Turku Central Station

The construction of the Finnish Main Line in 1862 meant a setback for Turku, which had originally been a place of trade for Tavastians. After the construction of the railway, the Tavastian merchants travelling along the traditional Hämeen Härkätie road started travelling to Helsinki. When the railway from Hämeenlinna to the north was being planned, Turku's significance was further threatened. So it was important for Turku citizens to receive a railway connection from Tampere to Turku as well as to Helsinki, even so that the trip to Turku would be shorter than the one to Helsinki. The railway was constructed in a way that favoured Turku, as the exchange station was built in Toijala, making the trip from Tampere to Turku 19 kilometres shorter than that from Tampere to Helsinki. Construction of the railway started in Turku already in 1874, when the direction of the railway at its northern end was not yet completely clear. There were many Russian immigrant workers working at the railway, and they were paid less than the Finnish workers. The Turku railway station was opened as the terminus of the Toijala-Turku line in 1876, and it was a class II station similar to the Toijala and Tampere railway station opened at the same time. As well as the station building, an oil warehouse made of brick and a railway roundhouse with four places were built at the site. The roundhouse was later expanded to eight places. A machinery yard was placed next to the railway yard, used to service and repair locomotives and passenger carriages. The track was extended from Turku Central Station to the Turku Harbour in 1876, when the terminus of the track was located between the Turku Castle and the river Aura. ==Traffic==

The Turku Central Station has passenger train connections along the Rantarata line to east towards Helsinki as well as to the north via Toijala towards Tampere. Trains from Tampere and Helsinki also carry passengers to the Port of Turku at ship departure times. All trains to Helsinki are InterCity or Pendolino trains. The trains to Tampere are InterCity trains and travel less frequently than the trains to Helsinki. The Turku Central Station also has a railway connection to Uusikaupunki, but this railway has not served passenger traffic since 1992, although there are plans to return this service, with investigations made from 2005 to 2007. According to a February 2008 report this will not be accomplished in the near future, because it is difficult to make it pay off its cost. Development of the Rantarata line is seen as more important. ==Platforms==

The station platforms (numbered 2–7) used to be located by the station building. They were dismantled in 2022–2024 during the reparations of the Turku railyard. In 2024, new platforms were built at the Logomo cultural centre with numbers 1–3. At the moment, all of the platform tracks are in use by the trains serving the station without any particular arrangement. ==Station building==

Old station building The old station building in Turku, located at the site of the current station building, was inaugurated in 1876. Trains departed from the station at first to Toijala and the Port of Turku, and later to Karis and Helsinki. The two-floor station building was designed by architect Pehr Erik Degenaer. The bottom floor hosted waiting halls for three different classes, the ladies' room, ticket sales and baggage handling, the station office, the office of the station master, the telegraph office, the mail office, storage for baggage and a room for travelling officials. The top floor hosted apartments. The old station building was dismantled to make way for the new one in 1938. Current station building The current station building was designed by architects Martti Välikangas and Väinö Vähäkallio, and it was completed in 1940. The building was constructed exceptionally by the Finnish Building Administration instead of the Finnish Railway Administration. Current state The Turku Central Station was renovated from 2005 to 2006. The largest change was to the ticket office, which was moved to the wing of the building. The Logomo cultural centre was opened at the old VR Group machinery building next to the railway station in January 2011. The distance from the Turku Central Station to the Turku bus station is about 700 metres. There have been plans to combine the stations into a transport hub, and an investigation report was published in 2006. So far the project has remained at the planning stage. ==Turku transport location==

The Turku transport location (abbreviated Tur) has been in use since 5 June 2005, consisting of the following parts: • Kupittaa railway station (Kut, passenger transport) • Turku Central Station (Tku, passenger transport) • Turku cargo station (Tkut, cargo transport) • Port of Turku station (Tus, passenger transport) • Turku Viheriäinen (Vie, cargo transport) ==Gallery==

File:Station Turku LOC fsa.8d37290.jpg|Turku station, 1941 File:Turun rautatieasema2.JPG|Turku Central railway station File:Turun rautatieasema.JPG|Turku Central railway station with parking places File:Turku railway station.jpg|The station viewed from the east File:Turku railway station entrance.jpg|The entrance to the station File:Interior of Turku Central railway station.jpg|Interior of the station building ==References==