Warszawa Główna railway station
Warszawa Główna | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | Warsaw Poland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 52°13′35″N 20°59′14″E / 52.2263°N 20.9871°E | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Owned by | Polskie Koleje Państwowe S.A., Gedob | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Previous names | Warschau Hauptbahnhof (Warszawa Główna) (1939–1944) Warszawa Główna Osobowa (?–2021) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Services | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Warsaw Main Railway Station (
A smaller
History
The first idea of construction of a main Warsaw station, which would have been the nexus of all
Construction
It was decided that after the demolition of the
The station building was located along the Warsaw's main street,
The station was designed in the
World War II
A few weeks before the war, on 6 June 1939, the still unfinished station was partly destroyed in a fire which had been started by a team of reckless welding contractors. Initially many people believed that it had been an act of sabotage by German or Soviet agents. During the course of fighting the fire, led personally by the minister of the interior
In September 1939, the station was damaged during the Siege of Warsaw by German aerial bombardment. The occupational authorities carried out some provisional repairs, covering the burned out building with a new roof. The station, though still unfinished and partly destroyed, remained operational until the Warsaw Uprising. Four months after the fall of the Uprising, in January 1945 the Germans shortly before retreating, blew the remains up as part of their planned destruction of the city.[2]
Postwar
After the war, a makeshift Warszawa Główna station was created to the west of city center in the district of Wola, using tracks of a former goods yard and a temporary wooden building on Towarowa Street, serving westbound trains. With the reconstruction of the cross city line since 1963 some trains started bypassing the station and after the opening of the new Warszawa Centralna railway station in 1975 it took over the role of Warsaw's principal station, but some scheduled and special trains continued to use the Warszawa Główna station until 1997. The wooden building is still standing in 2023, though in a very poor condition, and houses a part of the Warsaw Railway Museum. One of the platforms is home to a seasonal night market, where bars, restaurants and cafes offer food and drinks to Varsovians on Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
Construction of new tracks and platforms on the site of the station started in March 2018 and the first train from the re-opened station ran on 14 March 2021. It serves trains running to Łowicz, Sochaczew, Dobieszyn, Skierniewice and Łódź Fabryczna. The station is also to act as a terminus for long-distance trains during the planned renovation of the cross-city line.
Until 2021 the station was officially called Warsaw Main Passenger (Warszaw Główna Osobowa), signifying it was dedicated exclusively for passenger trains. Following the restoration of regular traffic in 2021 the name was simplified dropping the last segment, while a separate station Warszawa Główna Towarowa dedicated to freight trains, named so in 2000, retains its full name. The station name misleading suggests it is the main station of Warsaw in line with the naming convention of the Polish Railways, when it is in fact only a minor station serving a small number of regional trains.
Train services
The station is served by the following service(s):
- Intercity services (IC) Łódź Fabryczna — Warszawa Główna[3][4]
- Intercity services (IC) Bydgoszcz Główna — Warszawa Główna[5]
- InterRegio services (IR) Łódź Fabryczna — Warszawa Glowna [6]
- InterRegio services (IR) Łódź Kaliska — Warszawa Glowna [7]
- InterRegio services (IR) Ostrów Wielkopolski — Łódź — Warszawa Główna[8]
- InterRegio services (IR) Poznań Główny — Ostrów Wielkopolski — Łódź — Warszawa Główna[9]
- Regional services (ŁKA) Łódz - Warsaw
- Suburban services (SKM) Piaseczno - Warsaw
Preceding station | PKP Intercity | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Warszawa Zachodnia towards Łódź Fabryczna
|
IC | Terminus | ||
Warszawa Zachodnia towards Bydgoszcz Główna
| ||||
Warszawa Zachodnia towards Kraków Główny
|
EIP | |||
Preceding station | Polregio | Following station | ||
Warszawa Zachodnia
towards Łódź Fabryczna |
IR | Terminus | ||
Warszawa Zachodnia
towards Łódź Kaliska | ||||
Warszawa Zachodnia
towards Ostrów Wielkopolski | ||||
Warszawa Zachodnia
towards Poznań Główny | ||||
Preceding station | KM | Following station | ||
Warszawa Zachodnia towards Skierniewice
|
R1 | Terminus | ||
RE1 | ||||
Warszawa Zachodnia towards Kutno
|
R3 | |||
Preceding station | ŁKA | Following station | ||
Warszawa Zachodnia
towards Łódź Fabryczna |
Łódź - Warsaw | Terminus | ||
Preceding station | SKM | Following station | ||
Warszawa Zachodnia towards Pruszków
|
S1 | Terminus |
References
- ^ "„Warszawa Główna" wraca po 24 latach". Niezalezna.pl.
- ^ Photo of station ruins taken in 1945
- ^ Koleo. PKP IC 9110 TUWIM Łódź Fabryczna — Warszawa Główna timetable. https://koleo.pl/pociag/IC/9110-TUWIM/
- ^ Koleo. PKP IC 9108 JAGNA Łódź Fabryczna — Warszawa Główna Timetable https://koleo.pl/pociag/IC/9108-JAGNA/
- ^ Koleo. PKP IC 1526 MONIUSZKO Warszawa Główna — Bydgoszcz Główna. Timetable. https://koleo.pl/pociag/IC/1526-MONIUSZKO/
- ^ Polregio. IR 10132 MAŁY POWSTANIEC. Łódź Fabryczna — Warszawa Główna Timetable. https://bilety.polregio.pl/pociag/IR/10132-MA%C5%81Y%20POWSTANIEC
- ^ Polregio. IR 99110. Warszawa Główna — Łódź Kaliska Timetable. https://bilety.polregio.pl/pociag/IR/99110
- ^ Polregio. IR 17214 Warszawa Główna — Ostrów Wielkopolski Timetable. https://bilety.polregio.pl/pociag/IR/17214/
- ^ Polregio. IR 17500 PROSNA Warszawa Główna — Poznań Główny Timetable. https://bilety.polregio.pl/pociag/IR/17500-PROSNA/
Bibliography
- Jerzy S. Majewski, Warszawa nieodbudowana. Lata trzydzieste, Warszawa, 2005, ISBN 83-85584-91-9.