Twa-ts'uk-men Station
To-ts′uk-men Railway Station 朱雀門驛, to-ts′uk-men-lêk | |
|---|---|
| NRC, Metro, IRRR, THSR, Airport Railway | |
| Location | №s 1 – 2 South Blvd. E., Kien-k'ang, 10190 Themiclesia |
| Elevation | 51 m |
| Owned by | National Railway Company Kien-k'ang Metropolitan Railway Inner Region Regional Railway Kien-k'ang Metropolitan Omnibus |
| Operated by | NRC Kien-k'ang Metro Inner Region Regional Railway Kien-k'ang Metropolitan Omnibus Other bus operators Themiclesia Post Other postal services |
| Line(s) | NRC Central Junction Railway 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 | 32 island 4 side |
| Tracks | 123 |
| Connections | Metropolitan Omnibus taxicabs |
| Construction | |
| Structure type | mixed |
| Depth | 52 m |
| Platform levels | 3 |
| Parking | 3232 |
| Bicycle facilities | 652 |
| Disabled access | Yes |
| Other information | |
| Station code | 382 |
| History | |
| Opened | 1857 |
| Rebuilt | 1897 |
| Electrified | 1983 |
| Traffic | |
| Passengers (2015) | avg. 722,000 per diem |
The To-ts′uk-men Station (朱雀門驛, to-ts′uk-men-ljêk) is a passenger and freight railway station situated in Kien-k'ang, Themiclesia. Established on the Central Junction Railway, the station now hosts National Rail, five lines of the Inner Region Regional Railway, five lines of the Kien-k'ang Metropolitan Rail, Themiclesian High Speed Rail, 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
To-ts′uk-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 To-ts′uk Gate, 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.
As railways developed in Themiclesia, many lines were connected to the capital city by terminal stations its outskirts, mainly to its north, west, and south. However, the need to transship goods from one terminus to another resulted in much congestion through the core of the city. To alleviate congestion, the city commanded in 1875 that wagons not for delivery could only traverse the city at night; however, this policy aroused protestations from Kien-k'ang's denizens complaining of nocturnal noise and excess manure from "interminable streams" of wagon traffic. In 1891, the government formally entered the railway business by purchasing the National Trunk Railway, which had defaulted on its debts due to ineffective line planning. The Liberal government embraced the regulations of railways as a policy and planned a "junction railway" in the city to resolve the traffic problem.
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 contrived to look like the two-storey on the opposite side of the concourse, in the interest of symmetry.
Still east of the passenger luggage terminal is the "new station north", or the IRRR's Tjo-ts'jakw-men Station.
On the south side of the NRC's tracks, there is a "freight terminal" that is not used for that purpose since the 60s. It now serves as a sitting area for passengers who choose to enter the station from the south. Next to the freight terminal is the "new station south", which originally served as a separate terminal for the Airport Railway, though it is now connected to the mezzanines and permit ingress and egress for all the station's services.
Mezzanine
The mezzanine level is directly below the concourse and extends some 300 metres past its southern side. The southwestern corner of the mezzanine is taken up by a bus terminal, into which a spur from the western overpass extends. The bus terminal is divided into two sections along the spur, the northern part thereof serving routes southbound, and the southern part northbound. Both sections accept departing and arriving passengers. Urban busses are not distinguished from long-distance busses 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 the NRC, which also provide HSR tickets.
