The history of Guangzhou Railway Station

The original site of Guangzhou Station is located in Dashatou in the southeast corner of Guangzhou City. It was originally called Dashatou Railway Station. It was built in 1911 and is the terminus of the Chinese section of the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway. In the 26th year of the Republic of China (1937), the National Government started the construction of Guangzhou Huangpu Port, and in January 1937 started the construction of a line from the Western Union Station of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway (today's Tangxi Station) to Huangpu Port via Shahe, Shipai and Yuzhu. Hong Kong branch line; on July 7, 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident occurred, and China's Anti-Japanese War broke out in an all-round way. In August of the same year, in order to obtain assistance from the United Kingdom and the United States and facilitate the delivery of aid materials to China, the Nationalist Government agreed to connect the Guangzhou-Kowloon and Guangdong-Han routes. At that time, the Huangpu Port branch line had not yet laid track, so the existing Huangpu Port branch line base was used to build a contact line. In August 1937, the track was laid to Shipai and connected with the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway. It was called the Guangbei contact line. Since then, the Guangdong-Hankou Railway and the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway China Unicom. After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, in order to cooperate with the Guangdong-Han District Railway Administration in the overall management of the Guangdong-Han Railway, Guangzhou-Sanjiang Railway, and Guangjiu-Kowloon Railway, a "Yun-Yong Contact Line" was built from Yunlu, the Guangbei Contact Line, to Yongcun, the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway. , allowing passenger trains on the Guangdong-Han Railway to reach Dashatou Railway Station directly. Dashatou Station was expanded to be the departure and arrival station for passenger trains on Guangzhou-Kowloon and Yue-Han Railways, and was renamed Guangzhou East Railway Station and became Guangzhou East Railway Station. The main passenger railway station.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese section of the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway was renamed the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway, and Guangzhou East Station was also renamed Guangzhou Station in 1951. In 1953, the railway ferry from Guangzhou South Railway Station (the old Guangzhou South Railway Station built in 1901, also known as Huangsha Station) to Shiweitang Station was completed and put into use, allowing the vehicles of the Guangzhou-Three Railways to cross the tracks of the Guangdong-Hankou and Guangzhou-Kowloon Railways. . In 1954, in order to allow trains from Guangzhou South Railway Station and Guangzhou San Railway to run without passing through Guangzhou North Railway Station (today's Tangxi Station) and shorten the running distance and time, the Guangzhou Railway Bureau built a connecting line between Guangbei Liuhuaqiao and Guangdong. The Liuxi connecting line of Guangzhou West Station of the Han Railway was established, and the Liuhuaqiao Line Station was set up on the Guangbei connecting line, which was the predecessor of the later Guangzhou New Passenger Station (not the current Guangzhou South Railway Station in Guangzhou). With the completion of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge in 1957, the Beijing-Hankou Railway and the Guangdong-Hankou Railway were merged into the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, and the Guangzhou Southwest Bridge (later renamed the Pearl River Bridge) was completed in 1960, and the Guangzhou-Sanjiang Railway was connected with the Beijing-Guangzhou and Guangshen-Shenzhen Railways. The station further developed into an arrival and departure station for passenger trains on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen, Guangdong-Han, and Guangsan-3rd Roads, with increasing passenger traffic. At that time, other stations in the Guangzhou Railway Hub were mainly engaged in freight transportation, so Guangzhou Station became the most important station in Guangzhou City. The most important railway passenger station is under extremely heavy pressure from passenger flow.

In the 1950s, in order to cooperate with Tao Zhu, then Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, to build Guangzhou into the "Paris of the East", the construction plan of a new passenger station in Guangzhou was put on the agenda. In February 1960, the Ministry of Railways decided to build a new passenger station. After approval by the Guangzhou Municipal Government, Liuhua Bridge was built at the site. Construction started on March 1 of the same year. By March of the following year, most of the earth and stonework for the new passenger station and the square in front of the station had been completed. However, due to the damage caused by the Great Leap Forward Movement to China's national economy, the central government reduced the scale of construction investment and the new passenger station project was suspended. In 1963, the Guangzhou Railway Bureau reported a request to resume work. In 1967, the state approved the plan, but construction failed to start due to interference from the Cultural Revolution. During this period, in order to cope with the continuously increasing train density in the section, Liuhuaqiao Line Station was upgraded to a concession station in 1965, called Liuhuaqiao Station, and some passenger trains were launched.

