Main station

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.Kellerman, Aharon. "Central railway stations" in ''Daily Spatial Mobilities: Physical and Virtual'', Oxford: Routledge, 2012. pp. 159-161. Bán, D. ''The railway station in the social science.'' The Journal of Transport History, 28, 289-93, 2007. 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.

Development

Emergence and growth

Central stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century during what has been termed the "Railway Age".Richards, Jeffrey and John M. MacKenzie, ''The Railway Station'', Oxford: OUP, 1986. 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.Solomon, Brian. ''Railway Depots, Stations and Terminals'', Minneapolis: Voyageur, 2015. p. 152. .

In Europe, it was normal for the authorities to exercise greater control over railway development than in BritainHaywood, Russell. ''Railways, Urban Development and Town Planning in Britain: 1948-2008'', 2009. . 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."Biddle, 1986, 37. 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.Bruinsma, Frank, Eric Pels, Hugo Priemus, Piet Rietveld and Bert van Wee. ''Railway Development: Impacts on Urban Dynamics''. Amsterdam: Physika-Verlag, 2008. p.4. .

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."Middleton, William D., ''On Railways Far Away'', p. 69.

Present-day function

Transport nodes

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.

Industrial and commercial centres

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"Bertolini, Luca and Tejo Spit, ''Cities on Rails'', Nyew York: Routledge, 1998. 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.

High speed rail

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.Albalate, Daniel and Germà Bel, ''Evaluating High-Speed Rail: Interdisciplinary Perspectives'', London and NY: Routledge, 2017. p. 91. .

"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.

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
* ''hlavní nádraží'' (abbreviated ''hl. n.'') in Czech
* ''hovedbanegård'' (abbreviated ''H'') in Danish
* ''Hauptbahnhof'' (abbreviated ''Hbf'' in Germany and Austria and ''HB'' in Switzerland) in German
* ''Dworzec Główny'' (abbreviated ''Gł.'') in Polish
* ''hlavná stanica'' (abbreviated ''hl. st.'') in Slovak

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

Austria

# Wien Hauptbahnhof
# Graz Hauptbahnhof
# Linz Hauptbahnhof
# Salzburg Hauptbahnhof
# Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof
# St. Pölten Hauptbahnhof
# Wels Hauptbahnhof
# Wörgl Hauptbahnhof
# Leoben Hauptbahnhof

Belarus

# Brest Central Station (Brest-Centralny, Брест-Центральный)

Belgium

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'')

Bulgaria

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)

Czech Republic

The following stations are named "hlavní nádraží" (English: 'main station', abbreviated ''hl.n.''):
# Brno hlavní nádraží (Brno)
# Česká Lípa hlavní nádraží (Česká Lípa)
# Děčín hlavní nádraží (Děčín)
# Hradec Králové hlavní nádraží (Hradec Králové)
# Karviná hlavní nádraží (Karviná)
# Kutná Hora hlavní nádraží (Kutná Hora)
# Mladá Boleslav hlavní nádraží (Mladá Boleslav)
# Nymburk hlavní nádraží (Nymburk)
# Olomouc hlavní nádraží (Olomouc)
# Ostrava hlavní nádraží (Ostrava)
# Pardubice hlavní nádraží (Pardubice)
# Plzeň hlavní nádraží (Plzeň)
# Praha hlavní nádraží (Prague)
Hlavní nádraží – the corresponding metro station in Prague
# Prostějov hlavní nádraží (Prostějov)
# Trutnov hlavní nádraží (Trutnov)
# Ústí nad Labem hlavní nádraží (Ústí nad Labem)

The following stations are named "střed" or "centrum", indicating their central location between other stations serving the town:
# Brumov střed ( Brumov)
# Louny střed (Louny)
# Mikulášovice střed ( Mikulášovice)
# Ostrava střed(Ostrava)
# Pardubice centrum, (Pardubice)
# Smržovka střed (Smržovka)
# Trutnov střed (Trutnov)
# Zlín střed (Zlín)

In addition to the above, Praha Masarykovo nádraží was named "Praha střed" from 1953 until 1990.

Denmark

Two Danish stations, as follows, have names often translated as "Central".
# Aarhus Central Station – the busiest Danish station outside the Copenhagen area
#Copenhagen Central Station – the largest station in Denmark
Both stations bear the title of ''Hovedbanegård'' in Danish, which literally translated means main-(rail)way-yard, but which actually refers to the infrastructure complexity, size and importance. A station of lesser importance is calld a ''banegård''. However a city can have several ''banegårde'' as well as a ''hovedbanegård'', and several cities and towns that have a ''banegård'' such as Aalborg do not have a ''hovedbanegård''. Thus, Copenhagen Central Station is not the most central in Copenhagen, nor is it the most central that serves a broad range of routes, that would be Nørreport Station, which has been translated into English as Nørreport Metro Station. Copenhagen Central Station is however the most important, with its many more platforms and historic facilities (that has now been moved to other locations, in response to changed need from modern locomotives, wagons and coaches), and despite serving almost the same amount of regional and intercity trains as Nørreport, it allows for longer stops and with much more room for passengers to traverse the station along serving international trains.

