Sad border stations

[johnnychips]

With the introduction of Schengen, and possibly before that, many border stations now haven't any function. Yesterday I went to Erquelinnes, the Belgian town on the border with France (Jeumont on the other side). It looked like it was once a really busy place, but now it is a mess of disused and derelict railway structures. All it really needs now is one platform for its hourly service from Charleroi.

Any other examples?

 

[duncanp]

Canfranc in the Pyrenees, since the closure of the through route from Pau in France in 1970.

 

[busestrains]

With the introduction of Schengen, and possibly before that, many border stations now haven't any function. Yesterday I went to Erquelinnes, the Belgian town on the border with France (Jeumont on the other side). It looked like it was once a really busy place, but now it is a mess of disused and derelict railway structures. All it really needs now is one platform for its hourly service from Charleroi.

Any other examples?


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Trakiszki (Poland) and Mockava (Lithuania) are both like this. They were once major border stations where border controls and passport checks would take place on both sides. Now they are just minor unstaffed stations with very low passenger numbers. They are both very rural and located in tiny hamlets surrounded by fields and woods with hardly any houses nearby. There must be lots of other stations like this with Schengen in use now.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Portbou in Spain and Cerbère in France have grand international stations for essentially large villages and are much reduced in stature with the through passenger services (such as they are) now directed over the high-speed line. The former has been nicely renovated, but the latter is very run down, totally dominates the scene and accessed via a very unpleasant subway. France is suspending Schengen for 6 months from Nov 1st, so it will be interesting to see what arrangements will in place here and at other rail border crossings in the country.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Canfranc in the Pyrenees, since the closure of the through route from Pau in France in 1970.

I was thinking of Canfranc too, I think there may be plans to bring back more services there?

 

[rg177]

Schwanheide in Mecklenburg-Verpommern was once a border station in the former DDR. It still has its rather derelict but imposing border control building.

 

[Shinkansenfan]

Puttgarden, Germany and Rody Faerge, Denmark on the former train ferry. Those railway stations look a bit sad and forlorn these days.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Puttgarden has I think now closed for construction of the fixed link and is unlikely to reopen. The village is tiny.

 

[AdamWW]

With the introduction of Schengen, and possibly before that, many border stations now haven't any function. Yesterday I went to Erquelinnes, the Belgian town on the border with France (Jeumont on the other side). It looked like it was once a really busy place, but now it is a mess of disused and derelict railway structures. All it really needs now is one platform for its hourly service from Charleroi.

Not just Schengen, of course, since many border stations are now bypassed by new high speed rail lines.

Latour de Carole, where the Spanish and French networks meet in the Pyrenees (as well as the narrow gauge "Train Jaune") isn't particularly depressing, though the Spanish part seems a little unloved (unlike the rest of the route from Barcelona the platform is too low even for the low floor section of the trains).

However passing through the last station in Spain, Puigcerdà, it seemed a bit more run down, with a large disused freight transfer yard and the connection across the Iberian gauge tracks to the parallel standard gauge track to the border severed.

 

[Gloster]

Puttgarden, Germany and Rody Faerge, Denmark on the former train ferry. Those railway stations look a bit sad and forlorn these days.

Puttgarden has I think now closed for construction of the fixed link and is unlikely to reopen. The village is tiny.

Rødby F. has also closed. After the goods trains were transferred to the Store Bælt Link and all the international passenger trains became DMU at the end of the 1990s both became very forlorn. Only one platform in use, the loco depots closed up and the rest just over grown.

 

[The exile]

Although not particularly sad, Bayrisch Eisenstein is worth a mention as th D/CZ border actually runs through the station.

 

[XAM2175]

Puttgarden, Germany and Rody Faerge, Denmark on the former train ferry. Those railway stations look a bit sad and forlorn these days.

Puttgarden has I think now closed for construction of the fixed link and is unlikely to reopen. The village is tiny.

Rødby F. has also closed. After the goods trains were transferred to the Store Bælt Link and all the international passenger trains became DMU at the end of the 1990s both became very forlorn. Only one platform in use, the loco depots closed up and the rest just over grown.

Though strictly speaking this last and most major change of fortune doesn't come from the abolition of the border processes, but rather the transfer of all traffic first to the route via Padborg and in the future to the new fixed link. They're more in the line of sad train-ferry stations that happen to be astride a border.

 

[duesselmartin]

Emmerich on the German/Dutch border also has a visible demise. Trains don't need to stop there anymore. Not just because of costums checks, but also multi-voltage locos and EMUs.

