Cherbourg Maritime station

Last updated

The harbour station, Cherbourg. Cherbourg-Gare-transatlantique-pano.jpg
The harbour station, Cherbourg.

Cherbourg's Gare Maritime or Gare Maritime Transatlantique was a railway station at the end of the railway line from Paris' Gare Saint-Lazare and of the short branch from Cherbourg's main station. [1]

Contents

Measurements

The station in 1933. Gare Maritime de Cherbourg (1933).jpg
The station in 1933.

The complex consisted of the transatlantic hall, a two-storey building through which passengers boarded ocean liners using nine footbridges, as well as with a plethora of amenities:

The hall is 240m long and constitutes the bulk of the complex, thirty four concrete arches carrying the copper and glass rooftop.

As the station is 93m wide, it was at the time of building the second largest construction in France after Palace of Versailles and covered 2 hectares. As well as the size of the construction mentioned, a 70m tall clock tower was built.

Along the hall was a 500m long covered gallery used for embarkment and dis-embarkment of passengers.

The station was divided in two parts and on the transatlantique side; two ships could berth and empty a thousand passengers into the station in an hour. On the Railway side, up to seven trains a day would take passengers to Paris in 3½ hours.

History

The station building was designed by René Levavasseur. It was inaugurated on 30 July 1933 by Albert Lebrun, the President of the French Republic. Gare Maritime de Cherbourg saw intense activity during World War II, although it was partially destroyed in 1944. It was in heavy use during the 1950s and 1960s. The buildings were listed in December 1989 and constitute the last surviving example of 1930s maritime architecture in Cherbourg. The station closed in the 1990s.

Cité de la Mer

In 1996 an architectural competition was announced for design proposals to transform the building into a naval museum, after it ceased railway station operations. A project design, respecting the original building, was adopted in 1997. Work began in 1999. The Cité de la Mer museum was completed and opened in 2002.

Cruise terminal

In 2006, a Cherbourg cruise terminal was inaugurated in the harbour nearby.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherbourg</span> Former municipality in Manche, France

Cherbourg is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 February 2000, which was merged into the new commune of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin on 1 January 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Réseau Express Régional</span> French transit system in the Paris region

The Réseau Express Régional, commonly abbreviated RER, is a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving Paris and its suburbs. It acts as a combined city-center underground rail system and suburbs-to-city-center commuter rail. In the city center, it acts as a faster counterpart of the Paris Métro, having fewer stops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gare de Lyon</span> One of Pariss seven main railway stations

The Gare de Lyon, officially Paris Gare de Lyon, is one of the seven large mainline railway stations in Paris, France. It handles about 148.1 million passengers annually according to the estimates of the SNCF in 2018, with SNCF railways and the RER D accounting for around 110 million and the RER A accounting for 38 million, making it the second-busiest station of France after the Gare du Nord and one of the busiest in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gare d'Austerlitz</span> One of Pariss six main railway stations

Gare d'Austerlitz, officially Paris Austerlitz, is one of the seven large Paris railway terminal stations. The station is located on the left bank of the Seine in the southeastern part of the city, in the 13th arrondissement. It is the start of the Paris–Bordeaux railway; the line to Toulouse is connected to this line. In 1997, the Ministry of Culture designated the Gare d'Austerlitz a historical monument; it became the fifth large railway station in Paris to receive such a label, as currently only Montparnasse has not been attributed it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gare du Nord</span> One of Pariss seven main railway stations

The Gare du Nord, officially Paris Nord, is one of the seven large mainline railway station termini in Paris, France. The station is served by trains that run between the capital and northern France via the Paris–Lille railway, as well as to international destinations in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Located in the northern part of Paris near the Gare de l'Est in the 10th arrondissement, the Gare du Nord offers connections with several urban transport lines, including Paris Métro, RER and buses. It is the busiest railway station in Europe by total passenger numbers; in 2015, the Gare du Nord saw more than 700,000 passengers per day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gare d'Orsay</span> Former railway station in Paris

Gare d'Orsay is a former Paris railway station and hotel, built in 1900 to designs by Victor Laloux, Lucien Magne and Émile Bénard; it served as a terminus for the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans. It was the first electrified urban terminal station in the world, opened 28 May 1900, in time for the 1900 Exposition Universelle. After closure as a station, it reopened in December 1986 as the Musée d'Orsay, an art museum. The museum is currently served by the RER station of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paris Métro Line 14</span> Rapid transit line in Paris, France