Ground level
The ground level, it is under the mezzanine level. There are ten island platforms and three side platforms, for a total of 23 tracks; of those, five island and one side platforms are involved in regular passenger service, accessed by escelators from the mezzanine level. Platform A, south of platform 6, is where trains bound for the wyes temporarily stop. Platforms B and C are used by the Kien-k'ang Passenger Depot (建康檢車段, kjarh-k.r′ang-kljam′-tl′ja-donh) for inspection and cleaning of carriages. There is a washing plant at the east end of platform C. South of that platform are platforms 7 and 8, where luggage, mail, and charter trains usually stop. East of platform 7 is a tunnel that connects the NRC tracks with Metro Blue tracks, though it is very infrequently used. Between platforms C and 7, there are eleven tracks that are frequently used to store carriages not in use. .r
- Platform 1: Not usually in use, formerly used for services via the Trans-Hemithean Railway
- Platform 2: Express trains westbound
- Platform 3: Ordinary trains westbound
- Platform 4: Flexible
- Platform 5: Ordinary trains eastbound
- Platform 6: Express trains eastbound
- Platform A: Trains bound for reversal (not open)
- Platform B: Maintenance work (not open)
- Platform C: Maintenance work (not open)
- Platform 7: Mail, freight, and charter trains
- Platform 8: Mail, freight, and charter trains
The freight terminal no longer accepts freight, but it is still the location where luggage, mail, and parcels are sent. As charter trains frequently depart from the southern platforms, travel groups usually assemble here for ease of identification. There are breezeways from the freight terminal connected to the mezzanine.
To the north of the NRC tracks and directly beneath the road above, the Blue Mall 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.
Kien-k'ang Metro Blue and Red lines are found on this level. The tracks of both services are considered to be on ground level even though below natural ground level, since they are accessed through the mezzanine level like the NRC track layer. The Metro Red Line platforms are located north of the concourse building, while the Blue Line station is opposite the freight terminal. Both were original above-ground services and buried in the early 20th century. After covering, Metro Red and Blue both have two island platform, each island platform serving one direction; the sides facing each other running express trains, while the outer sides the ordinary trains. Metro Red has an addition, short platform that is used by staff members to travel to the Red Line Depot, which is nearby. The Green Mall runs under the west overpass and is found on this level
B1
This level was originally called the sub-mezzanine, since its functions as a nexus between several services made it comparable. B1 provides access to the Themiclesian High-Speed Rail and Kien-k'ang Metro Orange and Green lines. The level is accessed from the mezzanine level, several surrounding buildings, the Green and Blue underground malls, and certain street-level portals. The main body of B1 does not actually reach the Green Line's platform, requiring a 40-metre tunnel towards its lobby, from which the Green mall could be reached. On the other hand, the Orange Line does not have its own lobby and is accessed from the station's B1 level, with its own street-level access points. The Metro's Operational Control Centre is found on this level.
B2
This level, originally called the "lower mezzanine", offers access to IRRR Line 1, Line 2, and Line 5, the Airport Rail, and the Metro Circle Line. B2 was originally accessed not, as many assume, from B1, but from the mezzanine level. Entry to B2 is located southeast of the mezzanine and is led by a 180° turn into a large set of staircases and escalators. The geography of the level was designed to avoid overlap with B1, engineers having raised structural concerns. In 1990, B1 was connected to an enlarged B2 through four tunnels with highly-reinforced supports. The IRRR ticketing office is located on the northeastern corner of the level, the gates to the platforms directly east of it. Those of the Metro Circle Line and the Airport Rail is located on the southern limit of the level. B2 also offers exit into the Blue Mall and Purple Mall.
Ownership and staffing
The station's floor space is officially divided amongst five separate entities, owned by the NRC, Metropolitan Omnibus Company, Kien-k'ang Metropolitan Railway, Inner Region Regional Railway, and Themiclesia Post. Due to disputes arising over maintenance and repair duties, the Common Committee supervises most of the individual operations to ensure the others are not adversely affected. These entities also regularly lease areas to each other and share costs.
