Tianjin Railway Station

Tianjin 天津
Tianjin Station, south entrance
Location	East Haihe Road, Hedong, Hebei District, Tianjin China
Coordinates	Coordinates: 39°8′5″N 117°12′11″E / 39.13472°N 117.20306°E / 39.13472; 117.20306
Platforms	10
Connections	Bus terminal
History
Opened	1888, rebuilt in 1987-1988, and restructured in 2007-2008

The Tianjin Railway Station (Chinese: 天津站; pinyin: Tiānjīn Zhàn) is the principal railway station in Tianjin, China. It was built in 1888, was rebuilt in 1987-1988, and restructured in 2007-2008. Its Chinese big title was written by Deng Xiaoping in 1988, for celebrating 100th anniversary of its founding.^[1]

Since 1 August 2008, it serves as the terminus for high-speed trains to the city, including the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway, which can reach speeds above 350km/h.

Historical development

Qing Dynasty period

A postcard during the Boxer Rebellion period showing German troops departing the "Old Dragon Head" Railway Station (老龍頭車站), the former name of the Nanjing Station.

In 1888, the Kaiping Tramway and Imperial Railways of North China was extended to Tianjin and was subsequently renamed as the Jintang Railway (津唐铁路). The Tianjin Railway became the first Train station completed in China at the time. Construction of the railroad had begun in 1886 and was situated near the Hai River.^[2] On 10 May 1888. In May 1891, a larger station was built 500 metres to the west and a civil structure contained a three-storey building.

A postcard in 1900 showing the Tianjin Station

The "Old Dragon Head" Railway Station was destroyed during the Boxer Rebellion Incident. In June 1900, the Eight-Nation Alliance besieged Tianjin and battled the Boxers in the black bamboo forest outside the British and French Concession. During the ten days of fighting, the Station buildings were also destroyed. By July 1900, the armies of the Eight-Nation Alliance occupied Tianjin and the east coast of the rail station became the occupied zone of the Russian army. By December that same year, the Russian Concession was opened and the rail station was now located within the boundaries of the concession. This was strongly opposed by the British and in the end, through the intermediation of Germany, the Russians eventually gave in.^[3]

Republic of China period

The main station building, waiting room and station square of the Tianjin East Station (Today's Tianjin Station) as of January 1948.

After the Jinghu railway and Tianjin West Station was constructed in 1911, the "Old Tianjin Station" renamed the Tianjin East Station, hence the Tianjin Railway was categorised into North, East and West Stations. The Tianjin East Station later became the Jingha railway and intersected the Jinpu railway line. On 10 October 1930, The Tianjin East Station was listed among the international train stations at the time.^[4] During the period from 1916 to 1946 the Tianjin East Station was approved by the Republic of China Ministry of Railways as a first-class station, and since 1947 the principal station was upgraded.

People's Republic of China period

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China throughout the country in 1949, the Tianjin East Station was renamed the Tianjin Station and since then, and successive inspections by the Ministry of Railways have classified it as a top grade station. In 1950, the Tianjin Station waiting rooms were expanded by more than one thousand square metres, and for more than thirty years since then there had been no further large-scale expansion works undertaken.

After the Chinese economic reform, the burden of transportation on the Tianjin Station has been increasing due to the sharp increase in passenger traffic, and the average daily number of passengers was sixty five thousand. After receiving from the State Council and the Ministry of Railways, the Tianjin Municipal Government decided to expand the "Tianjin Railway Improvement Project" and this item was also included among the key projects in the national "Seventh Five-Year Plan".^[5] From 15 April 1987, thorough renovation work was conducted on the Tianjin Railway Station. New roofing was constructed on the original site of the old station house and also on the sixty-six metre high cylindrical Clock Tower, face Hai River.^[6] The construction work was completed on 25 September 1988. On the eve 1 October of that same year, which was the centenary of the establishment of the Tianjin Station, the then Minister of Railways Li Senmao (李茂森) cut the ribbon and officially opened the new station building of the Tianjin Station.^[7] The newly renovations had increased the Tianijn Station's daily receiving passenger capacity from forty-six pairs to ninety-five pairs and was one of the most advanced modern railway stations in China at the time.

The Tianjin Station after further renovations in 2008.

