Belorussky Rail Terminal

Belorussky Rail Terminal on Tverskaya Zastava Square is one of ten major railway terminals in Moscow and serves as the city’s main gateway toward Smolensk, Belarus and Western Europe. Over its century and a half of existence the building has changed its name five times, lived through two world wars, and become a place associated with the history of the song “The Sacred War”. Today the terminal handles long-distance trains, suburban electric trains, Aeroexpress services to Sheremetyevo airport, and lines of the Moscow Central Diameters.

The branch line from Moscow toward Smolensk began to be laid as early as the late 1860s, and the first station built for it in 1869–1870, the Smolensky station, was the sixth to appear in the city. After the line was extended to Brest in 1871, the station was renamed Brestsky. By the early 1890s passenger traffic had outgrown the capabilities of the single-platform building, and in 1907 reconstruction began to a design by architect Ivan Strukov: the right wing of the new building was completed first, in the spring of 1910, followed by the left wing in the winter of 1912. The station briefly became Alexandrovsky, then Brestsky again, and since 1936 has borne its present name, Belorussky.

The new building was built of concrete and iron, which made it fire-resistant by the standards of the time, and its area was increased roughly fourfold. The façade is executed in neoclassical forms with elements of faux Gothic and Empire style, decorated with the emblem of the railway department — a crossed anchor and hammer. In 1938 the Belorusskaya metro station opened in the right wing, and in 1976 an additional building was added.

The station has more than once witnessed key events in the country’s history: during the First World War troops were dispatched to the front from here and the wounded were received, and on the morning of 26 June 1941 the song “The Sacred War” was performed publicly for the first time on its platform — a memorial plaque on the façade commemorates this. In 1945 trains carrying victorious soldiers arrived at Belorussky from conquered Berlin. In 2014 a monument to the march “Farewell of Slavianka” was unveiled on the platform, and until 2013 a memorial steam locomotive of the P36 class stood near the Ilyich depot.

In 2009 an Aeroexpress terminal began operating at the station for service to Sheremetyevo airport, and baggage check-in in the city was later discontinued due to growing passenger traffic. The station became part of the Moscow Central Diameters system: lines MCD-1 and MCD-4 pass through it, and in 2023–2024 a connecting branch was completed and a new vestibule with access to the platforms was opened. Between 14,000 and 25,000 passengers pass through the station daily. The building has been featured in films many times, from “The Cranes Are Flying” to the eponymous film “Belorussky Station”.

Today Belorussky Rail Terminal remains more than just a transport hub — it is an architectural monument and a site of collective historical memory. The combination of its pre-revolutionary façade with modern transport infrastructure makes it one of the most recognizable buildings on the map of Moscow, and the memorial signs on its platform remind passengers every day of the events that began on this very square.