Leningradsky railway station

The Leningrad station (Russian Ленинградский вокзал / Leningradski Vokzal ) is a train station in the Russian capital Moscow. It was completed in 1851 and is the oldest station in Moscow and one of the oldest in Russia.

General

The Leningrad railway station is a railway terminus and terminus of the line Saint Petersburg- Moscow. He was from 1855 to 1923 Nikolajewskij ( Николаевский ); and 1923-1937 Oktjabrskij ( Октябрьский ). The name derives for him Leningrad, as the city of Saint Petersburg, in this route starts from 1924 was called until 1991. In the Roadmap, it is passed under the name Oktjabrskaja. The station building is situated on the Komsomolskaya Square, the main rail hub of the city, where there is also the Kazan and Yaroslavl train station, the regional station Kalantschowskaja are. In the immediate vicinity of the railway station, there are two metro stations.

History

The railway line St. Petersburg - Moscow, often referred to by its historical name Nikolai train, is the second oldest railway in Russia. She was transferred to the years 1842 to 1851 and joined since its completion, the two largest cities of the Russian tsarist empire in the shortest possible way, almost without a single curve. During the construction of the railway line a total of 36 stations were built on it. For the railway terminal in Moscow an extensive fallow land near the northeastern city limits has been selected. For the design, a competition was announced in the 1844 of the architect Konstantin Thon (also known among other things for the Moscow Christ the Savior Cathedral ) won. Construction began under his direction in 1844 and were completed in the summer of 1851.

The reception building of Nikolai station - so the station was in 1855 named him after the death of Tsar Nicholas I in memory - is now the only one of the three terminal stations on the Komsomolskaya Square, which has remained largely in its original condition. The station was opened along with the official opening of the railway line on November 1, 1851 for passengers and included time behind the front facade of the reception building two covered side platforms - one for departure and one for the arrival of the trains - and two tracks. In addition, in the building several concourses also been set up for passengers of the first, second and third class, a luggage storage room and premises specifically for the royal family.

Larger changes were made at the station in the 1930s and the 1970s. Mid -1930s were the tracks and the platforms extended, the reception building received additional ticket offices and facilities such as the information desk, post office and bank. In addition, the Metro station Komsomolskaya was built in 1935 near the station. 1977 was the reception building an additional Seitenbau, beyond the old train shed was integrated into the reception building and rebuilt the main waiting room.

In his history of the station repeatedly changed his name. A few months after the October Revolution of 1917, the Nikolai train lost its reminiscent of the tsarist regime designation and was built to commemorate the revolution in " October Railway " (Russian Октябрьская железная дорога ) renamed; accordingly called the station since " October Bahnhof". As St. Petersburg in 1924 after the death of the revolutionary leader Lenin was named Leningrad, also the station was given the name " Leningrad station ," which he also after 1991, despite the renaming of the city in Saint Petersburg, retained. Even today, yet the statue of Lenin in the waiting hall available.

Architecture

The architect of the reception building of the Leningrad station was Konstantin Thon; he had designed the building and managed the construction of the station from 1842 to 1847. Particularly striking is the oldest in Moscow railway station building, that it has a rather untypical for station buildings look at the view of the main facade. Partial remembers its symmetrical structure with relatively discreet entrance portals and a central clock tower in a historic town hall building. Overall, the style of the Leningrad station building is considered to be a mix of Italian Renaissance and traditional altmoskauer architecture.

In parallel with the railway terminus in Moscow an architecturally very similar station in Saint Petersburg was built during the construction of the railway Nikolai, the name " Moskovsky Rail today" ( in German: Moscow Station ) carries. The reception building this station, which was also designed by Konstantin Thon, acts like a slightly enlarged copy of the Leningrad Station in Moscow: There, too, the main facade is arranged symmetrically around the central clock tower, where the number of arched porches on the ground floor of the building at eleven instead as in the Leningrad station amounts to nine.

Train services

Today the railway tracks of the Leningrad station consist of ten tracks, five of which are used for the handling of long distance and the other five for local trains. The main destination of the long-distance trains, which start from here, is still St. Petersburg; there also operate several express trains daily. Other remote connections are made among others by Veliky Novgorod, Petrozavodsk, Murmansk, Helsinki and Tallinn. (Also called Elektritschki ) With local trains, providing direct inter alia by Zelenograd, Solnechnogorsk, Klin, Konakovo and Tver. A total of 43 pairs of trains over long distances and 110 are handled in transport at the Leningrad station per day.