Pardubice hlavní nádraží

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Location of Pardubice in the Czech Republic

Pardubice main railway station (Czech Pardubice hlavní nádraží) is one of the largest railway stations in the Czech Republic, located near the city centre of Pardubice, an important railway network hub.

1 Name
2 History
3 New station
4 The station today
5 Provided services
6 Connection with other transport
7 External links

[edit] Name

The complete name of the station in Czech is Uzlová železniční stanice Pardubice, hlavní nádraží, freely translated as "railway junction Pardubice, main station".

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[edit] History

Work on railway connecting Prague and Olomouc had started in 1842 and the line was finished in 1845. The construction was led by Jan Perner. Small railway station was opened on the same year, with four tracks, a roundhouse (výtopna) for eight steam locomotives and passenger hall covering two tracks. The building still exists and is used by the railway operator.

A line between Liberec and Pardubice was built during 1855 - 1859. In 1859 new railway station was opened and used for both lines. A line between Pardubice and Německý Brod (now Český Brod) was built during 1869 - 1871. Access to the railway had turned originally small town into large industrial city.

In 1908 the station building was coupled with a glass hall over two tracks. In 1910 a locomotive repair shop was set up; it was rebuilt in 1924.

Starting with post office in 1846 many factories in the city had built short-line railroad to the main station: 37 lines in 1908 and new ones added after the war. Since 1960s this number gradually dropped down to 19 in 2000, and even these are not fully utilized. See details.

Pardubice, city with large petrochemical factories, was bombed several times during World War II. Air raid from August 24, 1944 damaged the station heavily. All lines were broken down, the passenger hall was destroyed completely. After the war repairs had started and on October 1945 the traffic was restored.

[edit] New station

Architects Karel Řepa and Josef Danda started to work on new station in 1947. Their design was single floor large passenger hall with complete infrastructure joined by seven floors high administrative building. During 1951 - 1960 block of flats was added to the complex. The new station was opened on May 1, 1958.

Since 1956 the lines in Pardubice are getting electrified and this process still continues. Work on high-speed railway corridor from Děčín to Břeclav (part of a Pan-European corridor) going through Pardubice had started in 1993 and after many delays mostly finished in 2004.

[edit] The station today

The main railway station, operated by České Dráhy, is important hub for both passenger and freight traffic. The station has direct connection to Prague, Brno, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and other cities and is served by InterCity, EuroCity, Pendolino and local trains.

After decades of use the passenger hall became rather dingy place where city homeless concentrate. Reconstruction of stations in Pardubice and in neighbouring Hradec Králové is planned ^{as of 2005} with intent to make them more attractive to the public.

Small railway stations in Svítkov and Rosice nad Labem, districts of Pardubice, handle only local traffic. Railway museum in Rosice nad Labem, opened in 2005, documents history of railways in the region.

[edit] Provided services

(as of 2006)

customer centre of České Dráhy
restaurant, wine shop and several fast food stalls
bookstore
hotel in station hall [1]
movie theatre in station hall [2]
lounge for 1st class passengers

[edit] Connection with other transport

The central bus station of the city lies five minutes of walk away. Taxis have parking place before the station, city buses have a stop before the station hall.

Direct short-line railroad to Pardubice Airport ^[3] exists as well as direct bus connection. Short-line railroad to Labe (Elbe) river port will be built in the future.