Romania’s Gara de Nord railway station is to get a long-awaited facelift.
Built during the reign of King Carol 1, Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu planned to demolish it in 1988 to make way for the capital’s new subway. But his fall and execution a year later meant it never happened.
The station which handles 85% of the capital’s rail traffic, is undergoing a major modernization process worth about 500 million lei from EU and domestic funds. Works are expected to begin this month and the work will cover an area of 33,000 square meters.
The upgrade will restore the facades, strengthen the resistance structure and modernize the electrical, heating and air conditioning installations.
Work will also be carried out on heritage elements, but without affecting them, as per the law. The Royal Salon which was built for the visit of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1895-1896 will also undergo renovation.
The upgrade will include the installation of new state-of-the-art elevators, including facilities for reduced mobility. There will also be several digitalized points where passengers can get information about train schedules.
New shops will be part of the facelift but not in their current form and current kiosks will be scrapped and replaced with commercial areas, modeled on other European train stations.
History of Romania’s best known railway station
The station was built between 1868-1872 under the reign of Romania’s first monarch, King Carol I from Germany who brought railways to Romania.
It was initially inaugurated as the Târgoviștei Railway Station in 1872 and served as a starting point for the Roman-Galați-Bucharest-Pitesti railways. A special “Royal Hall” was built for Franz Joseph’s visit to Romania.
The “Columns“, a distinctive feature of the station, were added in 1932 in the grandiose style of fascist architecture of the time, and the station was modernized and electrified) during communism.
The station escaped much of the 1944 bombing from the Allies during World War II. In 2022 it acted as a reception hub for Ukrainian refugees.
The CFR national railways has launched a special page, where passengers will be able to monitor the progress of the works.
Rail officials say that rail traffic disruption will be kept to a minimum during the works and changes to timetables or platforms will be announced in advance.
The 500 million investment (about 100 million euros) comes from the state budget and non-reimbursable EU funds through the 2021-2027 transport program. The woek is expected to be completed in 2029.
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