Timișoara North railway station Gara Timișoara Nord | |||||
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General information | |||||
Location | 2 Gării Street, Timișoara Romania | ||||
Coordinates | 45°45′4″N21°12′27″E / 45.75111°N 21.20750°E | ||||
Owned by | Căile Ferate Române | ||||
Line(s) | 9 (see below) | ||||
Platforms | 13 | ||||
Tracks | 14 | ||||
Train operators | CFR Călători Regio Călători Astra Trans Carpatic | ||||
Construction | |||||
Parking | Yes | ||||
Bicycle facilities | Yes | ||||
Accessible | Yes | ||||
Architect | Ferenc Pfaff | ||||
Architectural style | Neoclassical (original) Modernist | ||||
History | |||||
Opened | 1897 | ||||
Rebuilt | 1976 | ||||
Electrified | 1974 | ||||
Previous names | Iosefin (1897–1919) Domnița Elena (1919–1944) | ||||
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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]
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]
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]
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.
Timișoara North can be accessed by trolleybus, tram and bus: [14]
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.
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.
Căile Ferate Române was the state railway carrier of Romania. The company was dissolved on 1 October 1998 by splitting into several successor companies. CFR as an entity existed from 1880, even though the first railway on current Romanian territory was opened in 1854. CFR was divided into four autonomous companies:
Bucharest North railway station is the main railway station in Bucharest and the largest railway station in Romania. The vast majority of mainline trains to and from Bucharest originate from Gara de Nord.
Rail transport in Romania goes back to the Austrian Empire, when in 1857 the line between Timișoara and Szeged opened. The first railway line on territory of the Kingdom of Romania opened in 1869. It linked Bucharest and Giurgiu. Electrification of the Romanian railway network was expedited during the 1950s and 1960s while the country was under a communist regime.
Timișoara Traian Vuia International Airport is an international airport serving Timișoara, Romania. Located in the historical region of Banat, the airport is named in honor of Traian Vuia, a Romanian flight pioneer and a Timiș County native. It is the fourth-busiest Romanian airport in terms of air traffic and the main air transportation hub for the western part of Romania and for the Danube–Criș–Mureș–Tisa Euroregion.
Coloman Braun-Bogdan was a Romanian football midfielder and football manager.
Constanţa railway station is the largest station in Constanţa and on the Romanian Black Sea coast.
Moravița is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Dejan, Gaiu Mic, Moravița and Stamora Germană. Moravița is the site of a rail and road border crossing with Serbia.
Satu Mare railway station is the main station in Satu Mare, Romania. It is located near the city center. The station was first constructed in 1870; the current building dates from 1899 and was designed by the architect Ferenc Pfaff.
Regio Călători is a private rail company headquartered in Brașov, Romania. It was founded in 2005 and is exclusively active in the passenger transport sector. At present Regiotrans runs about 200 train services per day.
Arad Central railway station is the largest railway station in the city of Arad, and the largest in the Arad County. It is the second largest railway station in the western region of Romania, immediately after Timișoara Nord railway station.
The Timișoara–Moravița Motorway is a proposed motorway in the southwestern part of Romania, labelled as A9. It will connect the city of Timișoara to the border with Serbia. Feasibility studies for the whole motorway are currently ongoing. It is planned to be 72.93 km long.
Roses Park, previously known as Rosarium or Ștefan Plavăț Park of Culture and Leisure, is an urban park in Timișoara, located north of the Bega River.
The Brad railway station is a railway station located in Brad, Romania.
Ion Creangă Children's Park is a children's park in Timișoara that bears the name of Romanian children's author Ion Creangă.
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.
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.
During World War II, the Romanian city of Timișoara was subject to several aerial bombing raids by both Allied and Axis forces. From 1943 to 1944, the Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) conducted both leaflet drops and strategic bombing raids over Timișoara. Following the 1944 Romanian coup d'état, the Luftwaffe and Hungarian Air Force conducted bombing raids against Timișoara.