Timișoara North railway station

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Timișoara North railway station

Gara Timișoara Nord
Gara Timisoara Nord (2023) - exterior - IMG 10.jpg
General information
Location2 Gării Street, Timișoara
Romania
Coordinates 45°45′4″N21°12′27″E / 45.75111°N 21.20750°E / 45.75111; 21.20750
Owned by Căile Ferate Române
Line(s)9 (see below)
Platforms13
Tracks14
Train operators CFR Călători
Regio Călători
Astra Trans Carpatic
Construction
ParkingYes
Bicycle facilitiesYes
AccessibleYes
Architect Ferenc Pfaff
Architectural style Neoclassical (original)
Modernist
History
Opened1897
Rebuilt1976
Electrified1974
Previous namesIosefin (1897–1919)
Domnița Elena (1919–1944)
Location
Timisoara North railway station

Timișoara North railway station (Romanian : Gara Timișoara Nord) is the main railway station in Timișoara and also the largest railway station in western Romania. [1] With an average daily ridership of about 5,530 passengers, Timișoara North is one of the busiest railway stations in Romania. [2]

Contents

History

Iosefin railway station in 1904 Jozsefvarosi palyaudvar Fortepan 86454 (restored).jpg
Iosefin railway station in 1904

The first passenger station was built in 1857 on the site of the former freight warehouse. [3] Although small in size, the station provided rail connections to cities such as Arad, Orșova, Bucharest, Reșița, as well as other nearby localities. [3] As the number of passengers increased, the old station no longer met the needs. In this regard, a new monumental station was inaugurated in 1897. The designer of the station was Hungarian architect Ferenc Pfaff (1851–1913), whose name is linked, among others, to the stations of Szeged, Pécs, Miskolc, Debrecen, Rijeka, Zagreb, Bratislava, Košice, Vršac, Cluj-Napoca, Jimbolia or Arad. [4] Construction costs amounted to almost four million Kronen. [4] Its original name was Josefstädter Bahnhof (in German) [5] or Józsefvárosi indóház (in Hungarian), [6] translated as Iosefin railway station, after the name of the district where it is located. Built in neoclassical style, under the influence of the French Renaissance, the complex was dominated by the main body with three monumental arched gates guarded laterally by two bastions with towers and the facade was decorated with a group of four statues framed by first-floor windows. [3] In the middle of the station square was a small park surrounded by an iron fence and planted with conifers. [3] By the early 20th century, 49 passenger trains and 30 freight trains transited the new station daily. [3] The famous Orient Express stopped in this station starting with 1905. [3]

In 1919, after the union of Banat with the Kingdom of Romania and the establishment of the Romanian administration in Timișoara, the station was renamed Domnița Elena railway station, after the wife of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, [7] a name it bore until World War II. [4] However, most people in Timișoara called it the "Big Station" (Romanian : Gara Mare). On 3 July 1944, the station was heavily damaged by the bombings of Allied aviation, and on the night of 30/31 October 1944, it was bombed again, this time by Luftwaffe, being almost completely destroyed. [8] The reconstruction was partially done according to the initial plans. Until the 1960s, the east wing of the old building was still in place, but in 1976 it was modernized, and the architectural style changed radically. [9]

In 2020, CFR signed a contract worth almost 4.5 million euros for the rehabilitation and refurbishment of the station. The works mainly aim at restoring the facade, repairing the pedestrian tunnel and arranging the station forecourt. [10] [11]

Lines

From Timișoara North start nine railway lines, which connect Timișoara to cities located both in Romania and Hungary, and from there to other cities in Europe: [12]

Statistics

Interior of the station Gara Timisoara Nord.jpg
Interior of the station

As of 2017, Timișoara North serves about 174 trains, [2] including domestic trains to the majority of Romanian cities operated by Căile Ferate Române, as well as international trains to Budapest. Trains to Belgrade have been discontinued as of 1 August 2017. [13] The train route now only runs as far as the Romanian border village of Stamora Germană in the commune of Moravița, 5 km from the Serbian border.

Public transport

Timișoara North can be accessed by trolleybus, tram and bus: [14]

Related Research Articles

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Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural centre in Western Romania. Located on the Bega River, Timișoara is considered the informal capital city of the historical Banat region. From 1848 to 1860 it was the capital of the Serbian Vojvodina and the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar. With 250,849 inhabitants at the 2021 census, Timișoara is the country's fifth most populous city. It is home to around 400,000 inhabitants in its metropolitan area, while the Timișoara–Arad metropolis concentrates more than 70% of the population of Timiș and Arad counties. Timișoara is a multicultural city, home to 21 ethnic groups and 18 religious denominations. Historically, the most numerous were the Swabian Germans, Jews and Hungarians, who still make up 6% of the population in Timișoara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timiș County</span> County of Romania

Timiș is a county (județ) of western Romania on the border with Hungary and Serbia, in the historical region of Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the westernmost and the largest county in Romania in terms of land area. The county is also part of the Danube–Criș–Mureș–Tisa Euroregion.

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Timișoara East railway station, previously known as Fabric railway station, is one of the five stations of Timișoara. Timișoara East is the second most important station in the city, after Timișoara North. The station is transited daily by 15 trains operated by CFR Călători. In 2012, 64,755 passengers boarded from Timișoara East, thereby a daily average of 144 passengers/day. It is also an important freight terminal, due to the presence of a base of a private rail operator.

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

Timișoara South railway station is a station located in Fratelia district of Timișoara. Crossed by the CFR Lines 922 and 918 (Timișoara–Buziaș–Lugoj), the station is transited daily by 27 trains operated by Regio Călători and CFR Călători. The station has 10 lines. Timișoara South was built during communism to decongest Timișoara North railway station, especially after the construction of the Azur industrial line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bombing of Timișoara in World War II</span> Both Allied and Axis Powers bombings

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References

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  2. 1 2 "Anexa nr. 4. Centralizator fișe observații" (PDF). Consiliul Național de Supraveghere din Domeniul Feroviar. 2017. p. 12.
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  4. 1 2 3 Both, Ștefan (23 October 2013). "Gara Mare din Timișoara a fost bijuterie arhitectonică. Astăzi este o clădire de tristă amintire". Adevărul.
  5. Nubert, Roxana; Pintilie-Teleagă, Ileana (2006). Mitteleuropäische Paradigmen in Südosteuropa: ein Beitrag zur Kultur der Deutschen im Banat. Praesens Verlag. p. 43. ISBN   9783706903400.
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  8. Berinde, Andrei (27 November 2014). "Iunie-iulie 1944: O ploaie de foc se abate asupra monumentalei clădiri a Gării Timișoara". Historia.
  9. Dogaru, Viorel (3 July 2016). "A fost odată ca niciodată… cea mai frumoasă gară de provincie!". Banatul Azi.
  10. "Gara de Nord din Timișoara intră în șantier. Se schimbă fațada și se amenajează piațetă cu fântână arteziană". Opinia Timișoarei. 15 November 2020.
  11. Deaconescu, Roxana (15 November 2020). "Patru firme vor reabilita Gara de Nord Timișoara, cu peste 4 milioane de euro". TION.
  12. "Starea economică, socială și de mediu a municipiului Timișoara" (PDF). Primăria municipiului Timișoara. 2020. p. 53.
  13. Both, Ștefan (1 August 2017). "De ce au anulat sârbii trenurile care legau Vârșeț și Timișoara? Decizia vine după ce vecinii au renunțat și la proiectul autostrăzii Belgrad și Timișoara". Adevărul.
  14. "Acces cu trenul". timisoara-info.ro.