In 2016, parts of a former railway building, the Saint-Pierre railway station, built between 1889 and 1890, were identified and its position determined during field walking surveys. Discovered following a Réunion railway exploratory mission, these remains are among the oldest railway works still visible today.
The Saint-Pierre railway station: a history
Originally, the terminal station (Km 125 + 221) was located on boulevard Hubert Delisle, near rue de la Cayenne, less than one kilometre from the current station.
In October 1890, the management of the C.P.R. moved its terminal station close to the port docks (where it is now located at Km 126 + 200). At the request of users, the former station became a simple stop, the ‘old station stop’.
Saint-Pierre train station, built between 1889 and 1890, was a first-class station with six double-leaf doors with basket-handle arches on the boulevard and the platform and track sides. The building has a porch roof on each facade, on the boulevard and platform sides, supported by seven fluted columns. The station is built from cut basalt stone with a shingle gable roof and fascia daggerboards; the porch roofs are also shingled with fascia daggerboards.
The upper floor of the station included a waiting room, a first class waiting room, a luggage room, a ticket office, the station master’s office and staff accommodation with two bedrooms.
Saint-Pierre station, from an architectural point of view, remains one of the most beautiful built by the C.P.R. (Chemin de fer et Port de la Réunion) and the C.F.R. (Chemin de Fer de la Réunion).
A terminal station, the site includes rail infrastructure with two main lines and relief lines for waiting railway cars and shunting, a dormitory for mechanics, and warehouses for goods and customs services, track maintenance, etc. A turntable, a circular horizontal plate that swings on a central pivot, which is used to turn the locomotives, rail motor cars and some wagons back in the direction from which they came - essential equipment in a terminal station - completes the rail system.
Field walking surveys
The former railway station is still visible close to boulevard Hubert Delisle at Saint-Pierre, along the coastline, close to the port. Listed as a historic monument in 2012, it is now a brasserie.
