Warszawa Gdańska station
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Warszawa Gdańska station (also known as Dworzec Gdański; literally Gdańsk station in Warsaw) is a railway station in northern Warsaw, Poland.
It is located on the "Northern Line" that runs between downtown Warsaw and the city's Żoliborz district to the north. It serves as a transportation hub for regional trains departing the station. It connects with the Warsaw Metro's Dworzec Gdański stop, located below the railway station, and with a number of nearby streetcar and bus stops.
The railway station is located some 3.5 km north of the main rail line crossing the city linking Warszawa Wschodnia, Warszawa Centralna and Warszawa Zachodnia railway stations and as such is sometimes used as a reserve station, used by long distance trains during track works on the main line. The Warsaw Metro has received EU funding to build a pedestrian tunnel linking the metro station to the railway station.
[edit] History
The original station was built around 1880 under the name of Vistulan Main Train Station (Polish: Główny Dworzec Kolei Nadwiślańskiej) and served a local line running along the Vistula river northwards. In early 20th century, with the opening of a railway bridge over the river south of Warsaw Citadel (directly to the east of the station; the bridge was constructed around 1870, but was initially used by the Russian Army exclusively), it was renamed Warszawa Kowelska (Warsaw Kovel train station) and started serving as a junction between the Warszawa Główna and Warszawa Wileńska stations located in downtown Warsaw and downtown Praga (respectively). Until then the passengers travelling from St. Petersburg to Vienna had to leave the train station at Warszawa Wileńska, take a tramway to the city centre and take another train of the European standard gauge (1435 mm) Warsaw-Vienna railway running from there. The Warsaw Kovel station also served as the main supply station for the Russian garrison stationed in the Warsaw Citadel.
During the withdrawal of Russian troops from Warsaw in August 1915 the station was demolished, along with the bridge it led to. After World War I both were rebuilt, and the station was renamed Warszawa Gdańska (Warsaw Gdańsk station), the name being coined after the city of Gdańsk.
After 1933, with the opening of the cross-city line, linking three main Warsaw train stations, the Warsaw Gdańsk station lost its importance as a transit station and began serving as a station for local and suburban trains. After World War II, due to the complete destruction of many Warsaw's railway stations, Warsaw Gdańsk was used as a temporary station for long-distance trains, including, until the 1970s, trains passing through Warsaw between the USSR and the west. Among the notable trains to stop there was the Ost-West Express from Moscow to Ostend, Hoek van Holland and Paris, the Chopin to Vienna, and the Praha to Prague. As such, it was the main location through which people expelled in the aftermath of the Polish 1968 political crisis left Poland. The events of 1968 are now commemorated by a stone tablet on the station's platform.
In the 1970s the station's long-distance services were completely taken over by the newly-built Warszawa Centralna, and Warszawa Gdańska became a minor station for suburban trains. Currently (2007) it is used exclusively by Koleje Mazowieckie for services to/form Tłuszcz(via Legionowo and Radzymin) and Ciechanów, most of them starting/terminating at Warszawa Wola. When the centrally-located stations are temporarily out of use (due e.g. to station refurbishment or track work) some trains are diverted through Warszawa Gdańska.
