The Estació del Nord or Estación del Norte, is a former main line

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

in the city of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Originally opened in 1862, it was closed as a railway station in 1972. It is now used partly as a

bus station A bus station, bus depot, or bus interchange is a structure where city buses or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. A bus station is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can st ...

, partly as a large multi-purpose

sports hall An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances or sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators, and may ...

, and partly as a

police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...

. The sports hall is known as the Poliesportiu Estació del Nord, and was a

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

venue. The bus station is known as the Estació d'Autobusos Barcelona Nord, and is Barcelona's principal terminal for scheduled medium and long-distance coach services. The station lies in the

Fort Pienc Fort Pienc () is a neighborhood in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Its name stems from a former military fortification which existed there until the 19th century called Fort Pius, ''Pienc'' is an adjective in Catalan mean ...

neighbourhood of the

Eixample The Eixample (, ) is a district of Barcelona between the old city (Ciutat Vella) and what were once surrounding small towns (Sants, Gràcia, Sant Andreu, etc.), constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its population was 262,000 at ...

district of Barcelona, some from

Plaça de Catalunya Plaça de Catalunya (, meaning in English "Catalonia Square"; sometimes referred to as Plaza de Cataluña, its Spanish name) is a large square in central Barcelona that is generally considered to be both its city centre and the place where the ol ...

. The Arc de Triomf station, served by

Barcelona Metro The Barcelona Metro (Catalan language, Catalan and Spanish language, Spanish: ) is a rapid transit network that runs mostly underground in central Barcelona and into the city's suburbs. It is part of the larger public transport system ...

line L1 and

Rodalies de Catalunya Rodalies de Catalunya (; "Commuter Railways of Catalonia") is the main Commuter rail, commuter and regional rail system in the Spain, Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia. It is administered by the Generalitat de Catalunya, Government of C ...

suburban trains, has an entrance directly in front of the station on '' Plaça d'André Malraux''. The ''Parc de l'Estació del Nord'', laid out on the site of sidings associated with the station, lies to the south-east.

History

The original railway station on the site was built in phases, from 1861, on land that had previously been occupied by

, a fortress raised by Philip V following the fall of Barcelona during the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...

. The original façade, by P. Andrés i Puigdoller in a

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

, still exists on the south-eastern side of the station facing the park. The station opened on 21 May 1862, as the terminus of the '' Compañía del Ferrocarril de Zaragoza a Barcelona'' line from

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

. In 1878, the railway from Zaragoza was absorbed into the ''

Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España The Compañia de los Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España (CCHNE), known simply as Norte, was a Spanish railway company founded on December 29, 1858. Its network was one of the most extensive in Spain, until it was Nationalization, nationalized ...

'', at which point the station adopted its current name. Between 1910 and 1915, the station was extended, with the construction of large

train shed A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...

. Across the end of this train shed and facing the '' Plaça d'André Malraux'', a new facade was constructed to a design by

Demetri Ribes Dimitri, Dimitry, Demetri or variations thereof may refer to: __NOTOC__ People Given name * Dimitri (clown), Swiss clown and mime Dimitri Jakob Muller (1935–2016) * Dimitri Atanasescu (1836–1907), Ottoman-born Aromanian teacher * Dimitri Ayo ...

, comprising an enclosed glass arch flanked by wings with elements of

Catalan Modernism ''Modernisme'' (, Catalan for "modernism"), also known as Catalan modernism and Catalan art nouveau, is the historiographic denomination given to an art and literature movement associated with the search of a new entitlement of Catalan cultu ...

and

Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (; also known as the Union of Austrian Artists or ) is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian painters, graphic artists, sculptors and architects, including Josef Ho ...

styles. In 1972, the railway station was closed, with the railway approach to the station placed underground and diverted to serve Arc de Triomf station, whilst longer distance trains were diverted to Estació de França. After this, the Estació del Nord was left empty. In 1983, the city bought the station with the intention of converting it into a

for long-distance buses and a

transport museum A transport museum is a museum that holds collections of transport items, which are often limited to land transport (road and rail)—including old cars, motorcycles, trucks, trains, trams/streetcars, buses, trolleybuses and Coach (vehicle), coach ...

. These plans did not come to fruition and the station was left abandoned. However, in 1987 it was announced that the

would include

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

, and Estació del Nord was selected as the venue for that competition. The architects Enric Tous and Josep Maria Fargas were selected to refurbish the station, respecting much of the original structure of the old station, whilst marquees outside the station provided ancillary facilities such as rest areas and offices. Besides the new sports arena, the remodelling included the construction of a

for the city police, a new bus station and a new park, the ''Parc de l'Estació del Nord''. The sports facilities were first used for an Olympic test event in 1991, whilst the bus station was commissioned after the completion of the games. In 2008, works were undertaken at Arc de Triomf station to improve access exchange with the bus station, including the provision of a new entrance facing the Estació del Nord.

Sports hall

The sports hall occupies the former platform area of the former station, along with part of the east wing of the station. It is managed by the Unió de Federacions Esportives de Catalunya.

Bus station

The bus station is Barcelona's principal terminal for scheduled medium and long-distance coach services. It serves as either terminus or calling point for services to and from the rest of Catalonia, the whole of Spain and many international destinations. The bus station occupies the whole of the west wing of the former station, with the building housing ticket offices, waiting areas, a range of shops and restaurants, and other ancillary facilities. The coaches stop in an open area to the north-west of this building, which is surrounded by 47 angled bus stops. Two pedestrian bridges, and pedestrian crossings, link the station building to those stops that are not alongside the main building. The bus station has access to the

and

suburban trains via the adjacent Arc de Triomf station and to local bus services via stops on the adjoining streets. An underground car park is available next to the bus station, with direct pedestrian links to the bus station.

References

External links

*
Official web site of the bus station

{{DEFAULTSORT:Estacio del Nord Venues of the 1992 Summer Olympics Bus stations in Spain Defunct railway stations in Barcelona Olympic table tennis venues Sports venues in Barcelona Rail transport in Barcelona Transport in Eixample Railway stations in Spain opened in 1862 Railway stations in Spain closed in 1972