Kraków Główny |
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| City/Town | Kraków |
| District | city centre |
| Voivodeship | Lesser Poland Voivodeship |
| Country | Poland |
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| Category | A |
| Platforms | 10 |
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| Opened | 1847 |
| Previous name(s) | Krakau Hauptbahnhof |
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Kraków
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| Polish State Railways | |
The Kraków Central station (Polish: Kraków Główny, commonly called Dworzec Główny) is the largest and the most centrally located railway station in Kraków. The building, constructed between 1844 and 1847 (architect: P.Rosenbaum), is parallel to the tracks. The design was chosen to allow for future line expansion. The station was initially a terminus of the Kraków – Upper Silesia Railway (Kolej Krakowsko-Górnośląska, German: Obeschlesische-Krakauer Eisenbahn). Trains entered the trainshed via an archway in a brick wall at the northern end of the station which was almost doubled in size in 1871.[1]
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The station opened on 13 October 1847, with the first train leaving for Mysłowice (the point where the Austrian, German and Russian Empires adjoined during their military partitions of Poland).
The railway line got extended eastwards in 1856, when the first section to Dębica (then Dembitz in the Habsburg Empire) was built by the k.k. priv. galizische Carl Ludwig-Bahn connecting Kraków with Lwów in Galicja. The increasing traffic resulted in the station's having been modernised and enlarged in stages between 1869 and 1894. The next substantial expansion took place in the 1930s in the reborn Polish Republic. At that time the northern brick wall and trainshed were demolished, the latter replaced by individual platform roofs.
Recently, a new transport interchange was developed which include a coach station and an express tram line. A new urban shopping centre Galeria Krakowska (Kraków Gallery) opened in September 2006 with the adjacent parking for 1,400 cars. The construction of the Galeria Krakowska and remodelling of the area in front of the main station building meant that taxis are no longer able to drive up to the station, or to collect passengers directly from the main entrance; however, the free overhead parking and pick-up right above the tracks is even closer now, with a convenient one-flight elevator.
The station is currently undergoing a multimillion Polish złoty refurbishment to improve passengers' experience. This project includes the construction of a new underground ticket hall, complete with waiting rooms, travel centres and other amenities. The new underground passage will be located to the north of the current platform underpass and will be connected to the platform level via escalators, it will also provide two new direct exits/entrances to the station complex, one from the lower level of Galeria Krakowska and another from the Regional Bus Station located to the east of the railway station. After completion of the new ticket hall, the current platform underpass is planned undergo refurbishment.[1] As part of this large investment all the platforms and tracks at the station are being torn up and replaced.
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