Tbilisi Railway station ( ka, თბილისის ცენტრალური სადგური, ''tbilisis tsent'raluri sadguri'') is a railway station located in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

, Georgia. Originally built in 1872, Tbilisi Railway station has undergone various architectural transformations, and currently serves as a combined railway station and shopping mall.

History

Tbilisi Railway station is the central railway station of

with an adjacent shopping mall. The first central station in Tbilisi was built in 1872, with trains to the black sea port of

Poti Poti ( ka, ფოთი ; Mingrelian: ფუთი; Laz: ჶაში/Faşi or ფაში/Paşi) is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near t ...

. In the 1940s the building was demolished and replaced with a building in the style of the Stalinist architecture. In the early 1980s the building was demolished and replaced by a building in the style of the

Brutalist architecture Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...

. The architects Bairamashvili, Kavlashvili, G. Shavdia and Jibladze won a State Prize for their work in 1992. In 2010 the station was rehabilitated and transformed into a combined railway station and shopping mall. The transformation was designed by Zwarts & Jansma architects. The station is served by two subway stations of

Tbilisi Metro The Tbilisi Metro ( ka, თბილისის მეტროპოლიტენი) is a rapid transit system in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Opened on 11 January 1966, it was the fourth metro system in the former Soviet Union. Like oth ...

, Sadguris Moedani I and Sadguris Moedani II, which together form the only connection between the two lines of Tbilisi Metro. There are daily inbound and outbound trains connecting Tbilisi and

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

, departing from Tbilisi railway station. From neighboring

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

, trains depart to Tbilisi and

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of t ...

from Yerevan railway station.

Future

There was a project to replace the direct railway crossing

by a bypass connection north of

(''Tbilisi Railway Bypass Project''). The Tbilisi central station would be closed but remain a shopping mall. It would not be served any longer by passenger trains, and the existing infrastructure would be dismantled. Instead of a central station the Didube station in the north and the Navtlugi station in the south-east of

would become dead-end termini for passenger trains. Because of this a through connection for passenger trains and direct passenger transfers would no longer be possible. Instead of the expected reduction of environmental and traffic problems the axing would probably cause more traffic problems, because the public transport and underground transport system of the capital is optimized for the central station. Although argued otherwise by the American consulting firm

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...

, the project was therefore very much disputed by Western European transportation specialists and railway companies. Georgische Eisenbahn. Retrieved 4 February 2011 Construction of the bypass railtrack was suspended in 2013, effectively ending the ''Tbilisi Railway Bypass Project''. According to plans revealed by the city government in 2018, the existing infrastructure for the bypass project will be integrated into a new line of Tbilisi Metro.''EBRD loan approved for Tbilisi metro modernisation''
RailWay Pro, 1 May 2020, retrieved 5 December 2022.

References

External links

Webpage of the shopping mall
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tbilisi central station Buildings and structures in Tbilisi Railway stations in Georgia (country) Transport in Tbilisi Railway stations opened in 1872

History

Future

See also

References

External links