Gothenburg Central Station

Gothenburg Central Station (Swedish: Göteborgs Centralstation, Göteborg C) is the main railway station of Gothenburg and it is the oldest railway station in Sweden still in use. The station serves 27 million passengers per year, making it the second largest railway station in Sweden after Stockholm Central Station which it predates by 13 years. The station opened on October 4, 1858. The station is situated in central Gothenburg, at Drottningtorget, and is connected to the Nils Ericson bus terminal. Gothenburg Central Station's buildings are owned and managed by Jernhusen.

Numerous railways were built across Sweden in the 19th century. One of the first distances was the one between Gothenburg and Jonsered. As the railway grew more popular, the need for a station emerged. The Gothenburg Central Station was built between 1856 and 1858. The first building was constructed between 1856 and 1857 by architect Adolf Wilhelm Edelsvärd on land which was previously occupied by a prison. First, the building included a big entry hall, two waiting areas and a few restaurants. In 1923 the train station was rebuilt and enlarged after Folke Zettervall's plans, who was the official SJ architect by that time. On March 14, 1923, fire destroyed large parts of the Central Station. Between 1928 and 1930 the station was enlarged due to the increased volume of traffic. After 1930 some more changes were made, including a new restaurant built in front of Drottningtorget. In 1993, the Central Station was restored and between 2000 and 2003 the Central House, was added as an extension to the existing building. The current interior design is similar to the 1923 model with wood pillars, glass ceiling and a floor made of limestone. In the 1940s it was proposed to demolish the waiting hall, but the hall was preserved as it was decorated with paintings by artist Filip Månsson but the paintings could not be preserved and it was decided to keep the hall. During the 19th and early 20th century about one million Swedish emigrants passed through the station to get to the harbour. Their final destination would be America. In February 2007, a bomb threat was addressed to the Gothenburg police. The bombing was to take place at the Gothenburg Central Station. Later that day, a bag was found in the old parts of the station. The evacuation of the station began at 21:30 local time and two hours later the station was free to open again. The bag was examined and no high explosive was found. In January 2010, a one square metre (11 Sq Ft) section of the station's glass ceiling collapsed after ice had fallen onto it. One person suffered bruises by falling glass splinters and big parts of the station were closed due to safety reasons.

A new underground station facility for regional trains, Centralen station is under construction adjacent to Gothenburg Central and the Nils Ericson Terminal bus station. It is expected to open in 2026 as part of the West Link tunnel.

There are 16 platform tracks at the station. Trains depart and arrive from five different railway lines:

To the north on the Bohus Line, towards Stenungsund, Uddevalla and Strömstad. To the north on the Norway/Vänern Line, towards Älvängen, Vänersborg, Karlstad and Oslo ( Norway). To the east on the Western Main Line, towards Alingsås, Skövde, Stockholm and Luleå. To the south on the West Coast Line, towards Kungsbacka, Malmö and Copenhagen ( Denmark). To the southeast on Coast-to-Coast Line, towards Borås and Kalmar. The choice of track depends mainly on which railway the train will use. This is because there is a wish to avoid crossing train paths, which would create delays. Trains to the Bohus Line and Norway/Vänern Line generally use tracks 7–11. Trains to the Western Main Line generally use tracks 1–7. Trains to th

TrainStation data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).