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Journey of railway stations in old Shanghai
Xu Jitao
Shanghai_Delta
page02 2006-8-25
Shanghai's ambition to build a smooth and efficient railway system does not end with the completion of the new Shanghai South Station. On August 17, a project to refurbish the Shanghai Railway Station was announced. In the next three years, the area around the station will be totally renovated, including bus stations,streets and ticket areas in the station.
Shanghai has a long history of developing the railway system. At the beginning of last century, when trains and railways were still new to most Chinese, there were already three railway passenger stations, in the south, north and west of the city.
Among them, the Shanghai North Railway Station was the most important.In the summer of 1909, Hu-Ning Railway Bureau of the Qing (1644-1911) government built a four-storey office building on East Tianmu Road. The office building and the railway station beside it were named Shanghai Railway Station. In December,1916, it was renamed Shanghai North Railway Station. For a long time, it was considered the most important station of the city's railway system.
The office building was regarded as the symbol for the station. It was designed by a British architect, who included marble arches and red-brick walls. The building had 76 rooms, all decorated with light-coloured marble. In 1932, the building was destroyed by the Japanese when their army invaded the city. In 1933, it was rebuilt, but it was destroyed again in 1937, during Japanese bombing.
After the war ended, the building was repaired. In 1950, its name was changed back to Shanghai Railway Station. At the end of 1987, this station was abolished.
Shanghai Railway Station was relocated to its present Molin Road location. The site of old Shanghai Railway Station is now a railway museum.
In some ways, the old Shanghai South Railway Station was more important than the northern station.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, businessmen from Zhejiang and Jiangsu started to construct a railway between Shanghai and Hangzhou. When work was completed, they built a depot and named it Shanghai South Railway Station. The station was opened for the public in 1908.
This station attracted more people who wanted to take short trips to Zhejiang. Every year, at traditional festival times, special trains departed for Zhejiang so Shanghai residents could participate in ceremonies there.
After 1937, when the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out, old Shanghai North Railway Station was destroyed. On August 28, 1937, the Japanese army bombed the station and more than 700 people were killed, all of them local residents who were trying to board trains to leave Shanghai. After Japan occupied the city, they destroyed the station.
Old Shanghai West Railway Station is less well-known than its two companions. When it was built in 1905, it was named Zhenru Station because it was located in the Zhenru area. This name was not changed until 1989.
On July 1, 2006, when the new South Station opened, the West station was abolished. According to officials of the Putuo District, the old station is expected to be renovated as a logistics centre. |
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