Inventing the Future. Early Railway Station Planning and Mechelen's ‘Central Station', 1835–1845

Abstract

The introduction of a railway system undoubtedly contributed to important impacts inspatial planning. Railroads contribute to urbanisation and the growth of the city population. And stations may be important catalysts in this process. Paul Van Heesvelde makes an analysis of the initial status, which shows that stations didn’t get the attention they deserved. The railway station of Mechelen, being the first to be constructed on the network, gives an impression of the shortcomings in the early railway station buildings. Their implantation strongly depended on maintenance requirements for the rolling material, rather than on the demand for transportation. The distances that locomotives covered in between two check-ups were initially relatively short, so the distance between maintenance points played an important role. In most cases, maintenance points and locomotive depots co-located with historical centres. From a technical point of view, the choice of location was correct, but therefore, lots of stations could not contribute to a sound vision on town planning. Moreover, travel commodities were kept to a minimum, due to an underestimated travel demand. The financing of the project could no longer keep up with the overwhelming success since originally, the financing was planned to be allocated to the operator of the railway system. The minor attention given to the stations during the elaboration of the network also clearly demonstrates that one presumed inferior importance of these locations in the initial phase.