The railway comes to Finland When visiting Finland in 1856, Grand Duke of Finland
Alexander II of Russia proposed an improvement program for the Finnish economy. He thought it was important to connect the inland country to the marine harbours through canals and railways, so planning of Finland's first railway from Helsinki to
Hämeenlinna was started.
Location of the railway and the station A 1853 railway project proposed the northern edge of the
Hietalahdentori square as the location of the Helsinki railway station. A later proposal in 1857 was at the vicinity of the
Turku barracks, and a third option was the environment of the Kluuvi well. Investigation of the new railway line in summer and autumn showed how difficult it would be to build a railway into the city of Helsinki, which was located at the point of a peninsula. The research resulted in four different options of the railway line. These options differed greatly in cost. The original plan included 40,800
Russian roubles for the main station of the railway, but the most expensive option was estimated at 162,000 roubles. The three first options required dismantling villas and other buildings from the shore of the Töölönlahti bay and building railway tracks on beautiful and farmed land from the environment of the city. In addition, the costs of the compulsory purchase of the land would have been significantly greater than in the fourth option. Another concern was that a steep curve directly after the railway station would cause more wear on both the tracks and the train wheels. This would result in danger of the train tilting, causing a decrease of the efficiency of the engine. The option for the straight railway line had the benefit of an unobstructed view from the station to the traffic on the tracks. The fourth option received the most support, and it was accepted on 26 November 1857. Because of the decision, citizens of Helsinki started worrying about the fate of the Kaisaniemi Park located next to the Kluuvi well. It was clear that the railway would override part of the park area. Per the request of the citizens, the railway line was moved slightly to the east in 1859, in order to preserve the two large and beautiful hills in the park. The bay was confined at Hakasalmi, ditches were dug into the Kluuvi swamp, and a stone-walled assembly pool was built behind the dam, from where the water was pumped into Töölönlahti by wind power. Many horse cart loads of sand were dumped into the area during the decades. According to the plans in the 1830s, the area to the north of
Kaivokatu and to the west of
Mikonkatu was to be divided into two blocks, which were named Hyeena ("hyaena") and Hilleri ("polecat"), separated by the street Hakasalmenkatu, now known as
Keskuskatu. The decision to build the railway decided the fate of the Hyeena and Hilleri blocks. Knut Stjernvall made the final railway plan in 1859. He proposed that a wide market square should be built on the place of the Hyeena block east to the railway yard. The construction of the railway station had a great impact on the Helsinki cityscape. The railway was piled with large logs, and stones were laid on the edge of the bay. Aspen trees had to be cut down from the Kaisaniemi Park to make way for the railway, but the park was preserved whenever it was possible to do so. The station's plans were drawn by
Swedish architect Carl Albert Edelfelt. According to the original plans, all station buildings along the Helsinki-Hämeenlinna line should have been built from wood. However, there soon came wishes that the station building in the capital should be built from a more valuable material. So the provincial architect of
Tavastia,
Carl Albert Edelfelt, was requested for plans for various alternatives, which were presented in October 1859. The cost estimate for a smaller one-floor building was about 27 thousand roubles and that for a larger two-floor building was about 40 thousand roubles. A wooden station building would only have cost 18 thousand roubles. These estimates did not include the cost for pile-driving the foundation, which was high at the muddy shore of the Kluuvinlahti bay. The tracks at the station were located right next to the station building on the edge of Kaivokatu. A large wooden shelter was built over the platforms. Commuter passengers entered the trains directly through an iron gate from Kaivokatu and only long-distance passengers went through the station hall. The station building was located nearer the Kaivokatu street than the current station building. Its end pointed towards Kaivokatu and the main entrance was towards the Rautatientori square. A cargo warehouse was built to the north of the station building, at the site of the eastern wing of the current station building. A railway yard about eight hectares in area was built at the station area, with engine stables and machinery yards. This railway yard was located to the west of the railway tracks, approximately at the end of the western wing of the current station building. The engine stables could seat a total of 12 engines at a time. According to schedule, a passenger train left from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8 o'clock in the morning. Trains on return trips left for Helsinki every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 7 o'clock in the morning. Already in October 1862 the schedule was changed to daily trips in both directions. The
Diet of Finland was held for the first time in 1863, with emperor
Alexander II of Russia attending. The city of Helsinki did not have a large enough space to host the event, so it was held at the station hall of the railway station. A temporary floor was built over the tracks and the roof was covered with floral vines. The swamp, unfit for public display, had been hidden under a birch bark mat. A couple of thousand invited guests attended the event. Urbanisation of Helsinki in the late 19th century brought along many changes. Between the 1860s and the 1900s the population of the city grew by almost 70 thousand people. Railway traffic at the Helsinki railway station increased, and the need for space by the railway administration also increased. As the popularity of railways grew, the original station turned out to be too small. The railway administration started designing a new station building in Helsinki in 1895. Terminus stations such as the Helsinki station at the time were usually U-shaped buildings at the end of the tracks.
