Williams Junction
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Location | Williams Junction, AZ 86046 | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 35°14′35″N 112°08′05″W / 35.24306°N 112.13472°W | ||||||||||
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Platforms | 1 side platform | ||||||||||
Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||
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Station code | WMJ | ||||||||||
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Passengers (2015) | 6,738 10.6% (Amtrak) | ||||||||||
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Williams Junction is a Amtrak train station located southeast of Williams, Arizona. The station, served by Amtrak's Southwest Chief route, is not accessible to private vehicles; passengers are transferred via an Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach shuttle to Williams, Arizona which travels in part on a gravel road to connect with the Grand Canyon Railway. There is no physical train station at the junction.
Both of the original Santa Fe Railroad stations remain in downtown Williams and are across the tracks from each other with the older station being a tourist information center and the newer poured concrete station (which includes a Harvey House hotel) being used by the Grand Canyon Railroad.
The Santa Fe quit routing passenger traffic to the stations in 1968 and bypassed downtown Williams for its main east-west line. Service to Williams and Ash Fork Station on the Southern Transcon main line lasted until 1960, when the Santa Fe completed a bypass around Ash Fork. This was done to avoid the steep Johnson Canyon, west of Ash Fork. The junction point shifted to Williams Junction, and the line to Phoenix became the only service through the town. The former main line west of Ash Fork was abandoned.