Criticism
As early as the 1920s, insufficient lighting and ventilation on the newly-covered track level became a subject of criticism on several newspapers. Originally, smoke from steam locomotives would have dissipated through the natural draught the area experienced, but as the covered areas expanded, partly in the interest of creating commercial or otherwise usable space behind the concourse building, the natural ventilation and light disappeared. The lack of convenient alternatives for long- and medium-distance travellers led the NRC to focus only on the capacity of the station, rather than its environment. By the 40s, pieces of tar was dropping from the vaulted ceiling onto the tracks, and the lingering smoke darkened the originally-yellowish interior. It being difficult to supply electric lighting, gas lamps were installed in 1923. Merchants in the mezzanine level strongly opposed attempts to pipe air through the level, fearing leaks might soil their products.
In contrast with the Tl′jang-′rjum Station (昌陰驛), which served a much wealthier neighbourhood, Tjo-ts′jakw-men was reputed as a station built for the working classes, whose primary concern was adjudged to be availability of transit and safety, rather than comfort. Indeed, the station's location in the late 1800s and up to 1960 was considered a decidedly working-class neighbourhood, though high population density and need for transit to and from work made the station the best-patronized one on the entire road.
The growing number of railway and bus services centred on the station frequently caused congestions on its front and rear sides. In particular, omnibusses frequently stopped for up to half an hour before the concourse, and photography show large vehicles, many by competing lines, double- or triple-parked and soliciting travellers coming out of the station. In the 1930s, a corner of the mezzanine level was diverted for a bus terminal, receiving the city's auspices for its positive effects on traffic. The Metro Red Line station opposite the concourse also invited jay-walking, long considered a traffic menace; this too was resolved in the 30s through an extension of the mezzanine level for Metro access. From that time, the principle in the station's expansion was internal transfer from one service to another.
In the 1960s and 70s, the HSR, new IRRR platforms, the Metro Circle Line, and the Airport Rail joined the station, all necesitating pathways connecting them to the already-sprawling network of mezzanines and tunnels. At the same time, the NRC facing competition from motor cars began to expand commercial revenues by renting out spaces in the mezzanine, B1, and B2 levels. Located in the areas that virtually every passenger would go through, the stalls were hotly contested and well-patronized for most of its existence, though signage thus became obscured by advertisements. In the same vein, the station became a pedestrian bridge between the department stores that dotted its perimeter on the dual pretext of conveniencing shoppers who come and go via trasit and wish to go between stores without emerging onto street level.
The pandering to commerce attracted considerable criticism starting in 1974, when the stores in the mezzanine level agreed not to have clocks on premise so that travellers may stay longer. In response, the station postulated that by diverting traffic away from the mezzanine levels, which functioned as a nexūs for several services built during the same period, crowding would become less of a problem. This was to be accomplished by creating new tunnels not populated by merchant stalls so that travellers on a hurry could access their desired services directly, without going through the commercial areas. Some of these tunnels connect the transfer levels to each other, while others connect different platforms directly, such as those from the NRC tracks to Metro Red, Metro Red to Metro Orange, and HSR to Airport Rail.
While this initiative diverted commuters away from shoppers, it introduced a myriad of tunnels for which the station is now infamous, most of them long and winding. Added signs pointing to tunnels also contradict existing signs that guide travellers through the commercial areas, where revenue concerns forbid their removal. Moreover, since the station is shared by five separated payment zones, ticket clipping gates and barriers also became a formidable challenge to easy navigation. For example, the tunnel from HSR to IRRR is almost 300 metres long, but there is no ticketing booth inside until 1999; thus, a passenger without an IRRR ticket accepted at the unmanned gates at the IRRR end of the tunnel would have to turn back and wend through to B2 instead, causing up to 30 minutes of delay when the area is crowded. Some of these tunnels also branch off into staff offices and storage rooms, which were removed from the main levels to make space for stores in the 60s, and other areas exist solely for staff use.
Many of these unusual features encumbered law-enforcement officers tasked with apprehending terrorists that occupied the station in 2003 (viz. below), especially with lighting cut and maps with staff and abandoned areas difficult to find.
