Woerden Station

By royal decree of May 20, 1845, King Willem II granted a concession for the construction of the line Utrecht – Rotterdam to the Dutch Rhine Railway Company. Along the route, work chains were built for supervisors who oversaw the construction of the railway line. This resulted in nine work chains along the railway. The work chains along the railway were utilized as a station after the line was completed.

Woerden, where five trains to and from Utrecht stopped daily, also received a station. The wooden train station was built in 1854, concurrently with the construction of the railway line by the Dutch Rhine Railway Company. Due to the growing number of passengers, partly because of the opening of the Leiden-Utrecht line in 1878, a plan was made in 1910 for the construction of a new station in Woerden. The plan had to account for the unobstructed passing of express trains, stopping trains for the directions Utrecht, Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, and Leiden. Safety of the passengers who needed to reach the platforms was also considered.

The new station was designed by chief engineer W. de Jong and included a main building, a service building, a platform covering with a bridge, stairs, and a goods shed. An article in the “Bouwkundig Weekblad” described De Jong's complex as follows: “The main building is arranged so that the public has access to the building. After passing through a draft portal, one enters the entrance hall, which contains the ticket counters and the luggage bench. From here, one passes through the control and enters a stairwell. A staircase leads to the bridge over the tracks to the platforms. On this floor, there are waiting rooms, designed to minimize the number of stairs passengers have to climb.”

Construction of the station began in 1911 and was completed in 1913. The station building and the goods shed were constructed from red brick with bands and fillings of gray-white stone. The roofs of the main building and the annex were covered with red tiles. The bridge, stairs, and platform covering were made of iron. The front of the station was beautified by the creation of a forecourt with flower beds, a clock, and chestnut trees. Additionally, the renowned landscape architect Otto Schultz designed a railway garden, which significantly contributed to an attractive entrance to the station building. In the 1950s, the forecourt was narrowed due to increasing traffic congestion.

Due to the extensive renovations in 1984-1985, nothing remains of the original greenery. In front of the station, a bus station, taxi rank, parking lot, and bike sheds were constructed. A new access road and various foot and bike paths were laid out. Of the station buildings, only the main building and the adjacent service building remain. The goods shed was demolished in 1987.

In the mid-1990s, the station underwent extensive renovations. A new pedestrian bridge was created, and the tracks were doubled to improve train flow. Despite the profound changes in the immediate and indirect vicinity, the station building and the service building retained their old appearance.

routeburo