Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the city centres themselves. As a result, "Central Station" is often, but not always, part of the proper name for a railway station that is the central or primary railway hub for a city.
Contents
Development
Emergence and growth
Central stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century during what has been termed the "Railway Age". Initially railway stations were built on the edge of city centres but, subsequently, with urban expansion, they became an integral part of the city centres themselves.
For example, the first centralized railway terminal in Germany was Hanover Hauptbahnhof, built in 1879. This set the precedent for other major German cities. Frankfurt followed in 1888 and Cologne in the 1890s. Classic German central railway station architecture "reached its zenith" with the completion of Hamburg Hauptbahnhof in 1906 and Leipzig Hauptbahnhof in 1915.
In Europe, it was normal for the authorities to exercise greater control over railway development than in Britain and this meant that the central station was often the focal point of town planning. "Indeed, in most large continental cities the station was deliberately fronted by a square to set it off." During the 1880s "world leadership in large station design passed to Germany, where state funding helped secure the building of central stations on a lavish scale." By contrast, British entrepreneurialism led to a great diversity of ownership and rights and a lack of centralised coherence in the construction of major stations.
In time the urban expansion that put many of these stations at the heart of a city, also hemmed them in so that, although they became increasingly central to the town or city, they were further away from airports or, in some cases, other transport hubs such as bus stations leading to a lack of interoperability and interconnectivity between the different modes of transport.
A revival of fortunes for central stations arose during the 1980s, boosted by the advent of high speed rail and light rail services, that saw opportunities being seized for upgrading central stations and their facilities to create large intermodal transport hubs simultaneously serving many modes of transport, while providing a range of modern facilities for the traveller, creating a "city within a city."
Present-day function
Today, central stations, particularly in Europe, act as termini for a multitude of rail services - suburban, regional, domestic and international - provided by national carriers or private companies, on conventional rail networks, underground railways and tram systems. These services are often divided between several levels. In many cases, central railway stations are collocated with bus stations as well as taxi services.
Central railway stations are not just major transportation nodes but may also be "a specific section of the city with a concentration of infrastructure but also with a diversified collection of buildings and open spaces" which makes them "one of the most complex social areas" of the city. This has drawn in railway business - freight and local industry using the marshalling yards - and commercial business - shops, cafes and entertainment facilities.
The reinvigoration of central stations since the 1980s has been, in part, due to the rise of high speed rail services. But countries have taken different approaches. France gave greater weight to 'peripheral stations', stations external to cities and new high speed lines. Germany and Italy went for the modification of existing lines and central stations. Spain opted for a hybrid approach with new high speed railway lines using existing central stations.
"Central Station" as a name
English-speaking countries
"Central Station" is a common proper name for a railway station that is the central or primary railway hub for a city, for example, Manchester Central, which is not to be confused with those stations in which "Central" appears in name not because they were "central" in the sense above but because they were once served by railway companies with "Central" as part of their name. For example, Leicester Central railway station was owned by the Great Central Railway, and Central Station (Chicago) was owned by the Illinois Central Railroad.
Some Great Western Railway stations in the UK had "General" in their name if they were the principal station serving the town. Apart from Wrexham General, all have been renamed.
Non-English-speaking countries
When translating foreign station names, "Central Station" is commonly used if the literal meaning of the station's name is "central station", "principal station" or "main station". An example of the last is the Danish word hovedbanegård. Travel and rail sources such as Rough Guides, Thomas Cook European Timetable and Deutsche Bahn's passenger information generally use the native name, but tourist, travel and railway operator websites as well as the English publications of some national railway operators often use "Central Station" or "central railway station" instead.
Non-English names for "Central Station" include:
Централна гара (tsentralna gara) in Bulgarian
střed or hlavní nádraží in Czech
Centraal Station (abbreviated formerly as CS and currently as Centraal) in Dutch
Gare centrale in French
Hauptbahnhof, historically also Centralbahnhof or Zentralbahnhof, in German
תחנה מרכזית (tahana merkazit) in Hebrew
Stazione Centrale (abbreviated C.le) in Italian
sentralstasjon in Norwegian
Estação Central in Portuguese
Estación Central in Spanish
centralstation (abbreviated central or C) in Swedish
Non-English terms that literally mean "principal station" or "main station" are often translated into English as "Central":
Glavni kolodvor (abbreviated Gl. kol.) in Croatian
Examples of central stations
The following are examples of stations from around the world where "Central Station" is part of their name in English or can be translated as such from their native language.