Bruno Granholm, the architect of the railway administration, designed the administrative building, and the railway administration made the design of the new railway station. A contest was organised in 1902 with the intention of producing plans for a new station. The contest sought to attract the attention of the railway workers to the difficult design task and to the architects capable of such a task. There would be a large central hall at the centre of the station, in connection to the main entrance. The main entrance had to face the Kaivokatu street. The other entrances were at the end of the perpendicular platform at the end of the tracks at the Rautatientori square and at the western end of the station. The tracks were required to be covered with a roof made of steel, with a cut of it provided as an attachment to the contest. The
Finnish Civil War broke out after the
Russian Revolution and Finland declared its full independence, with the Reds conquering the station in January 1918. The railway administration had to move to
Vaasa, which was the capital of White Finland at the time. In April the Reds retreated from Helsinki to
Vyborg, and with the senate's approval German troops conquered Helsinki. This allowed the railway administration to return to the Helsinki railway station and the train traffic to gradually resume operation. The worst damage that the railway station suffered was at the end of the Continuation War in February 1944, when the
Soviet Union engaged in the
bombing of Helsinki. A total of 16,490 bombs were dropped on three nights. The first bombs to hit the city centre were dropped onto the railway station on 6 February 1944 at 19:22. More bombs fell later, when the railway administration building and the railway museum caught fire. Two of the bombs weighed at least a thousand kilograms. The area was also hit by tens of mine bombs and several incendiary bombs. Because of the fire, a general alarm was given in Helsinki, and the entire force of the Helsinki fire brigade as well as auxiliary forces from nearby municipalities were sent to the site. Nineteen fire extinguishing units and about a hundred firemen took part in extinguishing the fire. Police patrols were also sent to the site as the tens of thousands of people present at the site ventured too close to the burning station building. The fire had started from the elevator outside the second class restaurant. 40 enlisted men participated in clearing out the damages of the fire. The heat caused by the fire melted the wires of the chandeliers, causing them to fall to the floor. After the extinguishing work, the underground floors of the station were flooded up to the ankles. Ticket sales were opened in the former third class restaurant and waiting hall. The glass roof cost about 56 million Finnish markka. The previous name was
Helsinki Station. The timetable displays at the station were completely renovated in November 2015. The old LCDs were replaced with fully modifiable
TFT displays. A new perpendicular underpass tunnel named
Kaisantunneli, 220 metres long and four metres wide, leading from the Kaisaniemi park to Töölönlahdenkatu, is under construction and scheduled to be completed in 2023. This pedestrian tunnel will decrease bicycle traffic at the Eliel Square and on the Kaivokatu street and will make access to the station platforms easier.
Modern times cutting the ceremony ribbon. The train
Sm1 opened the first line that operated between
Helsinki and
Kirkkonummi In the 1960s, the underground
Asematunneli pedestrian underpass and underground shopping centre complex was built south of the station. The first surveillance cameras in the station hall were installed in the spring of 1968. The first electric train arrived at the station on 13 January 1969. After testing, regular electric train traffic was started between Helsinki and
Kirkkonummi on 26 January 1969. The
Rautatientori metro station, connected to the railway station via Asematunneli, was built part of the
Helsinki Metro construction work. It was one of the original metro stations, as it was opened in 1982. In 2000, a glass roof, which had already been in the original drawings by Eliel Saarinen, was built over the railway station's central platforms, although to a new design. In 2003, the shopping wing
Kauppakuja was opened along with a hotel. The area between the
Parliament House and the station contained the
VR warehouses, a rail-freight complex. Its original use had long been discontinued in 2006, when it was torn down to make space for the
Helsinki Music Centre. One of the tracks branching to the west just before the central station bypassed the warehouses. It was a freight route, the
Helsinki harbour rail, which passed through the inner west side of the city, all the way around the Helsinki peninsula to
Katajanokka. Later most of it was closed, and the track only led to the
West Harbour. This last section was discontinued in 2009, when sea freight operations were moved to the new
Vuosaari Harbour from old harbours near the city centre. Its right-of-way was converted into a pedestrian and bicycle route. On 7 June 2010, the station was officially renamed
Helsingin päärautatieasema-Helsingfors centralstation (Helsinki main, or central, railway station, in Finnish and Swedish), replacing the previous official name
Helsingin rautatieasema-Helsingfors järnvägsstation (Helsinki railway station). The Finnish transport bureau uses "Helsinki C" as a shorthand, and there were erroneous news reports that this shorthand would also be taken into official use.
Turku Central Station was renamed in a similar manner. == Architecture ==