Paris Métro Line 14 is one of the sixteen lines on the Paris Métro. It connects the stations Mairie de Saint-Ouen and Olympiades on a north-west south-east diagonal via the three major stations of Gare Saint-Lazare, The Châtelet–Les-Halles complex and the Gare de Lyon. The line goes through the centre of Paris, and reaches the communes of Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine and Clichy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kuala Lumpur railway station</span> Railway station in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Kuala Lumpur railway station is a railway station located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Construction began in 1910 and was fully completed in 1917. It replaced an older station on the same site, the station was Kuala Lumpur's railway hub in the city for the Federated Malay States Railways and its successor Keretapi Tanah Melayu, before Kuala Lumpur Sentral assumed much of its role in 2001. The station is notable for its architecture, adopting a mixture of Eastern and Western designs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helsinki Central Station</span> Major railway stop in Finland

Helsinki Central Station (HEC) is the main station for commuter rail and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki, Finland. The station is used by approximately 400,000 people per day, of whom about 200,000 are passengers. It serves as the terminus for all trains in the Helsinki commuter rail network, as well as for all Helsinki-bound long-distance trains in Finland. The Rautatientori metro station is located in the same building.

The Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Ouest, often referred to simply as L'Ouest or Ouest, was an early French railway company which operated from the years 1855 through 1909.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brussels-Central railway station</span> Railway and metro station in Brussels, Belgium

Brussels-Central railway station is a railway and metro station in central Brussels, Belgium. It is the second busiest railway station in Belgium and one of three principal railway stations in Brussels, together with Brussels-South and Brussels-North. First completed in 1952 after protracted delays caused by economic difficulties and World War II, it is the newest of Brussels' main rail hubs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gare du Sud</span> Food court and former railway station in Nice, France

The Gare du Sud is a food court in the Libération quarter of the city of Nice in south-east France. It has been constructed within the buildings of the former railway station that bore the same name. The station was the terminus of the metre gauge railway of the Chemins de Fer de Provence rail company which links Nice to Digne-les-Bains in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. The line, known as the Train des Pignes because it follows a scenic route through the mountains, has been served by a nearby replacement Nice terminus station, the Gare de Nice CP station, since the original station was closed in December 1991. The Gare du Sud site then remained derelict until 2013, when the station building was renovated and converted into a library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dieppe Maritime station</span>

Dieppe Maritime station was a railway station in the town of Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, France and was built by CF de l'Ouest in 1874. The station was the station for passengers from Paris to Newhaven, by steamers and then ferries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Limoges-Bénédictins station</span> Railway station in Limoges, France

Limoges-Bénédictins is the main railway station of Limoges. It is situated on the Orléans–Montauban railway. It was named Bénédictins due to the presence of a Benedictine monastery closed during the French Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luxembourg railway station</span> Railway station in Luxembourg

Luxembourg railway station is the main railway station serving Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. It is operated by Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois, the state-owned railway company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strasbourg-Ville station</span> Railway station

Strasbourg-Ville station is the main railway station in the city of Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France. It is the eastern terminus of the Paris-Est–Strasbourg-Ville railway. The current core building, an example of historicist architecture of the Wilhelminian period, replaced a previous station inaugurated in 1852, later turned into a covered market and ultimately demolished.
With over 20 million passengers in 2018, Strasbourg-Ville is one of the busiest railway stations in France, second only to Lyon-Part-Dieu outside of the Île-de-France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lison station</span> Railway station in Lison, Calvados, France

Gare de Lison is a railway station serving the town of Lison, Calvados department, northwestern France. It is situated at the junction of the Mantes-la-Jolie–Cherbourg railway and the Lison–Lamballe railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stralsund Hauptbahnhof</span> Railway station in Stralsund, Germany

Stralsund Hauptbahnhof is the main station in Western Pomerania and the main station for railway lines running to Hamburg, Bergen auf Rügen and Berlin in the German Hanseatic city of Stralsund. It is owned and operated by Deutsche Bahn.

The Grands Projets of François Mitterrand was an architectural programme to provide modern monuments in Paris, the city of monuments, symbolising France's role in art, politics and the economy at the end of the 20th century. The programme was initiated by François Mitterrand, the 21st President of France, while he was in office. Mitterrand viewed the civic building projects, estimated at the time to cost the Government of France 15.7 billion francs, both as a revitalisation of the city, as well as contemporary architecture promoted by Socialist Party politics. The scale of the project and its ambitious nature was compared to the major building schemes of Louis XIV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mons railway station</span> Railway station in Hainaut, Belgium

Mons railway station is a railway station in Mons, Hainaut, Belgium. The station opened on 19 December 1841 on railway lines 96, 97 and 118. The train services are operated by the National Railway Company of Belgium (SNCB/NMBS).

References

  1. "Cherbourg, a port of call". Visit Cotentin · Normandy. Retrieved 26 October 2022.

49°38′45″N1°37′03″W / 49.64583°N 1.61750°W / 49.64583; -1.61750