Salem Amtrak Station serves Oregon’s capital from a 1918 Southern Pacific depot on the eastern edge of downtown, and it is one of the few stops on the Willamette Valley line with a staffed ticket office and full checked baggage service. Two routes call here: the state-supported Amtrak Cascades corridor and the long-distance Coast Starlight. The combination gives Salem both several corridor round trips a day and a single daily connection to Seattle, Sacramento and Los Angeles.
Salem — Live Arrivals & Departures
Updated 2 minutes ago · Times are localWhat is the location of Salem Amtrak Station?
The Salem Amtrak Station is situated at:500 13th St SE, Salem, OR 97301, USA
The depot stands about half a mile southeast of the Oregon State Capitol, with Willamette University’s campus between the two. Mission Street SE and 12th and 13th Streets form the road approach, and Interstate 5 lies roughly two miles east, which is why most drivers reach the station from the Mission Street interchange rather than from downtown itself.
| Station: | Salem Station |
| Station Code: | SLM |
| Contact Number: | 1-800-872-7245 |
| Lost and Found: | Online Form |
| Police: | +1-800-331-0008 |
| Working Hours: | Daily 6:00 A.M. to 7:45 P.M. (ticket office and waiting room); checked baggage closes 7:30 P.M. |
| Nearby Airport: | Portland International Airport (PDX) |
| Website: | https://www.amtrak.com/home |
| YouTube: | https://www.youtube.com/amtrak |
| Facebook: | https://www.facebook.com/Amtrak/ |
| Instagram: | https://www.instagram.com/amtrak |
| X (Twitter): | https://www.twitter.com/amtrak |
| LinkedIn: | https://www.linkedin.com/company/amtrak |
| Pinterest: | https://www.pinterest.com/amtraktravels/ |
Salem Amtrak Station Layout Map
The site is a single depot building beside the main line, with one platform, so there is no overbridge, tunnel or track change to negotiate. Amtrak records no elevator and no high platform here; boarding uses the car steps, and a wheelchair lift is kept at the station for passengers who need it.
Being inside the city street grid rather than beside a highway means the walk to the Capitol, the state offices and Willamette University is practical on foot. The same placement constrains the site: the depot is hemmed in by streets on three sides, which limits how much parking can be fitted around it.
List of all Amtrak Stations.
Amtrak Routes and Schedule Information
Amtrak Cascades provides most of the service, running north to Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, and south to Albany and Eugene. The Coast Starlight also stops at Salem once each way per day on its Seattle–Los Angeles run, which is the station’s only link to California by rail. Amtrak Thruway coaches supplement the timetable on the valley corridor.
Corridor departures are spread through the day rather than concentrated into commuter peaks, because the Cascades timetable is built for intercity trips of two to four hours. Union Pacific owns and dispatches the track, so Coast Starlight arrivals in particular can run well behind a published time after a long run down from Washington. Amtrak asks for 45 minutes at Salem when checking baggage or needing ticketing help, and 30 minutes otherwise.
Services and Amenities available
Amtrak lists a staffed ticket sales office, passenger assistance, restrooms, a waiting room, Quik-Trak kiosks and vending machines, all open daily from 6:00 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. Checked baggage and baggage storage are both available, the storage for a fee, with baggage carts on site and baggage assistance provided by station staff; bike boxes and shipping boxes are sold at the counter, ski bags are not. The platform, restrooms, ticket office, waiting room and water fountain are all recorded as accessible, and both a wheelchair and a wheelchair lift are kept here.
Several things are absent: there is no ATM, no payphone, no elevator, no lounge and no Amtrak Express shipping. Wi-Fi is the one point where Amtrak contradicts itself — the features list records no Wi-Fi at this station, while the same page’s station history says Wi-Fi was installed for waiting passengers, and Amtrak does not resolve the conflict. Unaccompanied child travel is permitted, which follows from agents being on duty.