 

[sk688]

Not quite on the level of others mentioned, but Freilassing on the Salzburg-Munich line was quite grim and seemed a shadow of what it was

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Not quite on the level of others mentioned, but Freilassing on the Salzburg-Munich line was quite grim and seemed a shadow of what it was

Plus the unsightly steel sheeting that was erected during the immigrant crisis of 2016, to keep prying eyes away from the border checks.

I was the only passenger to board an EC train at Zebrzydowice on the PL/CZ border a few years ago, a big barn of a place with no purpose today.

Having said that, EU states maintain emergency powers to check passengers, and did so in places during migration peaks and Covid, so the railway can't just demolish those facilities.

Away from Schengen, there are also checks today where once there were none, eg at Dobova* (SI/HR) and at Tovarnik/Šid (HR/RS).
The latter border has all the signs of a pair of wayside stations suddenly catapulted into the status of major border posts with all the associated bureaucracy.
Przemysl (PL/UA) is another former sleepy border town which has become a major focus for emigrants/refugees from Ukraine, although the actual border posts are some 15km to the east.

Then of course we have the UK, with EU passport stamps, longer immigration queues and reduced Eurostar capacity, soon to be further complicated by the introduction of automated EES and ETIAS systems.

* Croatia is about to join the Schengen zone, so maybe this check will disappear soon.

 

[AdamWW]

Having said that, EU states maintain emergency powers to check passengers, and did so in places during migration peaks and Covid, so the railway can't just demolish those facilities.

I think they can.

There are places where intra-Schengen passport controls have been re-instated without any infrastructure being used at the border - just border guards getting on the train and checking everyone. I've seen this from Prague to Munich at Furth im Wald and Hamburg to Copenhagen at Rødby.

And there is always the alternative of just shutting down rail routes and requiring everyone to travel by road or air instead where checks are more convenient, as I believe happened between Austria and Hungary at one point not so long ago.

 

[route101]

I think they can.

There are places where intra-Schengen passport controls have been re-instated without any infrastructure being used at the border - just border guards getting on the train and checking everyone. I've seen this from Prague to Munich at Furth im Wald and Hamburg to Copenhagen at Rødby.

And there is always the alternative of just shutting down rail routes and requiring everyone to travel by road or air instead where checks are more convenient, as I believe happened between Austria and Hungary at one point not so long ago.

Crossing the Oresund Bridge towards Malmo I was checked a few years back.

 

[Gloster]

Crossing the Oresund Bridge towards Malmo I was checked a few years back.

There have always been occasional spot checks, but four or five years ago the Swedes brought back regular checks due to people trafficking. The Danes also brought them back, possibly as tit-for-tat, but a bit more half-heartedly.

 

[D6130]

I think they can.

There are places where intra-Schengen passport controls have been re-instated without any infrastructure being used at the border - just border guards getting on the train and checking everyone. I've seen this from Prague to Munich at Furth im Wald and Hamburg to Copenhagen at Rødby.

And there is always the alternative of just shutting down rail routes and requiring everyone to travel by road or air instead where checks are more convenient, as I believe happened between Austria and Hungary at one point not so long ago.

Intra-Schengen passport checks are still frequently carried out at Modane - or en route between there and Chambéry - on the Italy-France TGV and Frecciarossa services.

Nova Gorica in Slovenia has a huge -and now largely redundant - station building dating from the days when it was a frontier station between Italy and former Yugoslavia.

 

[Wychwood93]

Portbou in Spain and Cerbère in France have grand international stations for essentially large villages and are much reduced in stature with the through passenger services (such as they are) now directed over the high-speed line. The former has been nicely renovated, but the latter is very run down, totally dominates the scene and accessed via a very unpleasant subway. France is suspending Schengen for 6 months from Nov 1st, so it will be interesting to see what arrangements will in place here and at other rail border crossings in the country.

The two stations I would have mentioned earlier had I not had to go out earlier. Happy memories of both stations in somewhat better days.

 

[AdamWW]

Crossing the Oresund Bridge towards Malmo I was checked a few years back.

At one point I believe everyone had to get off at the airport, go through passport control there and then onto a later train.

When I did it a few years ago there seemed to be some heavy duty fencing on the platform of the first station across the border.

 

[Flying Snail]

I was thinking of Canfranc too, I think there may be plans to bring back more services there?

The station is being rebuilt into a high-end hotel and a new basic station has been put up to serve the Spanish commuter line, there is a vague wish to reinstate the French line, how realistic that is though I don't know.

 

[duncanp]

there is a vague wish to reinstate the French line, how realistic that is though I don't know.

Looks like there is some progress being made.

25km of the line on the French side has been reopened, between Oloron and Bedous.

