Paveletsky Rail Terminal

Paveletsky Terminal is one of Moscow's nine railroad terminals. Originally called Saratov Railway Station, it was named after a village of Pavelets, when the railroad leading south-east of Moscow reached that point in 1899. The ornate building of the station, completed in 1900 and extensively reconstructed in the 1980s, remains one of the biggest Moscow railway terminals. In 1924, it was the place where Muscovites came to meet the body of deceased Lenin. The Lenin Funeral Train is still a permanent exhibit there. The Aeroexpress train links Paveletsky station with Domodedovo Airport .

The old building of the terminal was built in 1900, its architect was A. Krasovskiy. In 1899 the Ryazano-Uralskaya railway reached Moscow, so a new railway terminal was needed. From the Paveletskiy Railway Terminal suburban electric trains departs towards Kashira, Ozherelye, Uzunovo. Express electric trains departs to Ozherelye and Domodedovo Airport. The major directions of long-distant trains are Almaty, Astrakhan, Baku, Balakovo, Balashov, Donetsk, Lipetsk, Luhansk, Saratov, Tambov, Volgograd, Voronezh, Yelets.

History

Building

In the Russian Empire the Ryazano-Uralskaya Railway Company controlled the largest private railway, which connected 12 densely populated provinces. Still it did not have any connection with Moscow. So the Administration of the railway sent in an application to the Government for permitting to build a new branch Pavelets-Moscow.

In 1897 Nicholas II granted his permission to build the branch.

The branch was finished 8.5 months earlier than it was scheduled. But the new railway road did not have a terminal in Moscow.

The terminal was built according to the architectural canons of the time: it was a symmetrical building with hightened center, large windows, wide and comfortable doorways. There were entrances, vestibule, luggage space, waiting rooms for public, booking-offices, telegraph, pharmacy and a bar at the front. There was a large operation hall in the center which separated rooms for the first and second class passengers from the rooms for the third class passengers.

The terminal was a brick building on a quarrystone foundation. It had two floors (three in the domical part) and many attics above the beetle side parts. The length of the terminal was 83.7 meters. External walls was 2.5 bricks depth that is quite solid for a low building. External walls were revetted with special brick, the socle was revetted with ashlar, there were stucco mouldings in the vestibule and hall cornices. The solidity and reliability was felt in everything.

At the railway side there were service rooms, gendarme rooms, main tsar's rooms and outlets to the platforms. The railway terminal was very comfortable for that time, it was efficiently sited, had original heating services and a smart amphora turret used as a flagstaff.

Paveletskiy Railway Terminal was opened on 1st September 1900. A thanksgiving service with water consecration was finished in the terminal. The chief engeneer V.V.Timofeev, some other chiefs, station personnel and businessmen — future consignors of goods came to the celebrations.

Reconstruction

The old Paveletskiy terminal organically blended with the city square. So when in 1980 it was desided to reconstruct the terminal demands to the project were very strict. It was necessary to provide up-to-date comfort for passengers and simultaneously to retain the square silhouette.

The reconstruction was realized by Mostransstroy trust. Architects A.Gurkov, S.Kuznetsova and A.Vorontsov solved the complicated constructive problem, keeping the old terminal style.

The new Paveletskiy Railway Terminal was opened on 3rd November 1987.

The new terminal is six times larger by volume and four times by carrying capacity than the old one. It is capable to receive, serve and station in its halls about 10000 people at an hour. Now it is a large transport complex.

From the square the building seems one-storeyed. But in fact there are three levels of passenger rooms, a technical level, and up-to-date service systems inside.

External links

* [http://www.moscow-photos.com/railway_stations/paveletsky/ Moscow Photos - Paveletsky Railway Station]