Gent-Saint-Pieters Railway Station (Belgium)

On January 3, 2017, the Railway Heritage World Blog went to Gent, where we could see one of the biggest railway station of Belgium, which receives around 30.000 travelers per day!

The History

This railway station replaced a small one made by wood right before the 1913 World Exhibition. The building is huge, its external walls are composed by exposed bricks and its internal decoration has a Moorish stile.

The Building

The Hall has a ticket office and some stores. It is connected to 12 platforms, but, currently, some of its waiting rooms became buffet and restaurants. Besides that the station is being extended to double its travelers and to attract some offices. The new design contains a parking lot of almost 3000 vehicles.

It is very interesting the view of the buildings from the platforms. The new platform infrastructure is totally different of the old infrastructure, thus we can appreciate the old and the new.

Source: http://www.projectgentsintpieters.be/ (2017)

The Railway and the City

We went there during the night, but we found out that during the day, the square in front of it becomes a huge bike parking.

All the strategy of the new extension was developed making use of public opinion by social media and marketing channels. The upgrading and refurbishing around the whole station neighborhood is helping to insert the old station into the 21st century context.

Source: http://ideiasnamala.com/2014/09/28/ghent-belgica/

Final Considerations

Source: http://www.projectgentsintpieters.be/ (2017)

The Gent-Sint-Pieters railway station is still working and, due to its public interest and participation, it preserves some of its old characteristics even receiving new infrastructures. The contrast between the old and the new seems to attract and to instigate more the curiosity about the station building. The building keeps its importance as a transport infrastructure, which should be preserved over time, to do not make its old features be forgotten.