Twa-ts'uk-men Station

Tjo-ts'jakw-men Railway Station 朱雀門驛, tjo-ts'jakw-men-ljêk
NRC, Metro, IRRR, THSR, Airport Railway
Location	№s 1~2 South Blvd. E., Kien-k'ang, Inner Region, 10190 Themiclesia
Elevation	51 m
Owned by	NRC Kien-k'ang Metro Inner Region Regional Railway
Operated by	NRC Kien-k'ang Metro Inner Region Regional Railway
Line(s)	NRC Traverse Main Line NRC Inland Main Line Trans-Hemithean Railway Metro Blue Line Metro Red Line Metro Green Line Metro Orange Line Metro Inner Circle Line IRRR Line 1 IRRR Line 2 IRRR Line 5 HSR Inland Main Line HSR Traverse Main Line Airport Railway
Platforms	25 island 2 side
Tracks	123
Connections	Metropolitan Omnibus taxicabs
Construction
Structure type	mixed
Depth	42 m
Platform levels	3
Parking	3232
Bicycle facilities	652
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	382
History
Opened	1857 (1857)
Rebuilt	1903
Electrified	1912
Traffic
Passengers (2015)	avg. 722,000 per diem

The Tjo-ts′jawk-men Station (朱雀門驛, tjo-ts′jawk-men-ljêk) is a passenger and freight railway station situated in Kien-k'ang, Inner Region, Themiclesia. Established on the junction of the Inland Main Line and the Traverse Main Line, the station now hosts the National Railway, two lines of the Inner Region Regional Railway, four lines of the Kien-k'ang Metropolitan Rail, the Themiclesian High Speed Rail, the Airport Metro, the Metropolitan Omnibus Terminal, and a taxicab hub; furthermore, it is connected to four hotels, three underground shopping malls, six shopping centres, the Kien-k'ang Financial Centre, amongst other local edifices. It is the largest station in Themiclesia by passenger volume and floor area (but not land area), serving over 700,000 people a day on average (est. 2015). Across its six station buildings, it possesses three storeys above ground and five below.

The station is a cultural landmark, transportation hub, and commercial centre for the capital city Kien-k'ang. Much of this prosperity sprang up around the station due to its passenger traffic.

History

19th century

Tjo-ts′jakw-men was originally the eastern terminus of the Kien-k'ang to P′a′ Line that became operational in 1857. It was named for the Tjo-ts′jakw-men, the city's main southern gate, roughly 500 meters to its south. The line ended there as it was an important marketplace and entrepot for the entire southern interior of Themiclesia. The station's several tracks ran roughly in the east-west direction. To the east was the Kien-k'ang Marshalling Yard, which was established in 1873 when the station's internal yard proved insufficient and expanded in 1905 to extend some 800 metres northeast from the eastern edge of the station. The yard was placed there as it was near one of the busiest docks of the Kronh Canal, through which most of the city's freight and merchandise moved before the advent of motor vehicles. South of the yard and east of the passenger platforms was a roundhouse completed in 1890.  

The first major expansion of the station occurred in the mid-1880s when the Kien-k′ang to P′a′ Line was connected to the Inland Line, which ran across the city's eastern fringes, several kilometers away. As there was insufficient space east of the yard to build the connecting line, it was built on the west and connected to the northern sidings of the station, which meant the main lines were now opposite the station. This introduced a great deal of inconvenience when passengers had to cross the station at track level.

Early 20th century

Originally, both passengers and freight entered the station through a small building on the south and flatter side of the station. The north side of the station yard was 2 m higher than the south and had to be excavated slightly to provide a level yard. However, as passenger volume outgrew the small building, a new and larger passenger terminal was erected in 1903 on the station's north and higher side, over a mezzanine layer that both served as a level foundation and elevated the building for a more impressive appearance. The station ran parallel to the tracks and measured 250 m east-west and 42 m deep. Its glass roof was spanned by steel arches, and the façade was in neoclassical style. The original building was then dedicated to freight traffic, only burning down in 1940, due to the Pan-Septentrion War.

Also in 1902, the first line of the Kien-k'ang Metropolitan Railway was completed. Its station was not connected to that of the NRC's and sat roughly across South Boulevard. In 1905, the second Metro line entered service, on the south side of the station, west of the freight terminal.

By 1910, the three passenger platforms (with five tracks), on the north of the station, was augmented by a fourth platform with two tracks. While passenger trains were usually assembled and maintained in the yard between the passenger and freight sides, the new passenger platform forced the three utility platforms south, where maintenance work took place. The assembly of some trains was thus moved to Tl′jang-′rjum Station, where a more spacious yard was still available.