As a co-host city of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in order to coordinate the hosting of the Games along with the construction of the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway and the Tianjin Underground Zhijing Line (天津地下直径线) as well as the introduction of the Jin-Qin Passenger Dedicated Line (津秦客运专线), Tianjin City launched the overall construction of the "Tianjin Station Traffic Junction". Starting from 15 January, the Tianjin Railway Station closed for the first time since the last reconstruction in 1988. To ensure the project reconstruction could proceed smoothly, the Railway Station's passenger operations were temporarily halted and the bus station of Tianjin (known as the Tianjin Passenger Technology Station) was converted into the "Temporary Passenger Station in Tianjin Station" and was formally put into use as a temporary substitute for traffic.^[8] At the same time, the majority of the Tianjin Railway Station bus terminals were moved to the Yueya River train station (月牙河火车站).

Networks

Since 1 October 2012, the station is connected to the Tianjin Metro network, the new Lines 2 and 3 as well as Binhai Mass Transit (Line 9) intersect at the station.

Preceding station		China Railway High-speed		Following station
Wuqing towards Beijing South		Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway		Terminus
Tianjin West Terminus		Tianjin–Qinhuangdao High-Speed Railway		Junliangcheng North towards Qinhuangdao
Preceding station		China Railway		Following station
Langfang towards Beijing		Beijing–Harbin Railway		Tanggu towards Harbin
		Beijing–Shanghai Railway		Cangzhou towards Shanghai
Terminus		Tianjin–Pukou Railway		Cangzhou towards Pukou

Station house structure

The station waiting room

Tianjin Railway Station platform

At present, the Tianjin Railway Station, includes the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway and the North station railway. The elevated waiting room, underground pit room, high platform canopy, passenger tunnel, line package channels have a total construction area of one hundred and eighty five thousand square metres of which the newly built North station house comprises seventy-one thousand square metres, the South Station house has thirty-three thousand square metres and the canopy has eighty-one thousand square metres. The elevated waiting room is twenty-two thousand square metres and can accommodate six thousand passengers^[9]。The Office is located in the basement of the underground pitand and has a construction area of twelve thousand four hundred square meters.

Dome Mural

Ceiling of the south entrance hall.

In the spring of 1988,Li Ruihuan, then he was Tianjin mayor, inspired by the Sistine Chapel ceiling during his visit to Italy, ordered to paint a similar dome mural for the entrance hall of the station.It took four months to complete the mural before October 1, the National Day of 1988, by old painter Qin Zheng(秦征) and his students.The subject of the mural is "Jingwei Tries to Fill the Sea", a Chinese mythology in Baroque style.Jingwei was depicted as a naked woman with two wings and long hair, which broke the taboo of nude for the first time after the Culture Revolution.It was once the biggest Dome Mural in China.In order to protect the oil painting, Tianjin Railway station became the China's first public place forbidding smoking.^[10][11]

Transport Plaza

The exit underpass below the platforms

The Tianjin Metro's Line Two, Line Three, Line Nine are located in the underground station of Tianjin Station and since October 2012 form a rail transfer center hub.^[12] The Ground loop distribution for the square will cover an area of twenty four square meters.

Station scenery

• 
  The Jin Tower situated across the Hai River.
• 
  The Tianjin Century Clock in front of the Tianjin Railway Station Square.
• 
  The Tianjin World Financial Center situated across the Hai River.

Layout of the ticket window

Beijing-Tianjin inter-city tickets.

Inside the Train Station, there are sixty-two manual ticket windows including twenty-three Ticket vending machines of the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway and sixty-five sets of automatic entry and exit gates.^[13]

See also

• Transport in Tianjin
• Tianjin West Station

Notes and references

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tianjin Railway Station.

• Tianjin Railway Station Official site
• Tianjin Train Schedule Time Table

Public transportation in Tianjin
Tianjin Metro	Lines in operation  1   2   3   6   9  Under construction  5  Under planning  4   7   8  Lines under repair  9
Other Urban Rails	Lines in operation  TEDA
Intercity Rails	Lines in operation Beijing–Tianjin Tianjin–Qinhuangdao Tianjin–Baoding Under construction Second Beijing-Tianjin
Transportation Hubs	Airport Tianjin Binhai Railway stations Tianjin Tianjinxi Tianjinnan Binhai Yujiapu
China transit: JJJ Beijing Tianjin YRD Shanghai Jiangsu Zhejiang PRD West North East Chengyu Chongqing Chengdu Wuhan Dalian

Jinbin Passenger Railway
Tianjin Junliangcheng North Tanggu Yujiapu