Bydgoszcz Główna railway station

Bydgoszcz Główna is the main railway station serving the city of Bydgoszcz, largest city and co-capital of Poland's Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.

History

The first building of the railway station in Bydgoszcz was established in 1851 during construction of the Prussian Eastern Railway from Krzyz to Konigsberg. On 25 July 1851 the station was inaugurated upon the event of the official opening of the railway east of Krzyz - Bydgoszcz (145 km) by the Prussian king William IV. Before the opening, the station was decorated and a show was held on the square before it, during which a regional folk band from Kujawy, who sang in Polish, performed. The first passenger train available for travellers departed from Bydgoszcz, 27 July 1851. In 1853 officials of the Directorate-Eastern Railway moved from the station to purpose-built premises on the New Market. With the development of rail and transport growth there was demand for an extension of the railway station. One of the main reasons that made the extension necessary was the need to ensure adequate space to base the burgeoning Eastern Railway Headquarters in Bydgoszcz, which managed the construction, operation and maintenance of railway traffic in the eastern provinces of Prussia (east of Berlin).

The station was again repuilt in 1861 and 1870, the latter expansion of which provided the station with increased passenger processing facilities.

In 1888 the station was linked with the center of the city by trams, initially with horse traction, and then, beginning in 1896, with a new electrically operated and powered generation of trams. In 1889 officials of the Directorate of Railways left the station premises and moved to a newly built building on Dworcowa Street.

In 1910, after a fire at the station, reconstruction in the form of an entirely new building began. This remodelling was completed in 1915. The new building was a massive building with a hipped roof and cubic tower in the middle of which there was a large clock. On the square in front of the station the decorative lawn was retained, for the use of city residents and visitors; this was then replanted in 1926 in a more beautiful form. In this form the railway station building survived the whole interwar period, sustaining only minor damage during the course of World War II.

The final reconstruction of the station was carried out in 1968, giving it a modern form. The steep roof of the building with its clock tower was removed, and the glazed front elevation reconstructed. A pedestrian subway was built beneath Sigismund Augustus street, and the station lawn was removed in favour of a parking lot for cars and buses.