Bold project to transfer the railway station in Katowice

The new railway station could be built on a 50-hectare vacant plot of the Polish State Railways (PKP), several hundred metres to the west of the existing station. There would be space not only for the station building, but also for a shopping centre, coach stations, car parks, offices and hotels.

Edward Tausznik, co-author of the concept and designer of many Silesian railway lines, thinks that the railway station in its current location, i.e. in the very heart of the city, does not have any chance of development. It is badly communicated with the main roads and the Szewczyk Square does not offer enough space for car parks and a coach station.

A state-of-the-art railway station, where all means of transport might be integrated, could be created on these 50 hectares. It could resemble the Hauptbahnhof in Berlin, which was opened last year.

- If we want to dream about organising the Euro 2012 football championship, we must improve the road connections with the railway station. In the new place, a road connecting the station with the Silesian Intercity Road and the A4 motorway could be built. If we also managed to introduce a railway connection with the airport in Pyrzowice, our railway station would be the best communicated one in Poland! – says the designer.

According to the journalist Tomasz Malkowski, transferring the railway station would be of benefit to the city. For example, it would merge the northern and southern parts of Katowice and the Szewczyk Square, freed from the coaches, could finally become a real landmark of the city. Malkowski also suggests that the existing station should be handed over to someone who would appreciate the value of its architecture. Maybe to the Guggenheim Foundation, which is famous for the boldest museum buildings in the world? The large space of the station concourse, with concrete vaults, might join such buildings as the spiral Guggenheim museum in New York or the twisted, metallic museum in Bilbao.

However, the Polish State Railways cool the enthusiasm of the designers. The Polish State Railways and Katowice have been working at a functional concept of the new railway station (to be built in place of the existing one) for a year now and they are surprised at the idea of transferring the station.