Station Arrivals and Departures
With one platform and one boarding point, arrivals need no gate assignment; an agent announces trains inside the waiting room during staffed hours. Cascades trainsets use Talgo and Horizon-type equipment with low-level doors, so boarding is from the platform surface with a step up or a lift.
The practical risk at Salem is a late Coast Starlight rather than a late Cascades train. The Starlight reaches the Willamette Valley hundreds of miles into its run, and any freight delay accumulated in Washington or on the Cascade Range crossing arrives with it. Cascades services, with shorter runs and tighter padding, hold their times far more closely.
Why choose Salem Amtrak Station
Salem is the only staffed Amtrak stop between Portland and Eugene offering checked baggage, so it is the obvious origin for a valley passenger with heavy or oversized luggage. Clearance for unaccompanied child travel follows from the same staffing and is not available at the corridor’s unstaffed platforms.
Its position also matters because Salem has no scheduled airline service of its own. For state-capital travel the train removes a drive to Portland International Airport or along a congested stretch of Interstate 5, and the depot’s downtown setting puts the Capitol within walking distance of the platform.
Parking and Transit Option
Amtrak’s published data on Salem parking is inconsistent and worth checking before relying on it. The parking section lists same-day and overnight parking with fees that may apply, including accessible spaces, while the station hours table for the same site states there is no parking at this location. Amtrak does not reconcile the two.
What is not in dispute is the physical constraint: the depot sits on a tight downtown block bounded by streets, so whatever capacity exists is small. Overnight parking in particular should be confirmed with Amtrak or the City of Salem rather than assumed from the features list.
Public Transportation Options
Cherriots, the Salem Area Mass Transit District, runs the local bus network, and its downtown transit centre is a short walk northwest of the depot, which is where most route transfers happen. Cherriots also operates regional services toward Woodburn, Wilsonville and the Polk County towns, and the Wilsonville link connects onward to Portland’s TriMet system.
Ride-hailing and taxis operate in Salem, and the flat downtown grid makes the walk from the station to the Capitol, Willamette University or the riverfront easy on foot or by bicycle. None of the bus timetables is synchronised with train arrivals, so a transfer wait is normal.
Food Availability Near the Station
Amtrak records vending machines inside the station and no food concession, so the depot itself offers only packaged snacks and drinks. Downtown Salem, five to ten minutes’ walk northwest, holds the nearest cafés, bakeries and restaurants, concentrated around State and Court Streets and the Capitol Mall.
That split is a direct consequence of the depot’s age and size. A 1918 station built for ticketing and baggage was never laid out to hold retail, and with the downtown core a few blocks away there has never been commercial pressure to add any.
Hotels Near the Station
Salem’s hotel stock sits around the Capitol and along the Willamette River rather than at the depot:
- Grand Hotel in Salem – beside the Salem Convention Center in the downtown core, roughly a mile from the depot
- Shilo Inns Salem – north of downtown near the Interstate 5 corridor, about two miles out
- Holman Riverfront Park Hotel – on the Willamette River next to Riverfront Park, a little over a mile west of the station
The downtown locations are walkable with light luggage; the Interstate 5 cluster is not, and needs a taxi or ride-hail for the leg to the platform.
FAQs
Amtrak lists the Salem station at 500 13th Street SE, Salem, OR 97301, about half a mile southeast of the Oregon State Capitol.
Amtrak handles reservations and refunds on 1-800-872-7245. Salem also has a staffed ticket office and passenger assistance, open daily from 6:00 a.m. to 7:45 p.m.
Yes. Amtrak records unaccompanied child travel as allowed at the SLM station, which depends on the agents and passenger assistance on duty during staffed hours.
Yes. Checked baggage service runs daily from 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and bag storage is offered for a fee, with baggage carts and staff assistance available.
Portland International Airport (PDX) is the nearest airport with scheduled airline service, about 50 miles north. Salem-Willamette Valley Airport is far closer but has had no scheduled airline flights since August 2025.