Gare de Lyon (France)
This time the Railway Heritage World Blog will present an experience dated from 2013. As one of the buildings of the Paris Universal Exhibition (1900), Lyon Railway Station is not only part of the first electrified railway section of France, but also the railway station from where the first TGV left in 1981.
Could you get the pioneer spirit of this railway station already? It was also the station that received the first metro line of Paris!
The History
The railway line from Paris to Montereau started to work in 1849; it was a branch of Paris-Lyon railway line. The first building of it in Paris was made by wood and in 1855 it was replaced by a building designed by the architect François-Alexis Cendrier. To be protected from flooding of Seine, this new building was placed on an embankment of 6 and 8 meters. Its railway paths were covered by a big hall of 220 meters and 42 meters wide. This second building was partially set on fire during the Paris Commune in 1871, being rebuilt in exactly the same way as it was before the fire.
However, before 1900, when Paris received its fifth Universal Exhibition, a third building was built, because the 5 railway paths of the second building would not be enough to receive all the visitors. The new building was designed by the architect Marius Toudoire; it was composed by 13 railway paths and a tower clock of 64 meters in height; it took 7 years to be completed (1895-1902).
In 1960, a part of the station was demolished to receive the railway line RER A, inaugurated in 1977.
The Building
As one of the most famous Railway Station in Paris, the Lyon Railway Station has a remarkable tower clock. The building is decorated by many sculptures of artists of Belle Epoque. Inside the iron structures are amazing, the station has a lot of details. Going further, until the metro, we could see a totally clean design too, followed by an area where some metro wagons are exhibited. Even outside there is a façade built in a totally different style.
Underground, besides the metro, there is a parking lot, which, in conjunction to the metro, makes part of the intermodal service provided by this station, reinforced by the different kind of markets and coffee shops. We passed by the famous Le Train Blue, a restaurant inaugurated by the President Emile Loubet in 1901; It currently serves the traditional French cuisine. Unfortunately, the prices were a bit over our budget.
Final Considerations
One more time we could see a real ralway master piece. The Lyon Railway Station is huge and it has a long history. Unfortunately, its history is not well transmitted to its users. The first building was totally overlapped by the new infrastructures. Even though, it is interesting to follow how the second station building was able to be adapted over the years to the new urban necessities. The French railway system is well known by its solid consolidation. Adding to this, all the services and the front yard of the station, which receive some cultural interventions from time to time, this railway heritage totally fits in the contemporary urban life.