Europe
Wien Hauptbahnhof
Graz Hauptbahnhof
Linz Hauptbahnhof
Salzburg Hauptbahnhof
Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof
St. Pölten Hauptbahnhof
Wels Hauptbahnhof
Wörgl Hauptbahnhof
Leoben Hauptbahnhof
Brest Central Station (Brest-Centralny, Брест-Центральный)
Three stations in Belgium are named "-Central" (Dutch Centraal).
Antwerp Central Station (Antwerpen-Centraal)
Brussels Central Station (Bruxelles-Central / Brussel-Centraal) - not to be confused with the city's main international station, Brussels Midi (meaning "Brussels south"; the French word "Midi" is generally used as the station's name in English).
Verviers-Central railway station (Verviers-Central)
There are three stations with "central" in their names:
Central Railway Station, Sofia (Централна гара София)
Central Railway Station, Plovdiv (Централна гара Пловдив)
Ruse Central railway station (Централна гара Русе)
The following stations are named "hlavní nádraží" (English: 'main station', abbreviated hl.n.):
Central America
Central Railway Station, Havana, commuter and national rail station in Havana
North America
Central station (Edmonton), in Edmonton
Montreal Central Station, in Montreal
Guelph Central Station, an intermodal (rail/bus) station in Guelph
In the United States, several "Central" stations were built by railways called "Central", the best known example being Grand Central Station in New York City, which is so named because it was built by the New York Central Railroad.
This contrasts with a union station, which, in the past, served more than one railway company (the equivalent term in Europe is a joint station). The government-funded Amtrak took over the operation of all intercity passenger rail in the 1970s and 1980s.
Buffalo Central Terminal, in Buffalo, New York
Central Station, Chicago
Grand Central Station, Chicago
Central (CTA Green Line), Chicago, Illinois
Central (CTA Purple Line), Evanston, Illinois
Central Station (JTA Skyway), Jacksonville, Florida
Central Station (Memphis), Memphis, Tennessee
MiamiCentral, Miami, Florida
Grand Central Terminal, New York City
Great Central Station, Chicago
South America
Estación Central in Buenos Aires, Argentina operated from 1872 to 1897.
In Brazil, "Central Station" is called as "Estação Central" and can be a place that integrates bus or train.
Central do Brasil, in Rio de Janeiro
Estação da Luz, in São Paulo
Central station (Federal District Metro)
Estación Alameda in Santiago, Chile is known unofficially as Estación Central
Asia
Baku railway station
Sumgait railway station
Kamalapur Railway Station
Central and Hong Kong stations, a main interchange station of the MTR rapid transit system (located in Central; served by the Airport Express, Island line, Tsuen Wan line and Tung Chung line.)
Kanpur Central (CNB), in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
Mangalore Central (MAQ) in Mangalore, Karnataka
Mumbai Central (MMCT), in Mumbai, Maharashtra
Trivandrum Central (TVC), in Trivandrum, Kerala
MGR Chennai Central (MAS), in Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Manggarai Central Station (MRI) in Tebet, South Jakarta
Be'er Sheva Center railway station, Be'er Sheva
Haifa Center HaShmona railway station, Haifa
Modi'in Central railway station, Modi'in
Tel Aviv Savidor Central railway station, Tel Aviv
Jerusalem–Yitzhak Navon railway station, Jerusalem
Kagoshima-Chūō Station in Kagoshima, formerly Nishi-Kagoshima Station
Sentral is the Malay spelling for the English word central.
Kuala Lumpur Sentral station, in Kuala Lumpur
Africa
Cape Town railway station, Cape Town
Bloemfontein railway station, Bloemfontein
Durban railway station, Durban
Johannesburg Park station, Johannesburg
Kimberley railway station, Kimberley
Mafikeng railway station, Rustenburg
Pietermaritzburg railway station, Pietermaritzburg
Pretoria railway station, Pretoria
Oceania
Central railway station, Brisbane
Melbourne Central railway station, named after Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, Melbourne
Central railway station, Sydney, also known as Sydney Terminal, Sydney
Gawler Central railway station, Adelaide
Wynnum Central railway station, Brisbane
Cockburn Central railway station, Perth