Warszawa Centralna station

Warszawa Centralna
Location of station in Warsaw
Location	Al. Jerozolimskie 54, Śródmieście, Warsaw, Masovian  Poland
Coordinates	52°13′43″N 21°00′11″E / 52.228611°N 21.003056°E / 52.228611; 21.003056Coordinates: 52°13′43″N 21°00′11″E / 52.228611°N 21.003056°E / 52.228611; 21.003056
Platforms	4
Tracks	8
Connections	Warszawa Śródmieście Centrum Warszawa Śródmieście WKD
History
Opened	1975
Services
Preceding station   PKP   Following station Warszawa Zachodnia toward Berlin Hbf EuroCity Warszawa Wschodnia Terminus Warszawa Zachodnia toward Köln Hbf EuroNight Warszawa Wschodnia Terminus Preceding station   KM   Following station Warszawa Zachodnia toward Skierniewice RE1 Warszawa Wschodnia Terminus Warszawa Zachodnia Terminus RE9 Warszawa Wschodnia toward Działdowo Warszawa Zachodnia toward Warsaw Chopin Airport RL Warszawa Wschodnia toward Modlin Preceding station   SKM   Following station Warszawa Zachodnia toward Warsaw Chopin Airport S3 Warszawa Wschodnia toward Wieliszew

Warszawa Centralna is the primary railway station in Warsaw, Poland. Designed by architect Arseniusz Romanowicz, its construction began in 1972 and was completed in 1975. The station, located on the Warsaw Cross-City Line, features four underground island platforms with eight tracks in total and is served by the long-distance domestic and international trains of PKP Intercity and Przewozy Regionalne as well as some of the regional trains operated by Koleje Mazowieckie.

The station was constructed as a flagship project of the People's Republic of Poland during the 1970s western-loan fueled economic boom, and was meant to replace the inadequate Warsaw Główna.

However, the project encountered substantial problems from the very beginning. The station's design was innovative but plagued by continuous alterations to the scope of work and sub-standard construction quality, which in turn hurt functionality and operations upon completion. The problems with the scope and construction were in part to blame on a hasty completion date set to coincide with Leonid Brezhnev's 1975 visit to the capital of the Soviet Union's largest satellite state. The design and construction problems necessitated immediate repairs that would continue through the 1980s. Despite the deficiencies, the structure was fairly advanced for its time and incorporated such features as automatic doors, as well as escalators and elevators for each platform.

After a period of decline, a cosmetic upgrade of the station in 2010-2011 was completed in time for the Euro 2012 championships. The Warsaw city government is now contemplating demolishing and replacing the station, either at the same location or farther from the city center. Tentative plans are to demolish the present station in 2014 and replace it in the same location by 2018. Some elements of the Warsaw press (e.g. Gazeta Wyborcza and Architektura Murator 2012), as well as Swiss journalist and historian Werner Huber, have argued against demolition, claiming that the current Warszawa Centralna is a great example of functionalist architecture and a masterpiece of Polish modernism.