Surprisingly important stations outside the UK

[A S Leib]

Which railway stations outside of the UK have a far more important role (in any practical way) than might be expected?

Zwolle is apparently the starting point for Dutch timetable creation; even knowing it's a fairly sizeable junction, I wouldn't have expected there rather than Utrecht or somewhere with a high number of cross-border services.

 

[canary fan]

When I first started travelling my interrail through Spain, many years ago, Venta de Banos was often a place where I had to change trains as several lines crossed there. I had a look around once and the town itself was tiny I think the introduction of high speed trains has led to much diminished importance.

 

[NCT]

When you think about it Zwolle makes a lot of sense.

Train frequencies at / through Zwolle is mostly half-hourly inter-city plus half-hourly stopper on each corridor. That's the right sort of frequency for planning Swiss-style interchanges when arrivals and departures are concentrated around the nodal symmetry.

Utrecht has 4-8tph base frequencies on each corridor, so the precise minutes each train arrives and departs at is not critical.

The corollary for GB timetabling is that it should start somewhere like Shrewsbury and not Birmingham New Street.

 

[mluk321]

Züssow (pop. 1200) in Germany sees a few ICE-Trains a day, example picture.

 

[DanielB]

Zwolle is apparently the starting point for Dutch timetable creation; even knowing it's a fairly sizeable junction, I wouldn't have expected there rather than Utrecht or somewhere with a high number of cross-border services.

The reason behind that is that Zwolle has trains leaving in eight different directions which (almost) all connect to eachother. That's also why the station is so big: there are 11 trains or so at the same time and after that the station is mostly empty for 20 minutes until the next "knoop Zwolle" occurs.
A side effect is that stations which are exactly a multiple of 30 minutes away from Zwolle may have poor connections, as since the Hanzelijn was opened actually almost any other station in the Netherlands is served by a train whose timetable is in some way influenced by Zwolle.

 

[Struner]

The reason behind that is that Zwolle has trains leaving in eight different directions which (almost) all connect to eachother. That's also why the station is so big: there are 11 trains or so at the same time and after that the station is mostly empty for 20 minutes until the next "knoop Zwolle" occurs.
A side effect is that stations which are exactly a multiple of 30 minutes away from Zwolle may have poor connections, as since the Hanzelijn was opened actually almost any other station in the Netherlands is served by a train whose timetable is in some way influenced by Zwolle.

indeed. thanks
NL railways resembles a metro system in many ways, but compared to that you could call it “restricted” by the way it schedules connections.
Oh @NCT Perhaps it’s the other way round
“Train frequencies at / through Zwolle is mostly half-hourly inter-city plus half-hourly stopper on each corridor. That's the right sort of frequency for planning Swiss-style interchanges when arrivals and departures are concentrated around the nodal symmetry.”
The Swiss went the same way, NL was there first I seem to recall - not that it matters

 

[BeijingDave]

When you think about it Zwolle makes a lot of sense.

Train frequencies at / through Zwolle is mostly half-hourly inter-city plus half-hourly stopper on each corridor. That's the right sort of frequency for planning Swiss-style interchanges when arrivals and departures are concentrated around the nodal symmetry.

Utrecht has 4-8tph base frequencies on each corridor, so the precise minutes each train arrives and departs at is not critical.

The corollary for GB timetabling is that it should start somewhere like Shrewsbury and not Birmingham New Street.

I heard (to be confirmed by someone more knowledgeable than me) that Blackfriars is the starting point for drawing up the UK timetable.

 

[Austriantrain]

Not a station but AFAIK the single-track, not grade-separated Sorsumer Kurve (where trains from the HSL from Göttingen diverge towards Hildesheim) has an outsized importance in German timetable planning.

 

[Esker-pades]

I heard (to be confirmed by someone more knowledgeable than me) that Blackfriars is the starting point for drawing up the UK timetable.

There is no single point

 

[Iskra]

Villa San Giovanni (Calabria), on the main North-South mainline but also the embarkation point for the Sicily-Calabria train ferry.

 

[NCT]

Not *that* surprising - Bohumin and Breclav in the Czech republic - really rather small towns in themselves, but being junction stations on the border all inter city services stop.

 

[The exile]

Not quite in the same league, but when the first German High-Speed line opened it is surprising that the existing Kassel Hbf was not renamed Kassel Stadt with the Hauptbahnhof title transferred to Wilhelmshoehe- which is undoubtedly now Kassel’s “main station@.

 

[Panceltic]

In Slovenia, Zidani Most (population 198) is a very important junction, and indeed quite a scenic location.

 

[SeanG]

Not *that* surprising - Bohumin and Breclav in the Czech republic - really rather small towns in themselves, but being junction stations on the border all inter city services stop.

I was going to say these stations. I suppose back before multi system locos they were both places for loco swaps, as well as being major junctions

 

[JWK]

Arth-Goldau in Switzerland has, courtesy of its role as the the interchange point for the Basel and Zürich arms of the Gotthard line, a far better service of express trains, including international services, than the pair of small towns it is named for would normally ‘deserve’.

