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Building Partnership

Station building comleted

25.9.2018

The station building of the Kosice Children's Historical Railway in Čermel, which was under construction, has reached its final shape. The civic association Košice Children Railway started with its construction in 2017. After the association succeeded with the international Slovak-Hungarian project, it also got finances for the completion of this construction. The first restored station building will begin to gradually revive and fulfill its purpose in the coming period.

The visitors remember well that at the Čermeľ station there already was one wooden station building in the past, but it had to be removed in the middle of the 90's. The building was not as charming as the one, that had grown there today. A new building with architectonical elements typical to Bankov and North Kosice areas, fits well into the valley of Čermeľ and becomes an indispensable adornment at one of the entrences to the second largest city in Slovakia. Of course, along with steam locomotives and historic wagons, it becomes another attraction of the children's railway, the only one preserved in the territory of the former Czechoslovakia.

"The strong motive of our reflection was to return the railway to the form it had at the time of its inception. I myself have been a supporter of this idea, but I gradually realized that the exact copy would not be the most appropriate means of revitalizing and modernizing the railway. After all, even the railway builders themselves have already assumed that the wooden stands will once be replace the walled structures in the future, "said Ľubomír Lehotský, chairman of the Children's Railroad Košice Košice.

This is why the this demanding role has been trusted to architect with in the field experience Tomáš Haviar.

"It was an interesting challenge even because we were not the first who had addressed this issue. Even in the past, we have had predecessors who have already designed and proposed something. However, the constructions did not materialize for lack of willingness and lack of finance. This is how we embraced and accepted the city's demand for the construction to fall into the late 19th century by features that were characteristic for this part of the city, but were also applied to railway constructions," explains the architect.

Children's Railway association believes that this construction may not be the last on the railway. The call to build buildings that take into account both the recent past of the railroad (now 63 years old) but has accentuated more than a century of history of vehicles and steam locomotives on it is a challenge for the future.

"In the future, we will still be able to construct other buildings, so necessary and important for the preservation and future of the children's railway, with a uniform architectural expression. Romantic constructions can be a compromise between the demands of modern tourism and the satisfaction of children and tourists from many parts of Slovakia and the world, "adds architect and railway historian Tomáš Haviar.

"The Slovak-Hungarian project of reconstruction of two neighboring narrow-gauge railways - Kosice Children's Historical Railways (KDHŽ) and the railway in Miškovec - Lillafüredi Állami Erdei Vasút (LÁEV) was approved only at the end of 2017. For the second phase of building completion - more than 64,000 euros were granted, but costs were much higher, "explains the chairman of the civic association Ľubomír Lehotský. The project is funded by the European Union through the Interreg European Regional Development Fund.

"Building was equipped with insulation and imitation of wooden fillings. Work is not only on the façade, but also in the interior where we finished surfaces and other equipment. Perhaps the most revolutionary change in the station will be the first flush toilets, "says Igor Holéczy's from the association. In the building the public will also appreciate a mini waiting room, a souvenir shop, a cash desk or a toilet. There will also be offices of the civic association and the Young Railroad Club.
In the past, the well-known railroad had a complete infrastructure, for example, in each of the three stations there were sympathetic station buildings. Part of the railway also was a shunt VPRED, where trains could even cross. The project will also restore this shunt, which should further make the rail more attractive and increase its capacity. This will be the largest investment in railway renewal over the last decades.