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The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) last week awarded a contract to Garco Construction Inc. to build a new Amtrak station in Tacoma, Wash.

Construction is slated to begin June 6 and to be completed in fall 2017, WSDOT officials said in a press release.

The $10.3 million station is a key component of the department's Cascades High-Speed Rail Program, which is a federally funded initiative designed to improve passenger-rail throughout the Amtrak Cascades corridor in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.

Located in Tacoma's Freighthouse Square, the station was designed in consultation with a citizens advisory committee and city officials. It features large glass windows, wood columns and ceiling, terrazzo flooring, and sliding and vertical lift doors.

The station will serve Amtrak trains running on the Cascades and Coast Starlight routes.

The new station is also part of WSDOT's Point Defiance Bypass project, which calls for rerouting passenger train traffic through Tacoma, DuPont and Lakewood, Wash.