Jihlava-Town Train Station (Jihlava-město)

   
During the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Vienna and Prague were connected by the “imperial road”, which ran through Znojmo, Jihlava, and Německý Brod (now Havlíčkův Brod). The road was built between 1740 and 1750 and served as the only means of transport between the metropolises. With the development of the Industrial Revolution, the road capacity was no longer sufficient and an alternative in the form of a railway connection was proposed. The imperial court of Franz II was not too keen on novelties, and several years passed of unsuccessful proposals for various route variants and negotiations on the location of the station before a railway link between Vienna and Prague, which would also pass through Jihlava, was considered.

It was not until 25 January 1871, now under the reign of Franz Joseph I, that the operation on the line between Německý Brod and Jihlava, as a stretch of the Austrian Northwestern Railway (Österreichische Nordwestbahn, ÖNWB), commenced. At the same time, a newly built railway station called Iglau (from 1888, Iglau Nordwestbahnhof, Jihlava severozápadní nádraží, now Jihlava hlavní nádraží) was opened to the public, about 2.7 km from the city centre. The line between Jihlava and Znojmo was opened three months later, on 23 April 1871. The entire main line led from Vienna through Znojmo, Jihlava, Německý Brod, Čáslav, Kolín, and Mladá Boleslav.

At that time, discussions were also held about the Bohemian-Moravian Transversal Railway (Böhmisch-Mährische Transversalbahn, BMTB) and its connection with the ÖNWB, which would run through Jihlava and connect the monarchy along a parallel line. One of the first projects proposed a railway connection between the borderlands and Bavaria, via Domažlice, Klatovy, Písek, Tábor, Jihlava, Brno, Uherský Brod, via the Vlárský Pass and the Váh Valley up to Žilina. Another project proposed the route Jihlava – Jindřichův Hradec – Třeboň – České Budějovice to connect to the Empress Elisabeth Railway (Kaiserin Elisabeth-Bahn, KEB) from České Budějovice via Linz to Vienna. In 1874, the possible route Brno – Jihlava – Jindřichův Hradec – České Budějovice – border with Bavaria was also discussed in Jihlava.

In 1883, Emperor Franz Joseph I approved the Act on the Construction of the Czech-Moravian Transversal Railway,permitting the construction of the Czech-Moravian Transversal Railway (BMTB). The approved route eventually led from Jihlava via Kostelec, Horní Cerekev, and Jindřichův Hradec to Veselí nad Lužnicí. The railway was built by Osvald Životský-Josef Hrabě-Josef Nezdaraand the Brno company Redlich Brothers and Berger (Bratři Redlichové a Berger), which had proved itself during a difficult construction of a line in the Alps.

The construction of a station in Jihlava was first discussed back in 1881. After several rejected proposals and debates about the building location, the station, named Stadt Iglau, was inaugurated in October 1887. It was built by Redlich Brothers and Berger(Bratři Redlichové a Berger), which also constructed the connecting line to the north-west station. In 1910, the nationalised ÖNWB renamed it Iglau Stadtbahnhof (Jihlava Town Station), and in 1945, it changed its name to Jihlava město(Jihlava Town).

The 34 × 11.3 m station building was built according to the unified plans of the General Rail Safety Inspection Office based in Vienna, in the characteristic style of the imperial railway architecture. The plans were designed and approved by the architect Emil Eysank von Marienfels, imperial councillor and chief inspector of the state railways. The building was made of fired bricks (it is now plastered). Hipped gables were lined with wood. The building had a cellar and featured a covered platform. The railway yard was situated in the curve of the railway line. From the town, it was accessed through the centre avant-corps entrance, where the ticket office and left-luggage office were located. The station master's office, the transport office, and separate first, second, and third class waiting rooms were located on the sides. In the left hand wing, there was a service warehouse and the post office. The extension on the right housed the toilets, a kitchen with a staff canteen, a storeroom with fire-extinguishing equipment, and a lamp room. The first floor provided four employee flats.

Gas lighting was introduced in 1891, and electricity in 1916. The expanding operation of the station and the entire railway resulted in an increase in the number of trains and employees. In 1890, the station building was extended to contain nine flats for employees by removing the truss, adding one more floor, and reinstating the original truss and roofing. In the same year, the General Rail Safety Inspection Office approved the extension of the locomotive rotunda to five stands. In 1892, the track was extended and other auxiliary buildings were built according to the plans approved by the General Rail Safety Inspection Office. A building permit was then issued by the Moravian Vicegerency.

The station was approached by a road built by Johann Zischka based on a project by the Jihlava Construction Directorate. The station was used for passenger transport as well as a goods station. The complex included coal storage, a water tower connected to the town’s water mains, staff quarters with flats, a building with offices for the customs clearance agent, freight handlers, freight cashier and wagon records, a coal dump, a diesel and kerosene bottling plant, a locomotive rotunda with five stands, as well as a laundry and sheds with barns belonging to the staff quarters.

A 60-metre-long wooden warehouse with a stone platform and ramps on both sides was built to the left of the reception building, with a siding leading to it. Nearby was a guard house and a depot with a segmental yard with four tracks, though nowadays the turntable and track connection are no longer there.

In 1892, a house for employees was built next to the main building on the Imperial Road (U Městského nádraží 4, no. 2414), which remains intact to this day. As the frequency of freight train dispatch increased over time, a customs office building with a flat for the customs officer was built in 1904. It was followed by a 24-metre-long brick customs warehouse, with ramps on both sides.

In 2018, an urban architectural study (by Tomáš Rusín of Atelier RAW) was prepared for the construction of a modern transport terminal, which should integrate the train station area in the future. But this is not the case – the station building will be demolished!

MP
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