From Lille-Flandres to Lille-Europe —The Evolution of a Railway Station Corinne Tiry
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Feature From Lille-Flandres to Lille-Europe From Lille-Flandres to Lille-Europe —The Evolution of a Railway Station Corinne Tiry Since the mid-19th century, European Council, the Northern Railway Company economic arguments finally prevailed and cities evolved around the railway station established in 1845 by the Rothschild a good compromise was adopted—two as a central pivot where goods and people family, the French government and some stations would be built, a terminal inside converge. This is still true today when of Lille's most prominent citizens. These the city walls for passengers traffic, and a railway stations take on a new role as controversies also stimulated nearby urban through terminal outside for goods traffic. urban hubs in the European high-speed projects. Construction of the passenger terminal train network. Lille in northern France, started in 1845, and lasted 3 years. which has two stations from different The Railway Station Enters However, the builders underestimated the railway periods—Lille-Flandres and Lille- the City scale of both passenger and freight traffic Europe, is a good example illustrating this and the capacity was soon saturated. To quasi-continuous past and present urban In the 19th century, the railway station solve this new problem, an Imperial ambitions. became a new gateway to the city, Decree in 1861 allowed the Northern Lille is a city of 170,000 adjacent to the disrupting both the city walls' protective Railway Company to start construction of French-Belgian border. It is at the economic function, as well as the urban layout. The a marshalling yard—called Saint-Sauveur heart of the Lille-Roubaix-Tourcoing- original controversy in Lille emerged from station—south of the main passenger Villeneuve d'Ascq conurbation of 1.2 this duality and a station inside the city station, at the junction of the old city and million people, ranking (excepting Paris) was strongly opposed by the military. the industrial suburbs. third after Marseille and Lyon in terms of There was also lengthy debate by the City A second controversy arose over the population. It played such a major role Council and Ministry of Public Works question of reconstruction of Lille for centuries in the commercial and about how to breach the walls to lay passenger station, and especially over its industrial development of the region— tracks. There was a hard fight to decide architecture. In the 1860s, several English originally coal, textiles, sugar and agriculture, whether to replace the archaic platform and French examples of railway that it was linked by railway to Ghent and outside the city with a new station inside architecture (façade) were already using Antwerp in Belgium in 1842, before it was the city, which the military again resisted the metaphor of the gateway with arcades, linked to Paris (only 220 km away) in 1846. and which would entail heavy land portico and monumental arch elements, At that time, Lille was still surrounded by purchase costs. This dilemma called the expressing the grandeur of the city. When its 17th-century Vauban fortified city wall, future of Lille into question. Would it be the Northern Railway Company so the station—actually a simple platform— an important communication point announced that it would be recycling the was built outside the city. From then on, between Paris and Belgium, or a stone from the single-storey eight-bay the inconvenient location of Lille Station secondary intermediate relay isolated Paris Gare du Nord station for use at Lille was debated periodically between the City from the modern railway network? The Station, the City Council was scandalized Lille-Flandres Station (Author) Lille-Europe TGV Station (Author) 44 Japan Railway & Transport Review 20 • June 1999 Copyright © 1999 EJRCF. All rights reserved. by such a proposition for a growing city of such importance. 'Our mission is to Figure 1 Lille Railway Station Façade in 1871 before Addition of Rear Train create a big city.' recalled the mayor Shed during a strained meeting in 1864. Once again, a compromise was discussed. The final project consisted of a monumental embellishment by adding a ninth bay, a second storey, and a clock to the former Parisian façade. In the late 1880s, an adjacent hotel and a splendid cast-iron train-shed at the rear were added to complete the project. However, the result today seems much more like a collage rather than an homo- geneous and powerful single building. Such a monumental station building also required a worthy urban frame rather than the existing crowded urban fabric inherited Source: BNF from the middle-ages which was a serious obstacle between the economic centre of the city and the new city gateway. While the new station was being built, the 20-m Figure 2 Lille City Plan in 1871 with New Boulevard linking Old City and Suburbs (BNF) wide road called rue de la Gare (renamed rue Faidherbe in 