Estación del Nord - Barcelona (Spain)
On May 23, 2018, the Railway Heritage World Blog went to see the old building of Estación del Nord in Barcelona.
Just take a look at the place where the matches of table-tennis happened during the Barcelona ’92 Olympic Games!
History
As a terminal station of the railway line between Zagaroza and Barcelona, the Estación del Nord in Barcelona was built under the coordination of the engineer Pere Andrés Puignollers; its construction started on 1861, ending in 1862. The Compañía del Ferrocarril de Zaragoza a Barcelona was responsible for this line, but, in 1878, the Compañia de los Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España took its place, giving the name we currently use to mention this building.
Due to the urban problems provided by the railway line of this station, the building stopped to operate on 1972, its last train went to Madrid on September 23. After the City Hall had bought the building, in 1983, a part of it was converted into a bus station, while the lands where the railway tracks passed through gave place to an auditorium, inaugurated in 1997, an, nearby it, the National Theater of Cataluña was built.
Currently the railway station building has three different kinds of use, as: a bus station, a police office and a municipal sport center, which celebrated 25 years old last year!
Building
As a consequence of its outstanding dimensions and façade, the railway station building is really impressive; its outside is very well preserved. To host the bus station, one side of the building suffered some expansions; we could identify them very well.
The tracks were totally removed; the place on the other side of the railway station, where some of them used to be, a big park took place, while inside the building you can see a sport complex and, even out of the station, they built a soccer field, a sand court and a parking lot.
Inside of the building you can see some elements that can make you think about its old use, and its shape do not let people get unaware about it. Some users told us that the gym was obliged to put some signs indicating the entrance of the bus station, because many travelers used to go inside of the sport center thinking that they were in the bus station.
Final Considerations
The Estación del Nord of Barcelona does not operate as it used to, but the travelers steel make a part of its scenario. Its history is not that evident, but its shape keeps bringing its memory back.
