Warsaw Centralna station - Warsaw, Poland
N 52° 13.755 E 021° 00.271
34U E 500308 N 5786536
Warsaw Central Rail Station (Polish: Warszawa Centralna) is the most important railway station in Warsaw, Poland. Its construction began in 1972 and was completed in 1975.
Waymark Code: WM575C
Location: Mazowieckie, Poland
Date Posted: 11/22/2008
Views: 41
The station, located on the Warsaw Cross-City Line, has 9 underground platforms and is served by long-distance domestic and international trains of Polskie Koleje Panstwowe (PKP, Polish State Railways).
The station was constructed as a flagship project of the Polish People's Republic during the economic boom fueled in the 1970s by Western loans. The station encountered substantial problems from the very beginning, however, and soon became a white elephant.
The station's design was innovative but was altered many times during construction, adversely affecting the quality of the construction work and the station's functionality. Also, for propaganda reasons, it was decided to complete the station hastily so that it would be ready for Leonid Brezhnev's 1975 visit to Warsaw. This haste further degraded the quality of the construction, necessitating immediate repairs, which continued through the 1980s.
Nevertheless the structure was advanced for its time and incorporated such things as automatic doors and escalators.
Since the mid-1980s, Warsaw Central Station has been in decline. The Warsaw city government is contemplating demolishing the station and replacing it with a new one, either at the same location or farther from the city center.
Designed by Arseniusz Romanowicz, Centralna was constructed using 12,500 tons of steel, 8,000m2 of glass and 53,000m2 of concrete. Floor beams, automatic doors and metal elements used in the façade were imported from Switzerland, escalators from Paris and Brussels and the electronic clocks from Italy. Featuring four 300 metre long underground platforms Centralna touted the first moving ramp in Poland, as well as the first escalator not produced in the USSR (it was in fact built in France to an American design). Its halcyon days also saw the construction of a now non-existent Italian marble fountain. Today it stands somewhat at odds with the gleaming 21st century super structures that surround it. The only elevator is for employees only, while a recently installed electric platform for disabled travellers can only be put into action by summoning rail workers with a siren.
(Some text from wikipedia)
Is the station/depot currently used for railroad purposes?: Yes
Is the station/depot open to the public?: Yes
Station/Depot Web Site: [Web Link]
If the station/depot is not being used for railroad purposes, what is it currently used for?: Not listed
What rail lines does/did the station/depot serve?: Not listed
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