In the 1920s, the amount of motor vehicles in Kien-k'ang rose by tenfold. While pedestrians have been able to walk, since 1905, between the two sides of the station through bridges that extended from the mezzanine level, level crossings were all but eliminated on both sides of the station for more than a half a mile in either direction; this is largely due to the expanding number of parallel tracks on which the Metro, regional railway, and NRC services ran, at different schedules. In 1923, the NRC built a 12-metre wide overpass for vehicles on the west side of the station, crossing its 350 m depth; this was repeated on the east side in 1927. The mezzanine level originally extended over only three platforms that served passenger traffic but was enlarged to cover at least the middle section of the the fourth platform.

These extensions left the space between the passenger and freight terminals partly covered. In 1931, with the expectation of leasing the space above the entire yard to merchants, the mezzanine level was extended over the entire yard, and the omnibus terminal was moved into the mezzanine level, with its bays opening into the western overpass. This change cleared busses of the space before the station, which were causing considerable congestion due to their prolonged waiting times. The idea of integrating services into a single structure thus became central to the station's future expansions, though it may also have been aimed to keeping vehicular traffic as unimpeded around the station as possible.

Due to the height differences between the two sides of the station, the extended mezzanine level reached the second storey of the freight platform south of the yard and was there connected to the freight terminal. The outbreak of the Pan-Septentrion War in earnest prevented addition work on the station until 1942, when initial repairs began. The freight platform was redesignated as a military goods platform, with two new platforms, providing four additional tracks, staggered next to it. A larger freight terminal, exceptionally sparse due to wartime economy, was erected on the ruins of the burnt terminal originally built in 1854. The new freight terminal remains a subject of condescension by locals, its purported ugliness contrasting with the passenger terminal's ornate interiors and exteriors.

Late 20th century

In 1947, the Kien-k'ang Metro resurrected pre-war plans to expand its network with two additional lines under the existing track level. The Orange and Green lines entered construction in 1950 and became operational at Tjo-ts′jakw-men in late 1952 and mid-1954 respectively. To pursue integration and accommodate ticketing operations on a sub-mezzanine, the lines were dug at an unprecedented depth of 17 metres beneath the NRC's tracks. As buildings stood above the exposed roof of the existing mezzanine, the sub-mezzanine, roughly at 12 m under the NRC level, was designed to connect both new lines and avoid the now-buried tracks of the Blue and Red lines. Additionally, there was considerable commercial space in the new level that would belong to the Kien-k'ang Metro. The sub-mezzanine level was the first true underground level of the station, as the NRC's track level was technically at ground level.

The addition of the Themiclesian High Speed Rail presented a challenge to the NRC. One plan called for replacing the switching yard that was still in use with HSR platforms, and another required digging a new tunnel under both the NRC and Metro platforms. The former plan was originally preferred, though operational difficulties so implied (the HSR sharing the four-track tunnel with conventional services) compelled the NRC to elect the latter plan. Work began in 1960 and was complete by 1963 amidst public concern. The HSR's ticketing operation required an extension to the sub-mezzanine level owned by the Kien-k'ang Metro. The interior of the new area was decorated by the HSR's architect E. E. Ericson, who otherwise was responsible for new constructions along the road. Reportedly, Ericson disliked working with the cramped and inflexible spaces underground.

The 60s also saw the opening of the underground shopping malls that ran under the roads bounding the station's infrastructure, bridging commercial establishments and opening into the mezzanines. A company jointly owned by the adjoining department stores initially owned these malls that catered to fast-paced purchases. It was thought that instead of waiting in the concourse, passengers could shop while in transit. Shoppers going from one department store to another could also stay within an enclosed space rather than emerging onto street level, where the presence of taxicabs and busses might lure them away; though that lure also existed with the underground malls opening into the Metro system, it was thought passenger traffic would more than offset this problem. The NRC was endeared to this plan as it provided more exits and reduced traffic at concourse level, which was short of seating space.

In 1969, the Inner Region Regional Railway was privatized and relocated its services to a new platform layer further below that of the Metro Orange and Green lines. These new platforms were located under the eastern approach of the NRC tracks. A further lobby was constructed above the three roughly-parallel regional lines. To distinguish this lobby, where ticketing and other IRRR offices were located, from the sub-mezzanine level (which was so named after its completion in 1952), the newer lobby was called the lower mezzanine. In 1970 they were renamed to B1 and B2 respectively, in an early effort to ease the infamous confusion that would later characterize the station; however, this change was not positively received, as discussed below. A new building was erected adjoining the luggage terminal east of the concourse to represent the IRRR's autonomous operation, though it could be accessed from was simply called the "new station" by locals.