There remains 33km of line still to reopen before a through service to Canfranc can start running

Vers la réouverture de la ligne ferroviaire Pau-Canfranc-Saragosse - Projet Canfraneus

Le 1er juillet a eu lieu l’inauguration de la réouverture d’une section de la ligne transfrontalière Pau-Canfranc-Saragosse, interrompue en 1970 sur le versant français suite au déraillement d’un train. Alain Rousset, Président du Conseil régional de Nouvelle-Aquitaine, qui a financé les travaux...

www.canfraneus.eu

Le 1er juillet a eu lieu l’inauguration de la réouverture d’une section de la ligne transfrontalière Pau-Canfranc-Saragosse, interrompue en 1970 sur le versant français suite au déraillement d’un train. Alain Rousset, Président du Conseil régional de Nouvelle-Aquitaine, qui a financé les travaux à hauteur de 102 millions €, y avait convié Javier Lambán, Président du gouvernement d’Aragon, Guillaume Pépy, PDG de SNCF Mobilités, Patrick Jeantet, PDG de SNCF Réseau, ainsi que le maire de Saragosse Pedro Santisteve.

La Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine et le gouvernement d’Aragon œuvrent depuis une quinzaine d’années afin de rétablir l’un des 4 passages ferroviaires entre la France et l’Espagne à travers les Pyrénées, reliant la Nouvelle-Aquitaine et l’Aragon. Avec 25 km de voies rouvertes à la circulation entre Oloron Sainte-Marie et Bedous, il ne reste plus que 33 km de voies à remettre en service jusqu’à Canfranc pour rétablir la ligne ferroviaire européenne Pau-Canfranc-Saragosse et offrir une alternative au tout routier pour la circulation des marchandises et des personnes à travers les Pyrénées occidentales.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Not just Schengen, of course, since many border stations are now bypassed by new high speed rail lines.

Latour de Carole, where the Spanish and French networks meet in the Pyrenees (as well as the narrow gauge "Train Jaune") isn't particularly depressing, though the Spanish part seems a little unloved (unlike the rest of the route from Barcelona the platform is too low even for the low floor section of the trains).

However passing through the last station in Spain, Puigcerdà, it seemed a bit more run down, with a large disused freight transfer yard and the connection across the Iberian gauge tracks to the parallel standard gauge track to the border severed.

Much like Canfranc, "faded glamour" would be the phrase I'd use with regard to Latour-de-Carol. No abandoned palatial hotel at Latour though, just a closed restaurant and a chemists shop.

Whilst the station and associated infrastructure at Puigcerdà is a bit down-at-heel, the town itself is a bit livelier as it's the railhead for Llivia- a Spanish enclave surrounded by France.

 

[AdamWW]

Much like Canfranc, "faded glamour" would be the phrase I'd use with regard to Latour-de-Carol. No abandoned palatial hotel at Latour though, just a closed restaurant and a chemists shop.

There is a newsagents in the station building. And a cafe just outside it.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

There is a newsagents in the station building. And a cafe just outside it.

That newsagents opened for about 30 minutes after I arrived on the sleeper from Paris... lucky it had a coffee machine, as the cafe/restaurant just outside was closed!

 

[AdamWW]

That newsagents opened for about 30 minutes after I arrived on the sleeper from Paris... lucky it had a coffee machine, as the cafe/restaurant just outside was closed!

Better than going the other way, when it shuts hours before the sleeper leaves.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Better than going the other way, when it shuts hours before the sleeper leaves.

True... though in that direction/at that time the café is open. I think we'd both agree that it isn't the most exciting of border crossings!

Other than the novelty of a triple gauge-change for we train nuts of course.

 

[AdamWW]

True... though in that direction/at that time the café is open.

Is it? It looked shut to me but I didn't investigate.

True... though in that direction/at that time the café is open. I think we'd both agree that it isn't the most exciting of border crossings!

No, actually, I wouldn't agree.

The novelty of three gauges meeting up aside (and two is unusual enough for me), and one of them being third rail narrow gauge (not a lot of that about) I rather liked it - quiet, and surrounded by mountains.

Edited to say: I see your edit crossed with my ressponse...

 

[MarcVD]

Several casualties in Belgium :

1) multivoltage stations with switchable tracks : Quevy. Station still exists, building abandoned, multivoltage installations all dismantled.
2) border marshaling yards : Stockem (border with Luxembourg, all dismantled) and Montzen (border with Germany, seriously reduced, all border control installations gone or abandoned)
3) Border stations : Erquelinnes, Quievrain (border with France, closed), Essen (border with the Netherlands) are all severely reduced.

Most freight traffic in Belgium is now in the hands of multisystem locomotives and don't make any border stop anymore.