2003 incident
Incident
The station was the site of a violent incident by the Grjek-lu′ millenarian cult in the morning of Dec. 29, 2003. Some 200 of the group's agents, possessing firearms and explosives, entered the station from several directions and barricaded the concourse level, collapsing some of the stairwells and ramps to the mezzanine level. At the same time, other agents released sarin gas at other stations to divert attention, killing over 100 in a single hour. Explosives were set on many other access routes to prevent the entry of police officers. Thousands in the station escaped after emergency announcements made by the staff, before the broadcasting room was captured. Later that morning, the cultists damaged trains in the station to create more barriers. Around noon, the department stores connected to the station were evacuated, and trains bound for the station were turned back two stops from it.
With an estimated 1,000, including 345 staff, still unaccounted for, early efforts by the police to force entry were repulsed. Authorities were uncertain whether the individuals were simply unable to find safe exit, known by the cultists, or held as hostages. As booby-trapped doors had already claimed several lives, the police were hesitant to attempt other manoeuvres. As the cultists did not emerge from the station, reckless manoeuvres were discouraged by the police commissioners and eventually the city's mayor. Due to the complexity of the station's geography and lack of information from within, the authorities gained ground very slowly. Attempts to establish communication with the cultists were unsuccessful, though it was thought by February the missing individuals were still hiding and not held as hostages. An cultist anonymously told the police that those missing "can quit the great enterprise as they please", which led some fringe commentators to claim they had stayed behind willingly.
The progress from hallway to hallway and from room to room was attended by much casualty, bombs and even simple traps like removed railings and holes causing severe injury and death. Attempts to light areas were neutralized by the sheer quantity of shops and merchandise, pillars, and low ceilings. A major milestone occurred on Jan. 4 when 760 of the missing individuals were found subsisting on tinned foods and sheltering in a barricaded ventilation room on B1. Police officers nearly missed it, since an explosion was contrived to give the hallway to the room the appearance of impassability. The cultists were discovered in closely-linked network of tunnels and rooms in the abandoned depot, south of platform 6. In mid-March, the police began to attack the depot, though the cultists used the switchers on that level to inflict much damage on the authorities. On Jan. 8, many cultists surrendered the area, with most of them apprehended.
Subsequent developments
Following a thorough survey of the general area, with staff assistance, the station was declared clear on Jan. 19, 2004. The station was held by the cultists for about 10 days. Repair work continued until September, though test trains were run as early as February, after the tracks were cleared and explosives experts searched the tunnels for ordnance. Several unexploded bombs were discovered along tracks and floor area. Passenger service resumed on April 2, 2004. Passenger volume dropped from a pre-incident average of 650,000 per day to 447,000 for the remainder of 2004 and would not recover until 2009. A further four unexploded bombs were discovered between 2004 and 2006, though in all cases they were located in non-public areas and safely removed.
Both houses of Parliament first charged their respective home affairs committees to investigate the causes of the incident and to report on necessary procedures to prevent similar incidents in the future. In 2005, a joint committee was appointed with eight MPs and seven lords to oversee investigations and to draft a report. For the most part, the committee took the view that the undetected aggregation of weapons is the primary enabling fact, geography and lack of intelligence being factors which impaired police action. Moreover, the apprehension of leaders of the cult and the flight of conspirators led the Sungh Government to conclude that the ideological basis of such an attack had disappeared, so "there is no reason to believe it could occur again."
Nevertheless, from the time the station resumed passenger service, an addition 20 policemen have been stationed on site providing a total of 32 policemen in the station on most days. According to stationmaster, the primary improvement since the incident is actually over 2,000 new emergency buttons, intercoms, and telephones distributed throughout the station that permit immediate access to the staff, ambulance, and police. As it was thought the cultists actually spent several days installing all the barriers that later flustered the police, early warning and precise information as to the location of irregular occurrences was slated to improve response time and thus ability to address developing threats. Schemes such as metal detectors and military presence were early dismissed as impractical or impracticable in the consultation process.