Finland

Two Finnish stations can be translated to central:
# Helsinki Central railway station ( Finnish: Helsingin päärautatieasema, Swedish: Helsingfors centralstation)
# Turku Central railway station ( Finnish: Turun päärautatieasema, Swedish: Åbo centralstation)

France

# Gare du Nord, Paris
# Lille-Flandres station, Lille
# Strasbourg-Ville station, Strasbourg
# Marseille-Saint-Charles station, Marseille
# Nantes station, Nantes
# Nice-Ville station, Nice. In most German cities with more than one passenger station, the principal station is usually the ''Hauptbahnhof'';Rudolf Böhringer ''German for everybody--and you!'' 1966 Page 2 "Well, ''Bahnhof'' means 'station' just as ''Hauptbahnhof'' means 'main station'." some German sources translate this as "central station"Ernst, Dr.-Ing. Richard (1989). ''Wörterbuch der Industriellen Technik'' (5th ed.). Wiesbaden, Germany: Oscar Brandstetter, p. 461. .Worsch, Wolfgang (2004). ''Langenscheidt Muret-Sanders Großwörterbuch, Teil II, Deutsch-Englisch '', Langenscheidt KG, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Zurich, New York, p. 504. . although stations named Hauptbahnhof may not be centrally located.

While using Hauptbahnhof in its journey planner and passenger information, in English-language publications Deutsche Bahn uses variously Hauptbahnhof, Main and Central.

The following stations historically bore the name ''Centralbahnhof'' or ''Zentralbahnhof'' as part of their proper name (See Centralbahnhof):

# Chemnitz Hauptbahnhof
# Köln Hauptbahnhof
# Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof
# Hamburg Dammtor station: documents from around the time of the opening of the station refer to Centralbahnhof. or Zentral-Bahnhof.
# Ingolstadt Hauptbahnhof
# Magdeburg Hauptbahnhof
# Mainz Hauptbahnhof
# München Hauptbahnhof until 1 May 1904.
# Oldenburg Hauptbahnhof (called ''Centralbahnhof Oldenburg'' from 1879 to 1911)
# Osnabrück Hauptbahnhof
# Stuttgart Zentralbahnhof (or ''Centralbahnhof'') was a centrally located station on the Zentralbahn (replaced by Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof, which opened on a new site east of the centre in 1922).

Italy

# Agrigento Centrale railway station
# Bari Centrale railway station
# Bari Centrale railway station (FAL)
# Barletta Centrale railway station (FNB)
# Bologna Centrale railway station
# Caltanissetta Centrale railway station
# Catania Centrale railway station
# Gorizia Centrale railway station
# La Spezia Centrale railway station
# Lamezia Terme Centrale railway station
# Livorno Centrale railway station
# Messina Centrale railway station
# Milano Centrale railway station
# Napoli Centrale railway station
# Nardò Centrale railway station
# Palermo Centrale railway station
# Pescara Centrale railway station
# Pisa Centrale railway station
# Porto Empedocle Centrale railway station
# Potenza Centrale railway station
# Prato Centrale railway station
# Reggio Calabria Centrale railway station
# Tarvisio Centrale railway station - now closed
# Torre Annunziata Centrale railway station
# Trieste Centrale railway station
# Treviglio railway station, also known as ''Treviglio Centrale''
# Treviso Centrale railway station

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, a ''centraal station'' (abbreviated CS), in its original sense, was a railway station served by several railway companies; so it had the same meaning as a union station in the USA. Since the various private railways were merged in the early 20th century into a national railway, the term came to mean, in everyday language, the main railway station of a city.

Since the 2000s, the rule is that a city's principal station may be called "Centraal" if it has more than a certain number of passengers per day (currently 40.000). This meant that Almere Centraal had to be demoted to "Almere Centrum"; however, Leiden was renamed "Leiden Centraal". Additionally, stations with international high-speed trains may be given the name Centraal; this applies to Arnhem. Breda was intended to receive the epithet after renovation in 2016, but since high speed services do not yet call there, it is still called Breda.

Non-railway signage, such as on buses or roads, sometimes indicates Centraal or CS even when a city's main railway station is not actually so named.

