Gaziantep railway station

Gaziantep Railway Station is a station in Gaziantep, Turkey. The station was built in 1953 to provide Turkish State Railways service to the city of Gaziantep.

GAZİANTEP
Gaziantep train station
General information
Locationİstasyon Meydanı, Yaprak Mah. 27080
Şehitkamil, Gaziantep
Turkey
Coordinates39°55′01″N 32°57′06″E / 39.9169°N 32.9517°E / 39.9169; 32.9517
Owned byTurkish State Railways
Operated byTCDD Taşımacılık
Platforms3 (1 side platform, 2 island platforms)
Tracks5
Construction
Structure typeAt-Grade
ParkingYes
History
Opened1953
Rebuilt2017-18 (Platforms)
Services
Preceding station TCDD Taşımacılık Following station
Commuter service
Mücahitler
towards Başpınar
Gaziray Göllüce
towards Oduncular

The station will serve as the terminus of the Mersin to Gaziantep High Speed Rail Project being constructed by 2024. The project will connect the southern Turkish cities of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Gaziantep.[1]

The station is located in the heart of Gaziantep, at the intersection of Zafer and İstasyon Streets.[2]: 205  İstasyon Street was built as, and continues to be, a major axis in central Gaziantep, lined with trees and home to a number of important public buildings.[2]: 202–3 

History

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Compared to other cities in Turkey, the railway reached Gaziantep relatively late.[2]: 206  A national railway plan in 1938 planned rail connections to Adana and Urfa, but bypassed Gaziantep.[2]: 199  Part of the reason was probably because of its mountainous surroundings.[2]: 199  Until the 1950s, the closest railway station to Gaziantep was in Narlı, 55 km away.[2]: 199  Passengers heading to Gaziantep would disembark at Narlı and then travel the remaining distance by bus or private car, which would take about 5 hours.[2]: 201–2  Ülkü Tamer wrote that people making the drive from Narlı to Gaziantep would stop in Başpınar to eat kebab and drink tea; this practice came to an end when the Gaziantep station opened.[2]: 201 

Construction on Gaziantep station began in 1951.[2]: 203  The main architect is apparently not known, but the initial contractor was Muammer Bozok and the work was later completed by the civil engineer Şahap Sicimoğlu.[2]: 203–4  The station's official opening ceremony was held on 27 October 1953, and the prime minister Adnan Menderes was in attendance.[2]: 203 

The station building was completed in 1959 and the Narlı-Gaziantep line was continued to Karkamış, where it connected to the former Baghdad Railway. The station became a major hub in the southeast, with trains to Baghdad, Adana, Aleppo and Malatya. Services to Aleppo and Baghdad have since ended.

Only one train came to Gaziantep when the station was first built, and its arrival was a big event for locals.[2]: 203  People would flock to the station to have picnics and barbecues and see the train; according to Tamer, the railway station square came to replace Kavaklık at Alleben Creek as the city's main picnic spot.[2]: 203  Eventually, however, the novelty wore off.[2]: 203 

The train station is served by the Gaziantep Tram. Connection to the Gaziantep Tram system was completed in 2012.

Architecture

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Gaziantep station's "assertive", monumental colonnaded façade belongs to the second national architectural movement, which was in vogue at the time of its construction.[2]: 204  The building's exterior is made of keymıh stone (hard limestone), while the interior features havara (soft limestone).[2]: 205  The ceiling is made of glass, which was a new architectural technique in the 1950s.[2]: 205 

The building has two stories plus a basement.[2]: 205  The main hall, on the ground floor, is 8 meters tall and covers both stories.[2]: 205  In the hall are the passenger lounge, the ticket counter, a kitchen, a cold storage room and other storage areas, restrooms, a baggage claim office, a post office, and administrative offices.[2]: 205  The train platforms are on the upper level, which is divided into two parts that are separated by the main entrance hall.[2]: 205  One side was built with a telegraph office and other administrative offices; the other side was built with a post office, police station, restaurant, and restrooms.[2]: 205  The building has two staircases, at the eastern and western ends.[2]: 205  The western staircase only connects the ground and upper floors, while the eastern staircase connects the ground, upper, and basement levels.[2]: 205  The basement was built with a boiler room, ash removal room, coal cellar, workers' room, restrooms, and storage areas.[2]: 205 

References

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  1. ^ "Project History". Mersin Gaziantep YHT. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Aycı, Hilal; Özer, Derya Güleç; Güleç, Abdulkadir (2020). "A Spatial Analysis of Gaziantep Railway and Its Station Throughout History". Periodica Polytechnica Architecture. 51 (2): 196–208. doi:10.3311/PPar.15799. S2CID 225257359. Retrieved 19 February 2023.