The Saratoga and Washington Railroad opened from Saratoga Springs, New York to Gansevoort on August 15, 1848, and on to Whitehall on December 10. The original terminus was just north of the village center at a dock on the Poultney River - the southern tip of Lake Champlain - thus establishing the railroad as a competitor to the Champlain Canal. A extension north to Lake Station on October 1, 1851 eliminated the need for ships to round a dangerous bend in the river. On October 1, 1850, the railroad opened a branch from just south of Whitehall to the Vermont state line near Fair Haven. Along with its Vermont subsidiary the Rutland and Whitehall Railroad and the Rutland and Washington Railroad, this established a through rail route between Albany, New York and Rutland, Vermont. The railroad built a brick freight house and station at the junction in 1850. After a "complicated series of bankruptcies, reorganizations, leases, and sales", the railroads were consolidated under the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad in 1865, which in turn became part of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad on May 1, 1871. D&H subsidiary New York and Canada Railroad opened from Lake Station to Rouses Point on December 1, 1875, eliminating the need for Lake Station as a steamship terminal. The D&H built a new station and freight house at Whitehall in 1892-93. In 1932, the D&H realigned its mainline through Whitehall, with a short tunnel under the village center. The relocated tracks were slightly farther from the station, and a staircase connected the platform to the building. Passenger service on the Whitehall Branch to Rutland ended in 1936. Passenger service to Whitehall ended on April 30, 1971, as Amtrak did not continue D&H passenger service when it took over intercity passenger trains the next day. Service resumed with the introduction of the Adirondack on August 5, 1974. The former station building was demolished by intentional burning on April 28, 1987. The former freight house is in use by a local business. Construction on a new Amtrak station in the village center began in April 1994 and was completed that November 14. Amtrak began operating the Ethan Allen Express over the Whitehall Branch on December 2, 1996; because the 1994-built station is north of the junction, the Ethan Allen Express does not stop at Whitehall.