The newest service at the station arrived in the 70s and 80s. An airport railway was planned in 1974 and completed in 1979 to connect the city to the Kien-k'ang International Airport, some 70 km away and actually located in Ram-ling County, so that arrivals had an option other than a bus ride along the frequently-congested highway. Its two platform were located under those of the Metro Blue line. Another building, called "new station south" was erected over the mezzanine level (as a stand-alone terminus) for the Airport Railway. It was hoped traffic might be separated from the existing network, but under public pressure that service was made accessible from both the sub-mezzanine and an extension of the lower mezzanine, which provided access to the bus stations and the concourse building. The 1969 station was then disambiguated as "new station north".

The Metro Circle line was completed in 1985 with its platform parallel and partly under the HSR service. It opened into the South Mall (from which transit to the other services was possible) and initially had no street-level exits. The abandoned roundhouse was converted into a railway museum in 1986.

Structure

Street level

The station, broadly speaking, has six main buildings on the street level.

The main passenger concourse is a 250-metre long, 45-meter wide concourse spanned by a glass roof suspended 15 meters above floor level, long side in the east-west direction. The main entrance is situated on the north side, roughly at its centre, though access points dot its perimeter. The concourse houses one portion of the NRC's ticketing office, and restaurants, bookstalls, and other small shops exist along the elongated building.

East of the passenger concourse is the luggage terminal, where they may be sent and received if checked by the traveller. This is a two-storey building completed in the 20s to avoid clusters of luggage cases obscuring the view of the station. West of the concourse is the NRC's station office, which is a three-storey building disguised to look like a two-storey one.

Mezzanine

The mezzanine level's ceiling is above current ground level, and its floor below. The open area of the level is not as long as the concourse, but it extends further south. Beyond its two sides on the east and west, there is parking space. The northern half of the mazzanine houses the ticketing windows of all services that share the station. The southern half of the level houses bus stops and taxicab queues.

Ground level

Though called the "ground level", it is under the Mezzanine, which is already partly underground when viewed from the north. There are six island platforms and one side platform, for a total of 13 tracks, accessed by escelators from the mezzanine level. South of these platforms, there are 32 tracks that compose of the switching yard, where trains are assembled, disassembled, and inspected; further south, two island platforms and one side platform allow freight loading and unloading. Cargo lifts provide access to these platforms, in addition to personnel lifts.

• Platform 1:
  • Not usually in use; formerly used for limited expresses via the Trans-Hemithean Railway
• Platform 2
  • North side: ordinary trains westbound (north) via TML & CML
  • South side: ordinary trains westbound (south) via TML & CML
• Platform 3
  • North side: express trains westbound (north) via TML & CML
  • South side: express trains westbound (south) via TML & CML
• Platform 4
  • North side: ordinary trains eastbound (north) via TML & IML
  • South side: express express trains eastbound (north) via TML & IML
• Platform 5
  • North side: express trains eastbound (north) via TML & IML
  • South side: ordinary trains eastbound (north) via TML & IML
• Platform A
  • North side: trains bound for reversal
  • South side: trains bound for reversal, connection to subway
• Platform 7
  • North side: employee, postal, military, and charter trains
  • South side: employee, postal, military, and charter trains

To the north of the NRC tracks and directly beneath the road above, Underground Mall №1 is situated on this level. This mall is most noted for its selection of restaurants providing casual dining. Opposite the freight station, Underground Mall №2 is found, parallel to №1. As the south side of the station has been rejuvenated from a largely industrial area into one of leisure and fashion, №2 hosts a variety of fashion apparel stores.

B1

Kien-k'ang Metro's Blue and Red Lines are found on this level.

B2

Kien-k'ang Metro's Orange Line, Green Line, and the Operational Control Centre are fond on this level.

Lower Mezzanine

This level offers access to the THSR, Lines 1 and 5 of the IRRR, and the Airport Metro.

B3

This level is shared by the Themiclesian High Speed Rail, Lines 1 and 5 of the Inner Region Regional Railway, and the Airport Metro. Technically, Line 5 of the IRRR is around ten meters deeper than the three others, but they are accessed from the same lower mezzanine level.

