Train Stations: From Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon - Research Paper Example

Train Stations: From Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon. Along similar tracks? Railway transport is the core of world civilization and modernization. This is because, it is only after the construction of the railway in the 19th century, that it became possible to link different parts of the world more conveniently, where the road and the water transport could not have achieved such interconnection, and air transport had not been developed effectively. Railway transport began in Britain in the early 17th century, courtesy of the need to transport mineral from the mining sites to the industrial areas where ore, coal and other important minerals were being consumed at the advent of industrialization (Roth and Marie-Noëlle, 27). Britain had its first railway running by 1820s, in British North America railway was running by 1836 and eventually in France the first railway was constructed in 1827. Thus, railway transport remains the core of Paris history, considering that it is through the railway transport that the richness of diversity of Paris can be traced. Through the development of railway transport, Paris was connected to different parts of the world and the diversity of culture involving art and architecture, education and modernization set in the city. Cultural revolutions and ingenious solutions to the technological challenges have ranked as the main drives of the development of railway transport in France, whose history can be traced back to 1821 (Hollis, 42). The government of France received a request for concession to build a railway that sought to connect the coal mines of Saint-Étienne and the banks of Loire River, through which coal could be moved from the mines, and then transported to different of Paris and France for use in industrialization purposes (Railway Technology, n.p.). The 21km railway track was completed in 1827, and that marked the beginning of the further development of railway construction in Paris and throughout France, owing to the recognizable ease of transporting bulk cargo that the railway transport brought. Thus, the Gare du Nord and Gare de Lyon Train stations are the core of modernization, civilization and nation building both for France and Europe, by serving as the gateways to railway transport. The Gare de Lyon was designed by Alexis Cendrier and constructed by the CF du PLM (Nilsen, 72). The monumental building and its associated complexes was designed to comprise of a double rooftop, with a large annexure of passenger building that was facing the Paris city, but lost the view of the city in 1970, after the dual-carriage way was constructed blocking the train station from the city view. The design of the Gare de Lyon represents the classic early 20th century style, which also characterizes many other monuments that were built at around that time, with its platforms designed to constitute of twin roof tops (Watkin, 36). The Gare de Lyon train station has kept being refurbished and modernized, especially due to the need for the station to accommodate TGV high speed trains that connects Paris and Lyon to most parts to the south of France. However, the most notable feature of this train station that serves to uniquely identify the train station is the Clock Tower, which was constructed in 1895 through to 1902,but was later expanded in 1927 (Watkin, 38). The clock tower currently stands at 67 meters tall, and its four faces measure 7 inch in diameter each. The first floor of the Gare de Lyon houses the Belle Epoque restaurant, which serves as the major destination from which the departing passengers locate. The visitor building is also constructed such that it contains luggage rooms with well designed individual lockers, which offers the passengers the convenience they would need, in case they would want to keep their luggage within the train station for a maximum of 48 hours (Nilsen, 223). The Gare de Lyon is a monumental train station that was among the first to be built in France, having been constructed in 1849, but it was inaugurated in 1901. The Gare de Lyon serves as the six main busiest railway stations in Paris, which is constructed on the northern terminus of the Paris–Marseille railway (Fallon, 102). The Gare de Lyon was later reconstructed in 1978 to serve as part of the second city center for Lyon, and thus its refurbishment and reconstruction was meant to be part of the espoused Part-Dieu urban neighborhood project (Ferrarini, 312). Gare de Lyon serves as a gateway that connects Paris with its neighboring town and cities, as well as connecting Paris to foreign countries such as Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Spain. The Gare de Lyon is a big railway train station, which handles over 90 million passengers annually, making it one of the busiest train stations in the world, and one of the busiest train stations in the whole of Europe. To achieve the intended urbanization of its neighborhood, the Gare de Lyon was constructed in a modern design, comprising of its characteristic and most notable clock tower, which is a replica of the clock tower that identifies the house of parliament in the UK (Watkin, 38). In addition, the design of the Gare de Lyon comprises of a restaurant, the Le Train Bleu, large enough to serve a large number of visitors who uses the train station on a daily basis, and has been serving the visitors to the station since 1901 (Fallon, 102). The Le Train Bleu restaurant was constructed by the Lyon-Mediterranean (PLM) Company, and it was then elevated to the status of a historical monument in 1972 by Jacques Duhamel (Railway Technology, n.p.). The lavishly decorated restaurant serves as one e of the key features that identifies the Gare de Lyon, and still the main feature that gives the train station its characteristic modern appearance, despite the fact that the station was constructed many decades ago. In addition, the Gare de Lyon comprises of a complex that functions as a shopping center, which is the second largest shopping center in France, while also being home to the tallest skyscraper in the region, namely the ‘Le Crayon’, which means a pencil, owing to the shape of the skyscraper that is constructed in that shape (Roth and Marie-Noëlle, 22). Additionally, the design of the Gare de Lyon comprises of a major government office compound. The significance of the Gare de Lyon is that it serves as the gateway through which the South of France is accessed. This is because, the Gare de Lyon train station serves as the major train station that serves the passengers headed to different cities, towns and destinations on the Southside of France, while also opening to international train travels, by connecting Paris to Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain (Hollis, 35). Further, the significance of the Gare de Lyon train station is that it serves as one of the major historical monuments that identifies France, owing to its uniquely designed features such as the Clock Tower and the ‘Le Crayon’, sky scrapers (Roth and Marie-Noëlle, 22). Additionally, the upgraded status of the Le Train Bleu, one of the most popular restaurants within the train station and also one of the most popular visitors’ destinations, serves to elevate the Gare de Lyon train station as an important historical monument that defines the history of Paris and the history of