Railway Stations

To transport people and goods a railroad must have places where freight can be received and put into cars and where passengers can book tickets and board or leave trains.

A railway station is the place where the journey of a train begins or ends or where it is relayed, i.e. where one engine is taken off the train and another put on.

According to their assignment the railway stations are subdivided into passenger stations, freight yards and marshalling yards.

Freight yards perform handling operations.

Marshalling yards are responsible for sorting and combining wagon loads.

Great importance is attached to loading and unloading services, i.e. to handing operations of freight yards (goods yards). The reliability of handling operations and the improvement of their methods are very important problems.

The goods yard is the place where the freight is dealt with. Normally it is not covered but it may be desirable for a section to be provided with a roof to protect some freight from the damage by wet. The rail sidings in the goods yards are arranged in pairs to economize in space. The roadways between them should be sufficiently wide for vehicles to manoeuvre.

The smaller items of freight may be sorted in the goods shed. The shed contains a covered platform at the wagon-floor level which is situated adjacent to the sidings. The platform extends from the wagon side.

The warehouse is often above the goods shed. Sometimes it is a separate building of more than one storey.

The greater part of freight transported by railroads does not pass through station buildings. It is loaded and unloaded directly between the cars or between the cars and trucks. According to the character of their work freight yards are subdivided into common freight yards and specialized ones. Specialized freight yards usually serve for loading and unloading minerals at place where they are mined.

Freight yards are located in the vicinity of cities connected by the railway with the marshalling yards and roads.

Freight terminal facilities are greater in size and in variety than the terminal facilities required for the passenger service.

Passenger stations perform passenger service. A passenger station is often called “a passenger terminal” through which the trains may really continue their journey.

There are two kinds of large passenger stations: stub stations and through stations. Trains end or start their runs at stub stations. Passenger operations are mostly carried out at the through stations.

In a passenger station one can see waiting rooms, luggage-rooms, ticket offices. A variety of special services are available there too. There are telephone and telegraph offices, taxicabs, medical design.

Stations designed for the use of larger number of people waiting for trains are to have larger restaurants, barber shops and stores.

Nearly all large passenger stations have small hospitals where a traveler may be given treatment by skilled nurses or doctors. Everything is done to ensure our passengers with a maximum of comfort and conveniences in their journey.