page_title: Helsinki Central Station
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Helsinki Central Station / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The old 1860 neoclassical Helsinki Central railway station (demolished early 20th century), Finland. Suomi: Helsingin vanha, purettu rautatieasema Svenska: Helsingfors gamla järnvägsstation
context_page_description: Helsinki Central Station is the main station for commuter rail and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki, Finland. The station is used by approximately 400,000 people per day, of which about 200,000 are passengers. It serves as the terminus for all trains in the Helsinki commuter rail network, as well as for all Helsinki-bound long-distance trains in Finland. The Central Railway Station metro station is located in the same building.
  The station building was designed by Eliel Saarinen and inaugurated in 1919. Helsinki Central was chosen as one of the world's most beautiful railway stations by BBC in 2013.
context_section_description: Helsinki's first railway station was built in 1862 to accommodate trains on the Helsinki-Hämeenlinna line, päärata. The station's plans were drawn by Swedish architect Carl Albert Edelfelt. However, as the popularity of railways grew, the station turned out to be too small, and a contest was organised in 1904 with the intention of producing plans for a new station. The contest received 21 entries, and was won by Eliel Saarinen, with a pure national romanticist design, which sparked off a vigorous debate about the architecture of major public buildings, with demands for a modern, rational style. Saarinen himself abandoned romanticism altogether and re-designed the station completely. The new design was finished in 1909 and the new station building was opened in 1919.
  President Kyösti Kallio died at the station on 19 December 1940 of a heart attack while going back home to Nivala after having retired as president. Legend says he died in the arms of Carl Mannerheim.
  The clock tower side of the station was damaged in a fire on 14 June 1950.
  In the 1960s, the underground Asematunneli pedestrian underpass and underground shopping centre complex was built south of the station. The first surveillance cameras in the station hall were installed in the spring of 1968.
  The first electric train arrived at the station on 13 January 1969. After testing, regular electric train traffic was started between Helsinki and Kirkkonummi on 26 January 1969.
  The Rautatientori metro station, connected to the railway station via Asematunneli, was built part of the Helsinki Metro construction work. It was one of the original metro stations, as it was opened in 1982.
  In 2000, a glass roof, which had already been in the original drawings by Eliel Saarinen, was built over the railway station's central platforms, although to a new design. In 2003, the shopping wing Kauppakuja was opened along with a hotel.
  The area between the Parliament House and the station contained the VR warehouses, a rail-freight complex. Its original use had long been discontinued in 2006, when it was torn down to make space for the Helsinki Music Centre.
  One of the tracks branching to the west just before the central station bypassed the warehouses. It was a freight route, the Helsinki harbour rail, that passed through the inner west side of Helsinki to the West Harbour, and earlier, all the way around the Helsinki peninsula to Katajanokka. The remaining section of the branch was discontinued in 2009, when sea freight operations were moved to the new Vuosaari Harbour from old harbours. Its right-of-way was converted into a pedestrian and bicycle route.
  On 7 June 2010, the station was officially renamed Helsingin päärautatieasema-Helsingfors centralstation (Helsinki main, or central, railway station, in Finnish and Swedish), replacing the previous official name Helsingin rautatieasema-Helsingfors järnvägsstation (Helsinki railway station). The Finnish transport bureau uses "Helsinki C" as a shorthand, and there were erroneous news reports that this shorthand would also be taken into official use. Turku Central Station was renamed in a similar manner.
caption: Helsinki's first railway station building.
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