Gaziantep railway station

GAZİANTEP
Gaziantep train station
General information
Location	İstasyon Meydanı, Yaprak Mah. 27080 Şehitkamil, Gaziantep Turkey
Coordinates	39.9169°N 32.9517°E / 39.9169; 32.9517
Owned by	Turkish State Railways
Operated by	TCDD Taşımacılık
Platforms	3 (1 side platform, 2 island platforms)
Tracks	5
Construction
Structure type	At-Grade
Parking	Yes
History
Opened	1953
Rebuilt	2017-18 (Platforms)
Services
Preceding station TCDD Taşımacılık Following station Commuter service Mücahitler towards Başpınar Gaziray Göllüce towards Oduncular

Gaziantep Railway Station is a station in Gaziantep, Turkey. The station was built in 1953 to provide Turkish State Railways service to the city of Gaziantep.

The station will serve as the terminus of the Mersin to Gaziantep High Speed Rail Project being constructed by 2024. The project will connect the southern Turkish cities of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Gaziantep.^[1]

The station is located in the heart of Gaziantep, at the intersection of Zafer and İstasyon Streets.^[2]: 205 İstasyon Street was built as, and continues to be, a major axis in central Gaziantep, lined with trees and home to a number of important public buildings.^{[2]: 202–3}

History

Compared to other cities in Turkey, the railway reached Gaziantep relatively late.^[2]: 206 A national railway plan in 1938 planned rail connections to Adana and Urfa, but bypassed Gaziantep.^[2]: 199 Part of the reason was probably because of its mountainous surroundings.^[2]: 199 Until the 1950s, the closest railway station to Gaziantep was in Narlı, 55 km away.^[2]: 199 Passengers heading to Gaziantep would disembark at Narlı and then travel the remaining distance by bus or private car, which would take about 5 hours.^{[2]: 201–2} Ülkü Tamer wrote that people making the drive from Narlı to Gaziantep would stop in Başpınar to eat kebab and drink tea; this practice came to an end when the Gaziantep station opened.^[2]: 201

Construction on Gaziantep station began in 1951.^[2]: 203 The main architect is apparently not known, but the initial contractor was Muammer Bozok and the work was later completed by the civil engineer Şahap Sicimoğlu.^{[2]: 203–4} The station's official opening ceremony was held on 27 October 1953, and the prime minister Adnan Menderes was in attendance.^[2]: 203

The station building was completed in 1959 and the Narlı-Gaziantep line was continued to Karkamış, where it connected to the former Baghdad Railway. The station became a major hub in the southeast, with trains to Baghdad, Adana, Aleppo and Malatya. Services to Aleppo and Baghdad have since ended.

Only one train came to Gaziantep when the station was first built, and its arrival was a big event for locals.^[2]: 203 People would flock to the station to have picnics and barbecues and see the train; according to Tamer, the railway station square came to replace Kavaklık at Alleben Creek as the city's main picnic spot.^[2]: 203 Eventually, however, the novelty wore off.^[2]: 203

The train station is served by the Gaziantep Tram. Connection to the Gaziantep Tram system was completed in 2012.

Architecture

Gaziantep station's "assertive", monumental colonnaded façade belongs to the second national architectural movement, which was in vogue at the time of its construction.^[2]: 204 The building's exterior is made of keymıh stone (hard limestone), while the interior features havara (soft limestone).^[2]: 205 The ceiling is made of glass, which was a new architectural technique in the 1950s.^[2]: 205

The building has two stories plus a basement.^[2]: 205 The main hall, on the ground floor, is 8 meters tall and covers both stories.^[2]: 205 In the hall are the passenger lounge, the ticket counter, a kitchen, a cold storage room and other storage areas, restrooms, a baggage claim office, a post office, and administrative offices.^[2]: 205 The train platforms are on the upper level, which is divided into two parts that are separated by the main entrance hall.^[2]: 205 One side was built with a telegraph office and other administrative offices; the other side was built with a post office, police station, restaurant, and restrooms.^[2]: 205 The building has two staircases, at the eastern and western ends.^[2]: 205 The western staircase only connects the ground and upper floors, while the eastern staircase connects the ground, upper, and basement levels.^[2]: 205 The basement was built with a boiler room, ash removal room, coal cellar, workers' room, restrooms, and storage areas.^[2]: 205

References

1. "Project History". Mersin Gaziantep YHT. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
2. Aycı, Hilal; Özer, Derya Güleç; Güleç, Abdulkadir (2020). "A Spatial Analysis of Gaziantep Railway and Its Station Throughout History". Periodica Polytechnica Architecture. 51 (2): 196–208. doi:10.3311/PPar.15799. S2CID 225257359. Retrieved 19 February 2023.