Warszawa Centralna station
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Warszawa Centralna station or Warsaw Central station is the most important railway station in Warsaw, Poland. Its construction began in 1972 and was finished in 1975. The station has 8 platforms located underground. The station is served by long distance internal and international trains of Polskie Koleje Państwowe (Polish State Railways, PKP).
The station was constructed as one of the flagship projects of Poland's communist regime during the economic boom fueled by Western loans in the 1970s. However, the station encountered significant problems from the very beginning, and soon became a white elephant. Its project was quite innovative, but it was altered many times during construction, which affected the quality of the construction work and the station's functionality. For propaganda reasons, it was decided to complete the station in great haste so it would be ready in time for the visit of Leonid Brezhnev to Warsaw in 1975. The haste degraded the quality of the building even further, and necessitated immediate repairs, which continued through the 1980s. Nevertheless, the building was quite advanced given the state of the Polish economy at the time, and incorporated various novelties imported from the West such as automatic doors and escalators.
Since the mid 1980s the station has been in decline. Presently Warsaw city government is contemplating demolishing the station and replacing it with a new one, built either at the same location or somewhere further away from the city center.
Warszawa Centralna is flanked on either side by other railway stations. To the west is Warszawa Śródmieście WKD, the terminus of the WKD suburban light rail line. To the east is Warszawa Śródmieście PKP, served by suburban trains on the PKP.
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