1880) was built in 1869 based on Haussmann design principles— linking important urban poles while bringing open space and light. The axis focused on the station in the east and the theatre in the west, adjacent to the ancient Grand-Place and Stock Exchange, and presented elegant and homogeneous five- storey Parisian-style buildings on both sides. Unfortunately, the theatre was destroyed by fire in 1903, so the street lost half its elegant appearance. A Continuous Polemic Although Lille Station still stands today as Lille-Flandres, its controversial position Source: BNF within the city provoked nearly 100 years of lively discussion interrupted only by during this long period, there were other In 1858, several nearby towns, mostly World War II. Successive construction and crucial opportunities related to new global south of the city walls, were incorporated extension stages offered many opportu- visions for the city, such as urban design into the city, suddenly doubling its size. nities to achieve a much more ambitious competitions. The protagonists of the The enlarged city boundaries and removal urban project by really including this urban role of the railway station were of the walls completely transformed the ‘central’ station in the heart of the city rather divided into two main camps: the urban scale—from 92,000 inhabitants in than keeping it on the edge. Moreover, economists, and the engineers. 1858 to 170,000 in 1868—and required Copyright © 1999 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Japan Railway & Transport Review 20 • June 1999 45 From Lille-Flandres to Lille-Europe a new city plan to articulate the densely question of modern city communications, 1919 Cornudet Law required the local populated heart of the city and former based on economic arguments. Some authorities of cities to launch town scattered suburbs. The City Council proposed building a new freight station planning competitions where candidates organized a planning competition based close to the port to form a competitive should study urban improvement on a detailed programme with primary industrial complex, while others planned and extension problems. In Lille, the focus on communication between the to transfer the passenger station into the competition mentioned major transforma- city's commercial and industrial sections. heart of the new extended city, similar to tion of the whole railway network, among The first priority was rapid and direct Lyon Central Station, from where new several requirements. In fact, in 1919, the connection between the freight station boulevards would emerge. The first City Council, the Northern Railway and port on the River Deule—adjacent to proposal was quite visionary—a huge Company and the Ministry of Public the citadel to the west. The second marshalling yard called Lille-Délivrance Works agreed to demolish and move the priority was keeping the traditional would be built there in 1921, but the passenger railway station rather than economic centre in order to maintain second proposal showed that the station extend the existing terminal. The plan property values in the old city. The was adopting a new monumental and envisioned creation of a terminal through winning project, designed by the local symbolic role, expressing the city's status, station located 500-m behind the existing architect, E. Vandenbergh, respected the power, and dimensions and controlling its one, on a site free from the walls. The City Council’s request to connect the old spatial structure. competition winner, designed by the city and suburbs by creating a 30-m wide In terms of town planning, 1919 was the famous architect, E. Dubuisson, used the tree-lined boulevard commanding a turning point for main French cities. Some new station location as a focal point for sub-network of public squares. However, were partially damaged during World the urban structure of the whole area. But several other projects took much more War I but most were still surrounded by strong resistance from Chamber-of- radical or ambitious positions on the restraining and obsolete fortifications. The Commerce members and from prominent local traders against moving the station far from the vital economic heart of the Figure 3 Lille Railway Network Envisioned in 1930s city, quickly overturned the decision. In fact, technical reasons were behind the City Council idea; they were considering N the move as part of a much bigger infra- structure project that became apparent a decade later—the construction of a more convenient railway loop for the growing Gare de la national and international traffic, such as Gare Lille la LAMBERSART St ANDRE Madelaine Délivrance SEQUEDIN Gare Calais-Berlin-Warsaw. Intermediate local stations at the southern edge of the city Gare annexe HAUBOURDIN would eliminate the old branch line and CITADELLE Gare d'Haubourdin its dangerous level crossings. After tense Boulevard de Lille LOOS Roubaix Tourcoing negotiations, the project was scheduled Gare Actuelle to start in 1934 with completion 15 years LILLE later.