Amtrak – Staples Mill Road

This was the worst Amtrack station I’ve been to! Okay, it’s one of six I’ve been to and it was resoundingly adequate and what are you going to do: you want to take the train, you gotta go to the station.
The Good:
1. It’s small, and easy to navigate
2. The parking situation isn’t dreadful and it was easy to drop me off and pick me up, especially compared to driving to D.C. to retrieve me
3. They had a small snack bar
4. The staff was helpful and that isn’t the case at the other station I muddled through on my trip
The Bad:
1. They have no control over the trains OR the people complaining about the tardiness of the train. A watched pot never boils and neither do trains.
2. The snack bar is cash only
3. It wasn’t super clean and that bothered me
4. It’s Richmond’s best kept secret: my friend has lived around the block from it for TEN YEARS and didn’t know it was there because there isn’t adequate signage from the street

We are train people now; we are of the train
The air is dry
There is refuse in the seat sacks. We should clear them but limbs are stiff!
Oh we ride on! Ride on
Arrival in air noww

Only spent a couple hours there on a layover, however the employees I interacted with were super friendly, announcements made loud & clear, plus it helped to have an arrivals/​departures TV screen which I’ve never seen at an Amtrak station before.
Food stand is overpriced and being cash only is fairly ridiculous at a place serving travelers, however there is a McDonalds with Wifi access across the parking lot if you want real food.
Bathroom seemed to be pretty dirty, however it was safe.
Wouldn’t want to spend more than a few hours there, though.
(Note: the building no longer has WiFi)

This Amtrak station is both old and dirty. The staff is always friendly but I’ll be honest… I avoid using the restroom here!

Small AmTrak station. Certainly not posh. And I wish they could make the parking lot a tad easier to get in/​out of. But taking the train to DC beats I-​95 any day of the week!
If leaving your car here, there is a pay-​to-​park machine that you pay without having to walk back to your car to leave a receipt (just enter your license plate number)! The system will text you a reminder before your paid parking expires and let you extend it by phone if needed. Very convenient if you end up getting delayed!

I went on my first train ride back in August and I’ve ridden 3 more times since. This station is literally 5 minutes from my house. Talk about convenient! I have no idea why I’ve never thought to take the train in the past, but now I never want to travel to NOVA any other way. Paying $ 25 for a one way ticket to DC beats driving in that traffic any day of the week. I don’t know about you but the congestion on 95 gives me anxiety, high blood pressure, and everything else.
This station is totally no thrills. If you’re looking for comfortable seating and a lot of amenities, this ain’t the place. But, if all you need is somewhere to get on your train, then this serves its purpose. Because I live so close, I’ve never had to utilize the parking lot but it always looks full so I would suggest getting there early so that you can be sure to snag a spot. Other than that, everything is pretty straightforward!

Umm. they’ve gotten rid of the one man pay station! On my last train trip, I was shocked (in a fantastically good way) to see that the payments are all automatic now.
So here’s how it works:
1. You park.
2. You visit the pay machine inside the station before leaving on your train and choose the amount of time you want to pay for.
3. You can enter your phone number to get text updates when your time is close to running out. This is amazing for anyone who’s trip gets delayed or who decides to extend a trip but hasn’t «fed the meter» enough.
4. You’re done!
No receipt to put on the dash. No ticket to keep track of. No waiting in lines when you exit. In my mind, that’s priceless.

This is a small Amtrak station. We got there early in the AM so had no issues with parking. It can get a bit congested with people lining up to board the train.
They have a small food stand for items. Place is a bit dirty and old and in much need of a remodel.
Our train to DC left on time but arrive back a few minutes late. Maybe exiting the parking lot has been fixed as we had no issues leaving.

This station is a joke. I love using Amtrak but I hate Staples Mill. Useless pickup and drop off. I can’t wait til the improvements to Main Street Station are completed. End rant.

The only thing that can really be said about this station is that it has a roof. So if it is raining, you are not getting wet. As far as I can tell, this station does not have heat. It does have two very large doors on each side of the [one] room of benches, which keep you drafty from all angles. The «café» offers old chips, coffee, and pre-​packaged pastries. For some reason, if you are getting off or on here, you will have to walk the entire length of the train. Basically, Staples Mill Road provides all the comforts you should expect from something associated with Amtrak.
There were always one or two cabs out front, which was convenient. It’s about a $ 20 – 30 trip to the Capital One campus from here.

Amtrak station on the line that comes up from Savannah and Charleston SC and then on from here to Washington DC and intersects with the line that goes from Virginia Beach through Richmond to Charleston WV and points west, Staples Mill Road is a convenient stop for us to pick up my niece and nephew from North Carolina rather than drive all the way down to pick them up. Or to have them wait here for a couple of hours for the connection.
Not much for services here. A coffee and snack stand, bathrooms and waiting area, If you’re here on a long layover, I’d recommend crossing the parking lot to the McDonald’s. At least *they* have free wifi.
Parking is free for the first three hours, otherwise there is an automated machine for making payments.

