in the app, using the national contacts set out in the table, which also carries the e-ticketing address and the Amtrak Police number.
| Station: | Barstow Station |
| Station Code: | BAR |
| Contact Number: | +1 800-872-7245 |
| Email: | etickets@amtrak.com |
| Lost and Found: | +1 800-872-7245 / +1 833-391-0338 |
| Police: | +1-800-331-0008 |
| Working Hours: | No ticket office; platform shelter only, no posted waiting room hours |
| Nearby Airport: | Ontario International Airport (ONT) |
| Website: | https://www.amtrak.com/ |
| Instagram: | https://www.instagram.com/amtrak |
| X (Twitter): | https://x.com/amtrak |
| Youtube: | https://www.youtube.com/amtrak |
| Facebook: | https://www.facebook.com/Amtrak/ |
| Pinterest: | https://www.pinterest.com/amtraktravels/ |
Services Provided by Amtrak at BAR Station
Services at BAR are minimal, despite the scale of the building behind the platform. There is no ticket office and no passenger assistance, and no checked baggage, baggage storage, baggage carts, bag storage or Amtrak Express, and bike boxes, ski bags and shipping boxes are not sold. Amtrak lists no Wi-Fi, no ATM, no payphones, no vending machines, no lounge, no elevator and no waiting room hours. Restrooms appear in Amtrak’s feature list but none are described as accessible. The passenger facility is a platform with a shelter. The platform is accessible and a wheelchair lift is available, though there is no high platform and no station wheelchair, and as of 2024 Amtrak planned to modify the platform for accessibility by fiscal year 2026. Unaccompanied child travel is not permitted.
| Restrooms: listed by Amtrak, but none accessible | Elevators: none at this station | Ticketing office: not available — tickets must be bought in advance |
| Support for unaccompanied minors: not permitted at this station | Baggage checking: not available | ATM: none at this station |
| Staff support: no passenger assistance — the stop is unstaffed | Bike boxes on purchase: not available | Ski Bags (on purchase): not available |
| Baggage assistance: not available | Nearby parking lots: same-day and overnight parking, fees may apply; accessible spaces available | Accessible platform, restroom, ticket office, seating, and water fountain: platform accessible; no accessible restroom, ticket office, waiting room or water fountain, and no high platform |
| Wheelchair Lift: available | Wheelchairs: none kept on site | Restaurants: none at the station |
Barstow Amtrak Station Layout Map
Passengers use a single side platform, so there is no concourse to cross. The building behind it is far grander than the service it now sees. It opened on 22 February 1911 as Casa del Desierto, a Harvey House hotel and restaurant with a Santa Fe Railway depot, replacing an 1885 station that had burned in 1908. Francis W. Wilson of Santa Barbara designed the concrete-framed building in Mediterranean and Spanish Revival style under a red clay tile roof, at a reported cost of around $250,000, with 50 guest rooms upstairs. Santa Fe closed the station in 1973. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and made a California Historical Landmark in 1976. The City of Barstow bought it in 1990 and rehabilitated it after the 1992 earthquake, and it now houses the Western America Railroad Museum, the Barstow Route 66 “Mother Road” Museum, the Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, city offices and event space. The map below shows the site.
List of all Amtrak Stations.
Baggage & Luggage Rules
Checked baggage is not handled at Barstow, so bags travel as carry-on within Amtrak’s standard allowance. There is no baggage storage, no baggage cart and no staffed baggage assistance, and Amtrak Express parcels cannot be sent or collected. Bike boxes, ski bags and shipping boxes are not sold here either. Passengers shipping bicycles or outsize items use a staffed Southwest Chief station such as Los Angeles Union or Flagstaff.
Food, Lounges & Restrooms
No food or drink is sold at the stop and there is no lounge. Restrooms are listed among the station’s features, but Amtrak records none as accessible, and there is no accessible water fountain. Seating is limited to the platform shelter. Because the Southwest Chief calls at Barstow in the small hours in both directions and Amtrak posts no waiting room hours, provisions are best bought in Barstow beforehand rather than counted on at the station.
How to Reach the Barstow Amtrak Station
North First Avenue crosses the Mojave River just north of Barstow’s center, where Interstate 15 and Interstate 40 meet, which makes the town a long-standing road junction as well as a rail one. Amtrak Thruway bus route 10 serves the station, giving a connection toward Las Vegas and the wider coach network. Same-day and overnight parking is available with accessible bays and possible fees, in a lot owned by the City of Barstow; BNSF owns the platform and tracks.
Nearby Airports
Ontario International Airport (ONT) is the nearest airport with a broad schedule of commercial flights, roughly 80 miles south-west of Barstow by road. Harry Reid International at Las Vegas and Hollywood Burbank are comparable alternatives, each reached by road or by the Thruway coach connection. No airport lies close to Barstow itself, and no rail link serves any terminal from the station.
Hotels Near Barstow Amtrak Station
Amtrak lists no affiliated hotel at Barstow, and the station provides no overnight facilities even though the building was itself a Harvey House hotel until 1973. Because the Southwest Chief calls overnight and the platform has only a shelter, anyone needing a room should book independently and confirm rates and availability directly with providers in Barstow.
Barstow pairs one of the most significant surviving Harvey House buildings in the American South-West with one of the barest Amtrak stops: a single platform and shelter, no staff, no tickets and no baggage service, used by about 3,300 passengers a year. The depot now serves as two museums and a visitor center instead. The map above shows where it stands on North First Avenue.
FAQs
The station is located at 685 N 1st Ave, Barstow, CA 92311, United States.
Amtrak posts no agent at Barstow, so calls go to the national reservations line on +1 800-872-7245 or to etickets@amtrak.com.
Barstow has no ticket office, and Amtrak lists no waiting room hours for the stop. Tickets are bought in advance online, by phone or in the Amtrak app.
Ontario International Airport (ONT) is the nearest airport to the station.
Partly. The platform is accessible and a wheelchair lift is available, but Amtrak lists no accessible restroom, waiting room or water fountain, no elevator, no high platform and no station wheelchair.
A platform with a shelter, restrooms and same-day and overnight parking. There is no ticket office, no checked baggage, no Wi-Fi, no ATM, no payphone and no vending machine.