Warsaw railway interstitials

There's the place you live. Then there's your workplace. And then there are the so-called 'third spaces' – public places where you can meet and mingle - cafés, parks, squares, bars, etc. And between these three typologies, we have the interstitial spaces, the liminal places, through which you merely pass through (unless you happen to work there), leaving only your shadow.

There's a specific atmosphere that I've always felt about Warsaw's two city-centre railway stations – Warszawa Śródmieście, for suburban trains, and Warszawa Centralna, for long-distance trains. (Warszawa Centralna also known as Dworzec Centralny, and in English, Warsaw Central.)  A sense of unease, mystery, disquiet. The two are linked by a system of tunnels which goes on beyond Centralna to the light-rail terminus, Warszawa Śródmieście WKD.

I've written and photographed these interstitial places before, but this week I have passed through this way three times, and so they are worth a revisit with a blog post. When it's cold and slippery at street level, underground it's warmer and dry. It's possible to walk half a mile along the platforms and appreciate the unique atmosphere offered by these interstitial spaces. Passengers tend to cluster around the middle of the platforms, but the far ends see little human activity.

Below: although no Radom-line trains currently call at W-Śródmieście station, I walk this underground way between Metro Centrum and W-wa Centralna. Although it's just gone 9am and the rush hour is tailing off, the station is almost empty.

Below: the stairs leading up to street level. At the top - ulica Emilii Plater that separates the suburban and the inter-city stations, but we'll be crossing underneath instead.

Below: stairs from the underground passage leading up to platform level, W-wa Śródmieście. At the top – ticket machines, green to the left for Koleje Mazowieckie, yellow to the right for Warsaw urban transport. What could lurk behind those store-cupboard doors in the foreground?

Below: the tunnel connecting the four platforms of Warszawa Central and W-wa Śródmieście. The light temperature from the neon tubes is unnatural, casting a chill uncertainty upon the scene. Modern signage at least provides some reassurance that all is not lost. Unmarked doorways in the passage add to the sense of unease.

Below: eye-level with the platform floor, W-wa Centralna. In the distance, an east-bound Pendolino train awaits departure from Track 3 Platform 2. I've written before about rail infrastructure operator PKP PLK's obstinacy in platform numeration. Here at Centralna it's not too bad, but in Poznań I've missed trains because I'm looking for Track 5 Platform 2 rather than Track 2 Platform 5, a long way off. A mention is needed of architect Arseniusz Romanowicz, who designed the station in 1975, along with most of the stations along the transversal line, from Warsaw East to Warsaw West and all points in between.

Below: from the top of these stairs, take a nose around into the tunnel. The long-distance lines run east from here, merging from eight tracks down to two before emerging at the top of the Warsaw escarpment by W-wa Powiśle station (which InterCity trains bypass). This is the Tunel średnicowy (transversal tunnel), a place with its own mystery – the urban legend of a secret spur between this tunnel and the basement levels of the Palace of Culture, just to the north of the line. 

Below: another urban legend - the ramp that led down to what was a secret underground kebab factory. Or storage room. There's a ramp like this at the eastern ends of Platforms 1 and 2 and at the western ends of Platforms 3 and 4. What goes on down below these days remains shrouded in mystery.

Below: now approaching half past nine in the morning; the distant lights of a Dart train that's soon to depart for Wrocław. Note how empty the far end of the platform is, and how far to the middle section of the station where the trains stop.

Below: view from the western end of Platform 3; in the distance, daylight, and the single platform of Warszawa Śródmieście WKD station.

Up some more stairs, into another passage, round the corner and down a ramp – and you arrive at W-wa Śródmieście WKD (below). Normally, the terminus station of Warszawskie Koleje Dojazdowe, a light railway separate from the PKP network that extends south-west to Grodzisk Mazowiecki. Normally, because services currently terminate two stops back at W-wa Reduta Ordona – or they would if the railway's workers weren't out on strike.

And finally, looking back at the deserted platform from the stairs at the far end. From here to the eastern exit of W-wa Śródmieście PKP suburban station is over one kilometre of walkways, tunnels, stairs and escalators beneath street level (though here, daylight peeps through).

An interesting alternative to Warsaw's city streets.

More photos from Warszawa Centralna from 2010 here.

This time two years ago:
Qualia memories - snowy Greenwich, January 1970

This time three years ago:
Meagre, disappointing snow

This time four years ago:
The Inequality Paradox - a summing up

This time five years ago:
Familiarity, tradition and identity

This time six years ago:
Black hat merry-go-round 

This time seven years ago:
Skarzysko-Kamienna and Starachowice, by train

This time eight years ago:
The world mourns the loss of David Bowie

This time ten years ago:
Where's the snow?

This time 12 years ago:
Two drink-free days a week, British MPs urge

This time 13 years ago:
Depopulating Polish cities?

This time 14 years ago:
Powiśle on a winter's morning

This time 15 years ago:
Sunny, snowy Jeziorki