Jasper Station

Jasper is a CN division point, and the station sits where two subdivisions meet: the Edson Subdivision arrives from Edmonton and ends at Jasper (Mile 235.7), and the Albreda Subdivision starts here (Mile 0.0) and runs west to Blue River, British Columbia, according to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. At the time of the TSB's 2010 investigation, both were Centralized Traffic Control territory run by a rail traffic controller in Edmonton.

The platform runs along the east side of the 1925 station building on Connaught Drive, and the station track (designated YC58 by CN) lies right against it. Beyond it are the through track and Jasper Yard, so freight trains pass slowly within sight of the platform while passenger trains sit at the station. Jasper has long been a crew-change point: the 2010 TSB report describes CN crews working Jasper to Edmonton, and VIA crews taking over the Canadian at Jasper for the run to Kamloops.

When the Canadian calls, VIA's mechanical staff water, clean and inspect the train during a scheduled layover (90 minutes for westbound train No. 1 in the TSB report, boarding time included), which leaves time to walk its length. The station is staffed, with a waiting room and washrooms open during VIA's posted station hours.

The station is a 1½-storey building under a steep, irregular roof with gabled dormers, set on a cobblestone base with a limestone drip course and stuccoed brick walls, in what Parks Canada describes as an Arts and Crafts design adapted to the national parks style. It stands at the edge of Jasper's downtown, inside Jasper National Park, with the town's shops across Connaught Drive and the yard tracks on the other side.

Pyramid Mountain rises 9.6 km (6 miles) north-northwest of the platform (bearing 331°), roughly 40° left of the line of the tracks when looking north. CN 4-8-2 No. 6015 stands on display south of the building, next to the station parking lot.

The town was heavily damaged by the July 2024 wildfire; the station itself was reported undamaged, and VIA Rail's station page lists regular opening hours.

The first Jasper station burned down in the winter of 1924–25. Canadian National Railways built the present station in 1925, using the line's Western Division crews and a design from the CNR Architectural Division in Winnipeg; the federal heritage building record names G.C. Briggs as architect. Parks Canada calls it one of the largest and finest stations built by the new Canadian National Railways right after its formation.

It was designated a Heritage Railway Station under the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act on 4 June 1992, and a Classified Federal Heritage Building on 25 August 1994. The heritage record ties it to early Canadian tourism and to the railway expansion that settled the West.

CN 6015, a U-1-a class 4-8-2 Mountain-type steam locomotive built by the Canadian Locomotive Company in 1923, was retired in 1960 and has been on public display in Jasper since July 1972.

On 6 July 2010, CN freight train Q101 struck the side of VIA train No. 1 while passengers were leaving it on the station track (TSB report R10E0080). One car was pushed to an angle; no one was injured.

In July 2024 a wildfire destroyed much of the town. CN reopened its main line through Jasper on 26 July 2024, and the station was reported not damaged.

The junction of two CN subdivisions, a crew-change point, a passenger station for three services (VIA's Canadian, VIA's Jasper–Prince Rupert train and Rocky Mountaineer) and a preserved CN Mountain-type steam locomotive, all a few hundred metres from downtown Jasper and inside a national park. The building is protected twice over, as a Heritage Railway Station and as a Classified Federal Heritage Building.