In 1971, the Guangzhou Railway Bureau reported again and was approved as a large and medium-sized project. In February 1972, the Guangzhou New Passenger Station project resumed; it was completed on April 10, 1974, and put into operation on April 12. The layout of the Guangzhou Railway Hub was also adjusted accordingly. The new passenger station in Guangzhou was officially named Guangzhou Railway Station, and the original Guangzhou Railway Station in Dashatou was renamed Guangzhou East Railway Station. On April 1, 1988, Tianhe Station was renamed Guangzhou East Station. Later, Guangzhou East Station in Dashatou was renamed Dashatou Railway Station and became a "legacy" station with no railway connection. It was closed in 1985 It was demolished at the beginning of the year. All its passenger transport operations were gradually moved to Guangzhou New Passenger Station and temporarily converted into a simple passenger car technical maintenance station. The original Liuhuaqiao Station was cancelled. At the same time, the starting point of Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway and Beijing-Guangzhou Railway was changed to Guangzhou New Passenger Station.

Guangzhou Station was the largest railway passenger transport hub in South China at that time, with a total station area of ??120,000 square meters, a waiting room area of ??8,504 square meters, a ticket office area of ??1,108 square meters, a baggage warehouse area of ??3,823 square meters, and 6 platforms. There are 3 tunnels, and the internal passages in the station adopt a mixed layout of through-type and end-type. The station is designed to carry 30,000 passengers per day. At the beginning of the station's construction, Guangzhou Station once became a new landscape landmark in Guangzhou. Schools in Guangzhou organized students to visit one after another. At its peak, the station could receive three or four groups of students a day. In addition to Guangzhou Station, the Liuhuaqiao area was established in 1974. In the same year, new buildings such as the Canton Fair Liuhua Road Exhibition Hall (Sino-Soviet Friendship Building), the new Guangzhou Oriental Hotel, and the Friendship Theater were built. This building complex was selected as one of the "Eight New Scenic Spots of Guangzhou" in 1985 and enjoys the reputation of "Liuhua Yuyu" "The good name. In 1979, in order to cooperate with the resumption of the Guangzhou-Kowloon through train between Guangzhou and Hong Kong, a new joint inspection station was built on the east side of Guangzhou Station as an entry-exit port station to handle joint inspection services such as customs, quarantine, and foreign currency exchange; on April 4, 30 The first Guangzhou-Kowloon through train of the year departs from Guangzhou Station. In 1981, in order to cope with the increase in passenger demand, a fourth platform was built at Guangzhou Station. In September 1984, the Guangzhou Passenger Train Technical Operation and Maintenance Station located on the northwest side of Guangzhou Station was completed and put into operation to organize, inspect and repair trains departing from Guangzhou Station, while the simple passenger train technical operation station located in Dashatou was canceled and closed. By 1985, the number of passenger train pairs departing from Guangzhou Station every day had increased from 9 pairs in 1975 to 15 pairs in 1980, to 25 pairs.

A major feature of Guangzhou Station is the neon slogan "Unify the Motherland, Revitalize China" on the station building, which is unique among many railway stations across the country. In fact, when Guangzhou Station was built, it was during the Cultural Revolution. The slogan hanging above the station building was "Long live the invincible Mao Zedong Thought, long live the great Communist Party of China." This slogan was used during the Cultural Revolution. Removed after the end. By July 1986, the Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee believed that Guangzhou, as the forefront of reform and opening up, was the first city for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents and overseas Chinese to enter mainland China, and the Guangzhou Railway Station was an important gateway to South China. Therefore, the Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee requested that the Guangzhou Railway Station be installed on the roof of the station. , build a brand new neon sign with the content "Unify the motherland, revitalize China", the font is red and bold, each character is 5 meters high and 5.5 meters wide. The slogan was completed on the eve of the National Day in October 1986. Due to the shortage of power supply at that time, the neon sign increased the power consumption of the train station by more than 30 kilowatts. In the early days of use, in order to save electricity, the lights were turned on for no less than three hours every night. to four hours.