Closed areas

• The TTM Station has long been criticized for its confusing layout and repressive atmosphere. Much of this is attributable to the desity of pillars and low ceilings, which is a product of digging successively deeper levels under existing structures.
• The Station has long been suspected to harbour criminals hiding in secret rooms or abandoned passageways not regularly patrolled. The most popular urban legends relay that the Triads regularly hold meetings in the old infirmary dating to before the construction of the current station building in 1915. This has been shown to be false, as the place that the old infirmary occupied is now part of the Underground Mall. While a number of similar locales do exist, staying at length in one of these places could be hazardous to human health, since there is no ventilation to keep noxious gasses from accumulating in these areas. There are also no operational toilets in their vicinity (having been sealed off to prevent leakage).
  • One such area is the ramp leading from the façade of the Station to the Metro Blue Line; that ramp was closed in the 1960s and superceded by escelators and stairs going through the Underground Mall.
  • Another area is the small landing of escelators that went through the ground level and then u-turned to lead further down to B1. This area was closed off after two tracks were redirected, allowing a new escelator to connect to its destination uninterrupted. While significant quantites of opium and smoking pipes were found there in 2001, the Station Master has told the public that there is no evidence the opium was ever intended for anything but medical use and was "probably left there by a forgetful doctor in the 1950s".
  • Amateur explorers' scans of the Station's geography reveals a structure far more complex than official plans reveal, to which the Station has stated that, for safety reasons, not all places in the Station can be made available or even konwn to the public; this statement, made in 1970, has been cited as evidence for extra-terrestrial activities by some individuals.

2003 attacks

The TTM Station was the site of an violent incident between the Grjek-N-lu′ Cult and the Kien-k'ang Metropolitan Police, possibly the largest-scale terrorist attack in Septentrion up to that point. The cult attempted to barricade themselves in the building, haveing disseminated sarin gas in several other stations on the Kien-k'ang Metro. The cultists, who number over a thousand, arrived with firearms and other weapons close to 9:00 AM on December 30th, 2003, and began to open fire on the public, while closing off all entrances of the station. There are approximately 132 civilian casalties, and the police were notified promptly but not enough to prevent the cultists from exploding the main doorways, barring police entry. It is believed that the cult thought the Third World War was approaching, and the only place safe from its nuclear arsenals was the TTM Station. This is probably an extension of the popular saying that the Station was so deep that not even radiation could penetrate it. As a result, the Traverse Main Line was sealed off, and the Kien-k'ang Metro was suspended, as the Operational Control Centre was seized.

After the cultists secured the station, the police began to probe other access points, which included all the railway tunnels that led to the station in all directions; however, the cultists had anticipated this tactic and proceeded to drive locomotives into the tunnels to ward off police approaching from them. The police cut power, but there was an extensive source of backup electricity available in the station, as required by law. Since the station had more than 200 access points, a number of them were either unknown to the cultists or left unguarded. The police strove for entry in these points, but in every case they were expelled by cultist fire. Security forces additionally faced the challenge of distinguishing, in the complete darkness, between civilians trapped in the station and cultists, since the latter wore no distinctive clothing. The situation tended towards a stalemate by the middle of January 2014. The Themiclesian government appealed for assistance from foreign states, and many governments were forthcoming to send specialist teams.

The option of destroying the station was quickly dismissed due to the presence of large numbers of civilians trapped in the station, who were effectively hostages. The cultists did not attempt to establish communication with the outside world. In February, over 4,000 policemen were assembled in the capital city for a major offensive from all known points of entry. The idea behind this strategy is that the rebels had access to a working network of CCTV, which revealed the direction of the police's advance, allowing it to concentrate defences in that area; attacking in every direction at once would, theoretically, stretch the cult's manpower so thin that breaching it should be easy. Yet when the attack began, the police faced severe resistance in every front, sometimes receiving casualties from shots fired from rooms leading off a corridor. Many of these rooms did not appear on the building's floorplan, and additional hallways, alcoves, and hidden pipework entirely wide enough to allow humans to pass were discovered frequently.

Nevertheless, the police managed to make steady advances, if only room-by-room. By the beginning of March, they managed to compress the cult-held areas to a limited number of platforms and hallways, as well as the NRC level. Making headway, the remaining cultists were coralled into the NRC level, which was particularly poorly lit; even with floodlights brought in, pillars were staggered in such a way that blocked off all light in any direction. The police barricaded themselves with the platforms that laid before the switching yard. A fierce shoot-out ensued between the cultists and policemen for the next five days, claiming the lives of over 100 cultists and 89 policemen. Just as the shoot-out seemed to be over, the cultists broke for the secret stairwell that led to the level below, allowing some of them to attack the police's rear on the NRC level. Another 1,000 policemen from nearly regions were summoned to reinforce the police currently trapped inside; the new arrivals approached through emergency tunnels that connected the tracks between levels, which surprised the cultists. Eventually, in what could be described as a six-way shoot-out, the cultists surrendered. Yet their leader and dozens of his favourites escaped through the sewerage, to the exasperation of the nation's government.

The TTM Station was restored to normal operation at the beginning of April. Yet when asked what has the Station done to prevent a similar event in the future, its director replied that it was an "unfortunate event that could not be anticipated, and there is no reason to believe that it would ever happen again." The government stationed a few more policemen in the station in the aftermath of the incident.

See also

• Themiclesia