civilization, courtesy of railway transport. The Gare de Lyon train station also serves as an important installation within Paris and indeed the whole of France and Europe, considering that this train station handles over 90 million visitors annually (Ferrarini, 314). Besides, Gare de Lyon train station serves as the major urbanization hub of the city of Lyon and the Part-Dieu urban neighborhood, since it is the facility that has served to elevate this neighborhood into an accessory urban center seconded to Lyon (Ferrarini, 312). Most importantly however, is the fact that the Gare de Lyon train station serves as a major cultural diversification hub, owing to its strategic positioning that allows the train station to receive visitors from different parts of Europe, and introduce them to the culture of France, through food and other services offered at the restaurants, shopping complex and the visitors building situated at the Gare de Lyon train station. The Gare du Nord train station is a station that was constructed as the first train station in Paris in 1846 (Railway Technology, n.p.). However, the old design was later demolished in 1860, and in its place a new train station was constructed in 1864. The Gare du Nord train station ranks as the busiest train station in France and Europe, and it also ranks as the third busiest train station in the world, handling over 180 million visitors annually (Nilsen, 77). After having been constructed in 1846, the decision to demolish the original Gare du Nord train station and construct it afresh was reached in 1857, it was realized that the train station was not able to meet the demands of the passenger capacity who were growing by the day. Thus, it was demolished and redesigned afresh, this time round with a passenger capacity of three times the original capacity of the train station (Railway Technology, n.p.). The original Gare du Nord train station was designed by Léonce Reynaud, who was a professor of engineering and architecture at the École Polytechnique and it was constructed by the Roadway Engineers (Fallon, 52). The new Gare du Nord train station was designed by French architect Jacques Hittorff , who was a French architect that was born in Germany, and he presided over its construction between 1861–63, after which the train station was then opened a year later in 1864 (Ferrarini, 297). The design of the new Gare du Nord train station is in form of a U-shape terminus, which allows for more passenger space, as opposed to the normal rectangular or square-shaped structure, which may not accommodate as large volume of passengers. The designer of the new Gare du Nord train station adapted the Beaux-Arts both in the formation of floor design of the train station as well as on the structural design of the buildings, something that has given the train station a modern architectural look to present day, despite having been designed and constructed over a century ago (Hollis, 17). Although it was inaugurated in 1864, the completion of the train station past until 1865, with the new design of the train station leaving room for more modifications and refurbishments of the train station, without the need to demolish the whole of the facility as had happened in 1860. Thus, following the need to increase the passenger capacity and the flow of traffic into and out of the Gare du Nord train station, five more tracks of rail were added in 1884, making the train station capable of holding more train traffic, and thus elevating it to the status of the most busy train station in France and in the region (Roth and Marie-Noëlle, 21). Further, the Gare du Nord train station was expanded further in 1889, with the construction of another extension on the eastern side of the train station so that there could be incorporated more rail tracks to serve the suburban parts of Paris. The reconstruction and expansion of the Gare du Nord train station did not stop there, with further expansions being made in 1930 and again in 1960. The key feature that identifies the Gare du Nord train station is the female statues that are occupy 540 feet front elevation, and they are 23 in number (Fallon, 65). While 9 of these statues are erected on the cornice line of the front elevation, the rest of the 14 statues are erected on the lower façade. The statues were erected to represent each of the international destinations that were served by the railway company that owned the Gare du Nord train station. The façade by itself also serves as a unique feature that identifies the Gare du Nord train station, which was constructed from stone slabs, and then supported by beams of cast iron (Watkin, 54). The interior design of the Gare du Nord train station is another unique characteristic that identifies the train station, consisting of a wide open space of 216 by 600 feet, with a an expansive central hall and a glass train shed meant to serve the visitors (Railway Technology, n.p.). The Gare du Nord train station also provides several bus terminus that are used to ferry visitors to different destinations in France and beyond, in case such visitors do not wish to use the train for traveling. The Gare du Nord train station provides connection to Charles de Gaulle Airport and to Gare de Lyon train station, while also connecting to different tourist destinations within France. In addition, Gare du Nord train station also serves as a gateway to several international railway destinations that include the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany and Netherlands (Hollis, 47). Besides, Gare du Nord train station offers various passenger facilities such as banking and ATM services, shopping complexes, restaurants and luggage rooms. The significance of the Gare du Nord train station is that it serves as the most important railway passenger destination throughout Europe and even globally, handling 180 million passengers annually, and also ranking as the busiest train station in Europe and the third busiest train station globally (Nilsen, 145). The Gare du Nord train station is also an important cultural diversification hub, as well as an important tourist destination connection center, since it offers connections to various tourist destinations throughout France. The Gare du Nord train station is also significant in that it remains one of the historical monuments that serve as the core of urbanization in Paris and France, as well as other European cities, through facilitating railway travel since the beginning f civilization and industrialization in Europe (Watkin, 33). Works Cited Fallon, Stephen, and Nicola Williams. Paris City Guide. Footscray, Vic., Australia: Lonely Planet Publications, 2008. Print. Ferrarini, Alessia. Railway stations: from the Gare de lest to Penn Station. Milan: Electa Architecture, 2005. Print. 312 Hollis, Leo. Historic Paris Walks. London: Cadogan Guides, 2006. Print. Nilsen, Micheline. Railways and the Western European capitals: studies of implantation in London, Paris, Berlin, and Brussels. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print. 72-223. Railway Technology. “Gare du Nord, Paris, France.” Retrieved May 6, 2014, from http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/garedunord/ Roth, Ralf, and Marie-Noëlle Polino. The City and the Railway in Europe. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002. Print. Watkin, David. A History of Western Architecture. London: Laurence King, 2005. Print. Read More