Gaziantep railway station

Compared to other cities in Turkey, the railway reached Gaziantep relatively late.[2]^: 206 A national railway plan in 1938 planned rail connections to Adana and Urfa, but bypassed Gaziantep.[2]^: 199 Part of the reason was probably because of its mountainous surroundings.[2]^: 199 Until the 1950s, the closest railway station to Gaziantep was in Narlı, 55 km away.[2]^: 199 Passengers heading to Gaziantep would disembark at Narlı and then travel the remaining distance by bus or private car, which would take about 5 hours.[2]^: 201–2 Ülkü Tamer wrote that people making the drive from Narlı to Gaziantep would stop in Başpınar to eat kebab and drink tea; this practice came to an end when the Gaziantep station opened.[2]^: 201

Construction on Gaziantep station began in 1951.[2]^: 203 The main architect is apparently not known, but the initial contractor was Muammer Bozok and the work was later completed by the civil engineer Şahap Sicimoğlu.[2]^: 203–4 The station's official opening ceremony was held on 27 October 1953, and the prime minister Adnan Menderes was in attendance.[2]^: 203

The station building was completed in 1959 and the Narlı-Gaziantep line was continued to Karkamış, where it connected to the former Baghdad Railway. The station became a major hub in the southeast, with trains to Baghdad, Adana, Aleppo and Malatya. Services to Aleppo and Baghdad have since ended.

Only one train came to Gaziantep when the station was first built, and its arrival was a big event for locals.[2]^: 203 People would flock to the station to have picnics and barbecues and see the train; according to Tamer, the railway station square came to replace Kavaklık at Alleben Creek as the city's main picnic spot.[2]^: 203 Eventually, however, the novelty wore off.[2]^: 203

The train station is served by the Gaziantep Tram. Connection to the Gaziantep Tram system was completed in 2012.

Gaziantep station's "assertive", monumental colonnaded façade belongs to the second national architectural movement, which was in vogue at the time of its construction.[2]^: 204 The building's exterior is made of keymıh stone (hard limestone), while the interior features havara (soft limestone).[2]^: 205 The ceiling is made of glass, which was a new architectural technique in the 1950s.[2]^: 205

The building has two stories plus a basement.[2]^: 205 The main hall, on the ground floor, is 8 meters tall and covers both stories.[2]^: 205 In the hall are the passenger lounge, the ticket counter, a kitchen, a cold storage room and other storage areas, restrooms, a baggage claim office, a post office, and administrative offices.[2]^: 205 The train platforms are on the upper level, which is divided into two parts that are separated by the main entrance hall.[2]^: 205 One side was built with a telegraph office and other administrative offices; the other side was built with a post office, police station, restaurant, and restrooms.[2]^: 205 The building has two staircases, at the eastern and western ends.[2]^: 205 The western staircase only connects the ground and upper floors, while the eastern staircase connects the ground, upper, and basement levels.[2]^: 205 The basement was built with a boiler room, ash removal room, coal celler, workers' room, restrooms, and storage areas.[2]^: 205