Sopot railway station

The station features two island platforms, of which one functions as the regional commuter SKM stop and the other for long-distance services. The platforms are accessible through two underpasses, one of which connects both tracks. The ticket offices are open all day long.

The station around 1890.

One of the old station buildings in 2006.

The station was built in the years 1868–1870.[1] The railway reached Sopot from Gdańsk (11.7 km) on 1 July 1870. On 1 September of the same year the line from Slupsk and Gdynia (119.5 km) reached Sopot.

In 1907 the first overpass in Sopot was built at ul. Podjazd and in 1909 a pedestrian tunnel was built.

In 1884 the railway station was used by 134,709 passengers. In 1925 this was 11x greater with 1,522,672 passengers. For comparison, at the station Gdańsk Główny in the same year 3,445,006 tickets were sold. In 1909 Sopot had direct train connections from Berlin, Bydgoszcz, Konigsberg, St. Petersburg, Poznan, Szczecin, Torun and Warsaw.

In 1912 the first work began for the construction of a separate pair of tracks for urban traffic from Gdańsk Główny towards Sopot. The work interrupted by the outbreak of World War I.[2] This line was completed between Gdańsk and Sopot Wyścigi in 1925. After World War II, in 1950, it was decided to continue work on the separation of suburban traffic. In 1952 SKM arrived in Sopot and a year later, on 22 July 1953 it was extended to Gdynia (one track). On 1 May 1954 the second track was opened.[3]

Identical or similar stations were built in Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz, Gdańsk Oliwa, Gdynia Chylonia, Reda, Wejherowo and probably in Lębork. Most of the pre-war station and buildings no longer exist, except for the original platform roofs. In 1945, the original station building was burned down by Soviet troops advancing along the railway tracks on Danzig (Gdansk) from Gdynia in the northwest. In the area of the station resistance was encountered and strongly suppressed.[4] In 1947, the station was rebuilt and the ground floor of the old main building saw the construction in 1972 of the functional/social-realist second station building.

The old station as seen in 2011.

The functionalist 1970s ticket building was torn down in 2013 to make way for a complete redevelopment of the entire station and its surrounding area. This development project was completed and opened on 18 December 2015 after some delays. The station area is now known as Sopot Centrum.

The station is served by the following services:

• EuroCity services (EC) Gdynia - Gdansk - Bydgoszcz - Poznan - Rzepin - Frankfurt (Oder) - Berlin
• EuroCity services (EC) Gdynia - Gdansk - Malbork - Warsaw - Katowice - Bohumin - Ostrava - Prerov - Breclav - Vienna
• Intercity services Gdynia - Gdansk - Malbork - Warsaw - Krakow - Rzeszow
• Intercity services Gdynia - Gdansk - Malbork - Warsaw - Katowice - Bielsko-Biala
• Intercity services Gdynia - Gdansk - Bydgoszcz - Torun - Kutno - Lowicz - Warsaw - Lublin - Rzeszow - Zagorz / Przemysl
• Intercity services Gdynia - Gdansk - Bydgoszcz - Torun - Kutno - Lodz - Czestochowa - Katowice - Bielsko-Biala
• Intercity services Gdynia - Gdansk - Bydgoszcz - Torun - Kutno - Lodz - Czestochowa - Krakow - Zakopane
• Intercity services Gdynia - Gdansk - Bydgoszcz - Poznan - Wroclaw / Zielona Gora
• Intercity services Szczecin - Stargard - Bialogard - Koszalin - Slupsk - Lebork - Gdynia - Gdansk - Malbork - Elblag - Olsztyn - Elk - Bialystok
• Regional services (R) Gdynia - Sopot - Gdansk - Tczew - Malbork - Elblag - Ilawa - Olsztyn
• Regional services (R) Gdynia - Sopot - Gdansk - Tczew - Laskowice - Bydgoszcz
• Szybka Kolej Miejska services (SKM) Wejherowo - Reda - Rumia - Gdynia - Sopot - Gdansk

• Media related to Sopot train station at Wikimedia Commons
• Sopot at Google Local

• This article is based upon a translation of the Polish language version as of October 2016.