 

[dutchflyer]

For what its worth my 2 pence worth:
Denmark: Fredericia
Sweden: Hässleholm
Both just as above: important junctions at fairly small villages, though I guess nowadays a little less as long ago, with 2 main lines: east-west and north-south crossing there
And also for what its worth: for the winter in THailand now, and here the reverse might apply: there is a basic rail network, single lines, meter gauge, fanning out from the capital Bangkok and several quite important towns/cities have no link at all or a far smaller/weaker as one might expect with western ideas.
NO link: Phuket and Chiang Rai; Far weaker: Pattaya

 

[Three-Nine]

Churchill, Manitoba, Northern Canada? In that the town of Churchill might not be able to continue existing without it, and the line that goes there serves a number of communities en route.There is an airport there, but there are no roads in or out of the town to the rest of Canada for transporting large goods. One of the residents vehicles I saw parked there was a gyrocopter, which is one local transport solution I guess!

 

[Austriantrain]

I am not sure if „important“ is really the right word, but Selzthal in Austria has a very large station for the place it serves, by virtue of being the intersection between the „Rudolfsbahn“ from Amstetten towards St Michael and the Pyhrn and Ennstal lines, and because Graz - Salzburg/Innsbruck trains always have to reverse there.

Since this timetable change, it has no real LD traffic left except for the Zurich - Graz train pair, and a curve to avoid the station was always blocked in the past - there are plans again now, but I will believe it only when construction starts (Not having it built decades ago is one of the biggest absurdities of Austrian rail infrastructure policy).

 

[BazingaTribe]

Important in a different sense, but Gyumri station in Armenia survived the 1988 earthquake (back when it was called Leninakan) and acted as a vital link to the outside for rescue efforts. The locals claim divine intervention, but in all probability the corruption that made the civilian infrastructure crumble away probably didn't affect the railway station, which the Soviets probably ensured was more robust than local homes were. (God, I suppose, moves in mysterious ways -- He does generally rely on humans to create favourable circumstances to do His bidding for Him.)

I went there in the spring and travelled back to Yerevan, and it's more impressive as a whole than David of Sassoon station in Yerevan itself. It was also large place for a handful of services (I was there all morning and my train was the only one I ever saw come and go) but that was probably due, again, to the Soviet legacy aspect.

 

[Autspectorder]

For what its worth my 2 pence worth:
Denmark: Fredericia
Sweden: Hässleholm
Both just as above: important junctions at fairly small villages, though I guess nowadays a little less as long ago, with 2 main lines: east-west and north-south crossing there
And also for what its worth: for the winter in THailand now, and here the reverse might apply: there is a basic rail network, single lines, meter gauge, fanning out from the capital Bangkok and several quite important towns/cities have no link at all or a far smaller/weaker as one might expect with western ideas.
NO link: Phuket and Chiang Rai; Far weaker: Pattaya

Don't forget about Nässjö and Herrjunga.

 

[30907]

Züssow (pop. 1200) in Germany sees a few ICE-Trains a day, example picture.

Tiny community but junction for the whole of Usedom which is one vast holiday resort (exaggeration, but it's not called "Berlin's Bathtub" for nothing).

 

[railfan99]

Cook, Australia has a population of four the last time I looked but is very important for one of the three freight operators on the Trans Australia Railway, Pacific National, as it's a refuelling point for the locos and there are barracks for train crews. It used to have far more living there.

Competing operators Aurizon and SCT Logistics use relay working on the trains: two crew for eight hours while the other crew rests in a co9nverted ex-South Australian Railways 'Bluebird' railcar or a carriage attached to the front of the intermodal.

'The Indian Pacific' also makes a lengthy stop at Cook as it is pulled by a PN loco.

 

[Gordon]

Arth-Goldau in Switzerland has, courtesy of its role as the the interchange point for the Basel and Zürich arms of the Gotthard line, a far better service of express trains, including international services, than the pair of small towns it is named for would normally ‘deserve’.

The problem here is that - the introductory question was "Which railway stations outside of the UK have a far more important role (in any practical way) than might be expected? "

But Arth Goldau's importance (like Crewe) is not 'unexpected'

Similarly, this applies to any of the main railway junctions situated in 'remote' locations across Europe which are catapulted to 'importance' by the nature of their position on the railway network.
An example that comes to mind from the old days was Linares-Baeza in Spain

There is another candidate in Switzerland: Sagliains

For those who don't know, when the RhB Vereina Tunnel (Klosters - Engadin valley) was designed, the best way to enable connections onto existing routes at the south end (Engadin aka Inn valley) was to create a station between Susch and Lavin on the Samedan - Scuol Tarasp line, but there is no settlement of Sagliains, it is a name taken from a geographical feature. Thus the station has no exit to the surrounding land, so you can not leave the platform, only change trains there.

The only exception is that you can drive there by car to board the tunnel car shuttle.

 

[Krokodil]

Sagliains, it is a made up name

How did they come up with it?

 

[bahnause]

How did they come up with it?

The name Sagliains comes from Romansh and refers to Val Sagliains, a side valley in the Lower Engadine. Sagliains railway station is located in the municipality of Susch in Switzerland and is named after this unspoilt valley.