Moscow Paveletsky railway station

In the Russian Empire the Ryazano-Uralskaya Railway Company controlled the largest private railway, which connected 12 densely populated provinces. Still it did not have any connection with Moscow. So the Administration of the railway sent in an application to the Government for permitting to build a new branch between Moscow and Pavelets.

In 1897 Nicholas II granted his permission to build the branch.

The branch was finished ​8 ¹⁄₂ months earlier than it was scheduled. But the new railway road did not have a terminal in Moscow.

The station was built according to the architectural canons of the time: it was a symmetric building with a heightened center, large windows, wide and comfortable doorways. There were entrances, a vestibule, luggage space, waiting rooms for public, booking-offices, a telegraph, a pharmacy, and a bar at the front. There was a large operation hall in the center which separated rooms for the first and second class passengers from the rooms for the third class passengers.

The station was a brick building on a quarrystone foundation. It had two floors (three in the domed part) and many attics above the flanking buildings. The length of the station building was 83.7 metres (275 ft). External walls were ​2 ¹⁄₂ bricks deep, quite solid for a low building. External walls were revetted with special brick, the socle was revetted with ashlar, there were stucco mouldings in the vestibule and hall cornices. The solidity and reliability was felt in everything.

At the railway side there were service rooms, gendarme rooms, main tsar's rooms and outlets to the platforms. The railway station was very comfortable for its time, it was efficiently sited, had original heating services and a smart amphora turret used as a flagstaff.

The station was opened on 1 September 1900. A thanksgiving service with water consecration took place to mark the station's opening. The chief engineer V.V. Timofeev invited some other chiefs, station personnel and businessmen — future consignors of goods to the celebrations. Until the 1940s, the station was known as Saratovsky Railway Station. The railway between Moscow and Pavelets functioned already several months prior to the opening of the station, and the trains were rerouted to Kursky railway station.[1]

View of the platforms

The old Paveletsky station was a part of the ensemble of the city square. When in 1980 it was decided to reconstruct the station the demands to the project were very strict. It was necessary to provide up-to-date comfort for passengers and simultaneously to retain the square skyline.

The reconstruction was realized by Mostransstroy trust. Architects A.Gurkov, S.Kuznetsova and A.Vorontsov solved the complicated constructive problem, keeping the old station's style. The new Paveletskiy station was re-opened on 3 November 1987.[1]

The new station is six times larger by volume and four times by carrying capacity than the old one. It is capable to receive, serve and station in its halls about 10,000 people at an hour. Now it is a large transport complex.

From the square the building seems to have one floor. But in fact there are three levels of passenger rooms, a technical level, and up-to-date service systems inside.

The museum of the Moscow Railway incorporates the former Museum of Lenin’s funeral train, including the locomotive and cars of Lenin's funeral train. The museum also documents the history of the Moscow Railway, and has outdoor exhibits at the Moscow Rizhsky railway station.[2]

Suburban commuter trains (elektrichka) connect Paveletsky station with stations and platforms of the Paveletsky suburban railway line, in particular, with the towns of Vidnoye (Rastorguyevo railway platform), Domodedovo, Stupino, Kashira, and Ozherelye, as well as with the Domodedovo Airport.

In addition to regular suburban trains, Paveletsky station is connected to Domodedovo International Airport by Aeroexpress trains.[3] They were launched on 3 August 2002.[1] They are not operated by Russian Railways though they use the same tracks.