Kraków Main station
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Kraków Główny
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| Location |
Kraków, Lesser Poland Voivodeship Poland |
| Coordinates | 50°03′56″N 19°56′50″E / 50.06556°N 19.94722°ECoordinates: 50°03′56″N 19°56′50″E / 50.06556°N 19.94722°E |
| Owned by | Polskie Koleje Państwowe S.A. |
| Platforms | 10 |
| History | |
| Opened | 1847 |
Kraków Główny Osobowy (commonly called Dworzec Główny, Polish for Main station) is the largest and the most centrally located railway station in Kraków. The building, constructed between 1844 and 1847 (architect: P.Rosenbaum), lies parallel to the tracks. The design was chosen to allow for future line expansion. The station was initially a terminus of the Kraków – Upper Silesia Railway (Kolej Krakowsko-Górnośląska, German: Obeschlesische-Krakauer Eisenbahn). Trains entered the trainshed via a brick archway at the northern end of the station which was almost doubled in size in 1871.
The station opened on 13 October 1847, with the first train leaving for Mysłowice (the point where the Austrian, German and Russian Empires adjoined during military partitions of Poland).
The railway line was extended eastwards in 1856, when the first section to Dębica (then Dembitz in the Habsburg Empire) was built by the k.k. priv. galizische Carl Ludwig-Bahn connecting Kraków with Lwów in Galicja. The increasing traffic resulted in the station's modernisation and enlargement in several stages between 1869 and 1894. The next substantial expansion took place in the 1930s in the reborn Polish Republic. At that time the northern brick wall and trainshed were demolished, the latter replaced by individual platform roofs.
A new urban shopping mall, Galeria Krakowska (Kraków Gallery), opened in September 2006 with adjacent parking for 1,400 cars. The construction of the Galeria Krakowska and remodelling of the area in front of the main station building means that taxis are no longer able to drive up to the station or collect passengers directly from the main entrance; however, the free overhead parking and passenger pick-up right above the tracks is now closer to the platforms, accessible via a convenient elevator.
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Wikipedia