Eight stations have the word ''Centraal'':
# Amsterdam Centraal
# Den Haag Centraal
# Leiden Centraal
# Rotterdam Centraal
# Utrecht Centraal
# Arnhem Centraal
# Eindhoven Centraal
# Amersfoort Centraal

There are also stations with the word ''Centrum'', which indicates the station is in the city centre:
# Almere Centrum
# Barneveld Centrum
# Ede Centrum
# Kerkrade Centrum
# Lelystad Centrum
# Schiedam Centrum
# Veenendaal Centrum
# Vlaardingen Centrum

Norway

# Oslo Central Station (''Oslo Sentralstasjon'')
# Trondheim Central Station (''Trondheim Sentralstasjon'')

Poland

The designation "main station" (''Dworzec główny'', abbreviated to " Gł.") is used in many Polish cities to indicate the most important passenger or goods station, for instance Szczecin Główny. However, there is an exception:

Warszawa Centralna railway station is the principal station in Warsaw, but Warszawa Główna railway station (reopened in March 2021) is the terminus for several train services.

The following stations are named "main station" (dworzec główny):

The adjective "main" is thus not used only for stations in a few capitals of voivodeships, including: Białystok, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Katowice and Łódź.

Portugal

Spain

# Barcelona Sants railway station, Barcelona
# Madrid Atocha railway station, Madrid
# Seville–Santa Justa railway station, Seville

Sweden

In Sweden the term "central station" (''Centralstation'', abbreviated to ''Central'' or ''C'') is used to indicate the primary station in towns and cities with more than one railway station. Many are termini for one or more lines. However, the term can also occur in a broader sense, even being used for the only railway station in a town. In some cases, this is because other stations have closed; but in others the station is called "central" even though there has only ever been one. In these cases, the term "central" was used to highlight the level of service provided, due to the station's importance in the network, particularly at important railway junctions.

Switzerland

Basel SBB railway station was originally known as the ''Centralbahnhof'' or, in English, Basle Central Station and is still sometimes referred to today as the ''Centralbahnhof'' or Basel/Basle Central Station.

Turkey

# Adana Central railway station
# Ankara Central railway station
# Eskişehir Central railway station
# Gaziantep Central railway station
# İstanbul Sirkeci railway station
# İzmir Alsancak railway station
# Kars Central railway station
# Kayseri Central railway station
# Mersin Central railway station

United Kingdom

Many railway stations in Britain that use 'Central' are not principal stations, and are called Central to distinguish them from other stations with different names, or for prestige. In some cases, a station originally owned by the Great Central Railway in locations served by more than one station was called ''Central''. ''Town'' also appears: for example distinguishes it from station.

One of the few principal stations in Britain that is called 'Central' and truly is in the centre of the city it serves is Glasgow Central. Though Glasgow was once served by four ''principal'' terminus stations, all within the city centre, only one was called 'Central'. With a few exceptions such as the Argyle line, Glasgow Central serves all stations south of the city while Glasgow Queen Street is the principal station for all services north of the city. Likewise, Cardiff Central is located in the city centre and is the mainline hub of the South Wales rail network, which includes 19 other stations in Cardiff itself, including another principal city centre station, Cardiff Queen Street.

Not all the stations in the following list still exist.

# Acton Central railway station
# Belfast Grand Central station
# Birkenhead Central railway station
# Brackley Central railway station
# Burnley Central railway station
# Cardiff Central railway station
# Central railway station (London)
# Central Croydon railway station
# Chesterfield Central railway station
# Coatbridge Central railway station
# Dumbarton Central railway station
# Exeter Central railway station
# Finchley Central tube station
# Folkestone Central railway station
# Gainsborough Central railway station
# Glasgow Central railway station
# Greenock Central railway station
# Hackney Central railway station
# Hamilton Central railway station
# Helensburgh Central railway station
# Hendon Central tube station
# Hounslow Central tube station
# Hyde Central railway station
# Kirkby-in-Ashfield Central railway station
# Leicester Central railway station
# Lincoln Central railway station
# Liverpool Central railway station
# Loughborough Central railway station
# Manchester Central railway station
# Mansfield Central railway station
# Milton Keynes Central railway station
# New Mills Central railway station
# Newcastle Central railway station and associated Central Station Metro station
# Redcar Central railway station
# Rotherham Central railway station
# Rugby Central railway station
# St Helens Central railway station
# St Helens Central (GCR) railway station
# Salford Central railway station
# Scarborough Central railway station
# Southampton Central railway station
# Southend Central railway station
# Staveley Central railway station
# Sutton-in-Ashfield Central railway station
# Telford Central railway station
# Tuxford Central railway station
# Walthamstow Central station
# Warrington Central railway station
# Wembley Central station
# Windsor & Eton Central railway station
# Wrexham Central railway station

Central America

Cuba

* Central Railway Station, Havana, commuter and national rail station in Havana

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