Espoon keskus railway station

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The Espoon keskus railway station.

Espoon keskus railway station is located in the district of Espoon keskus in the city of Espoo, Finland. It is located between the stations of Tuomarila and Kauklahti, about 20 km from the Helsinki Central railway station.

Espoon keskus is the only station in Espoo that also serves long-distance trains. It was built in 1903 according to plans by the architect Bruno Granholm. The station was expanded in 1909.

The station building has many ornamental details. The station acted as the Espoo station building from 1903 to 1981 and the post office was also moved to the station as soon as it was finished, when the offices of the stationmaster and post officer were combined. Nowadays, the Espoo station is located on the bridge over the tracks and the post office is located to the south of the tracks.

1 Connections
2 The station environment
3 Platforms
4 See also

[edit] Connections

The old station building at Espoon keskus.

All long-distance trains from Helsinki to Turku
E trains (Helsinki-Espoo), terminus
U trains (Helsinki-Kirkkonummi)
S trains (Helsinki-Kirkkonummi)
L trains (Helsinki-Kirkkonummi, nighttime)

[edit] The station environment

The old station building has been present for over a century, but the tracks on both sides of it have changed. The tunnel through the city rock wasn't there originally, instead the tracks went past the rock on the north side, at Läntinen jokitie. Also the cut face on the east side of the rock was made later. A road named Vanha ratavalli goes along the old route of the tracks. At both places, traces of the tracks' old route could be seen in the ground as late as winter 2004.

[edit] Platforms

Platform one serves trains towards Kirkkonummi. On the other side of the platform is also a bus stop and a taxi station.

The middle platform is divided into platforms two and three. Platform two serves trains from Kirkkonummi to Helsinki. Platform three serves E trains to Helsinki during the morning rush hour. The tracks from platform three join the other tracks with a switch on the west side of the station.

Platform four serves E trains towards Helsinki. On the other side of the platform is the Espoo market square and a turning point for buses going northwards, and also the Espoontori shopping centre.

An extension of the Leppävaara city railway has been proposed to reach the Espoon keskus station to be able to increase local train traffic on the rantarata (Helsinki-Turku) tracks between Helsinki and Espoo.

[edit] See also

Railway lines in Finland

VR commuter rail
Preceding station: Tuomarila	S, U & L trains	Following station: Kauklahti
Preceding station: Tuomarila	E trains	Following station: terminus