I actually enjoy taking the train. I have to give major credit to my dad for even suggesting this option and saving me from a long drive!
Sure, this station is outdated, but I think they pretty much all are regardless of the city. So I knew not to expect anything fancy. But I was pleased with how clean the restrooms were and how amazingly friendly the staff was here! We all know traveling on a holiday can be either a really good or bad experience depending on the customer service but everyone here provided top notch service.
So if you’re in the mood for a relaxing ride, I’d definitely recommend making the train your number one option.

My daughter takes the train from union station DC to Staples Mill every Friday. The fair is cheap and the Amtrak officials escort her like an unaccompanied minor on an airline. The cons are the trains are always late and the parking is terrible

It’s a train station. I wasn’t expecting much from this place. Trains have been around for years and I’m sure that the cost to repair and/​or update them is through the roof. I just thought they would be much nicer but wasn’t expecting much. The seats are comfortable and they recline! Much like an airplane but more space and leniency to move on or about the train. I will be taking another train ride, heck, it beats driving 6 — 7 hours.

Great customer service this morning answering my amateur questions. Boarded promptly. Would have appreciated help with luggage as it was heavy but I survived. Train left promptly at 7:59am. You should need ID for ticket in my opinion but they did not check IDs against the ticket this morning. Doesn’t seem as secure as flying someplace. Moderate temperature. I should’ve brought a small blanket and pillow. Will add to this later after trip.

Customer services ok and also the food stand. But I’ll break it down. Comer service is ok and every thing out dated. Bathroom is some what keep clean Food vender is good and over price.
If this stop you do frequently go ahead and get the access code for the wifi. I don’t recommended on your laptop the code will stop after logging off. But using your iPod touch, iPad and other smart pads. It will always be there and he never change to pass word.
If you hungry italian restaurant next door also a McDonalds and a CVS. Vending machine also over price. No bus or subway train near or in city of RIchmond. Only cabs. Make sure you know your root the my take you on a long short cut. Parking alway full. Table and chairs outside plug out let outside by the beach.
Bring your drink and food with you you never go wrong.

Can we say, «HIGH SPEED RAIL.» This stretch of AMTRAK needs some upgrades. While I actually enjoy riding the train, the fact that AMTRAK shares this stretch of rail with CSX (who gets the right-​of-​way), makes this part very inefficient and slow at some times. I was scheduled to depart at 6:35 a.m., which after a freight train had broken down five miles north, turned into a 7:15 a.m. departure. After this debacle, the ride was smooth, with some pretty interesting scenery along the way. If you travel out of Staples Mill Station, and have time constraints, make sure to always book the train for an hour earlier.

I catch the train out of the Staple Mill location from time to time. The prices are reasonable. This location isn’t very big and it’s not modern. It’s best to arrive early just in case your train is full. I usually use the kiosk to print my boarding tickets (fast).The employees at the station will assist you as well. The customer service is average. The food options are limited. Theres a small snack bar stand inside of this Amtrak location. If you have a long enough wait, you will find some food options close by the station (walking distance).There’s plenty of parking. This location has a nice size parking lot if you decide to drive yourself. You will find cabs waiting outside of the station.

I hate this train station. It’s in Staples Mill, which makes it inconvenient to get to in the first place, the station is old and run down and frequently dirty and customer service is *almost* as bad as Greyhound.
I have only once, in the entire eight years I’ve been in Richmond, taken a train out of here on time. Once the train was four hours late. I felt like I could have WALKED to DC by then. My sister tried to catch a train that ran so late (over six hours) that she eventually left the station, stayed the night and caught a train the next morning that was only an hour late.
Heaven forbid the nasty lecture or withering stares you’ll get if you inquire about your train being late or ask for a refund on your ticket.
I feel lucky if I get a train into this station that’s only a half hour late. The only train I’ve consistently gotten into this station on time is the southbound .67? 97? that goes overnight from Boston to North Carolina.
Don’t even THINK about trying to go southbound or into the station from the south on one of these trains. Everyone I know who has done this has been horribly delayed. I made the horrible mistake of taking the train from Tampa Florida to Richmond. The train was delayed by 26 hours. I’m not even kidding. Everyone in the train had to get out in the middle of the night in some podunk town in North Carolina. They never gave us an explanation but said there would be buses along to pick us up in two hours. A woman pitched a fit, saying, «If I’d wanted to take the bus I would have taken Greyhound!» and no buses ever came. The train station personnel left us all alone at midnight.
I slept on a bench and woke up in the wee hours of the morning to find a homeless man standing over me, touching himself.
A train came in the morning but we weren’t allowed to board it and were again given no explanation. A few hours later the same train we’d been on before came and we were allowed to board. Nobody ever told us anything and requests to get our tickets refunded were met with silence.

This place has very rude people and dirty ass bums.