The foundation stone of Irkutsk railway station was laid on June 15, 1896. Alexander Matsievich was appointed architect for the project. The 102.57-square-metre building was completed in just over a year, receiving its first passengers in August 1897. The Circum-Baikal Railway had already begun operations by this time, with the first trains running along the main line.
No one who worked on the construction of the building could have imagined that Irkutsk would grow at such a rapid pace. The city’s population grew exponentially, and just nine years later, the station was struggling severely under the increased load. The Russo – Japanese War of 1904 – 1905 was largely responsible for the massive increase in the flow of passengers at the station. When the conflict broke out, the station was tasked with accommodating a huge number of soldiers, which greatly inconvenienced civilian passengers. The station had to be expanded. The architect V. Kolyanovksy was charged with designing the extension. Construction of the larger second part of the station took two years, and the new station – a whopping 1635,83 square metres in area – was put into operation in November 1907.
Irkutsk benefited greatly from the presence of the railway depot and station. Trade turnover increased, economic ties with European Russia strengthened, and the strategic importance of Irkutsk grew. In 1936, the station was expanded once again, when the passenger building was connected to the adjacent building of the old station through the addition of a second storey. Major changes were made to the station in 1938. First, the old part of the station was recommissioned. Second, an upper floor was added to it. And third, both parts of the building were joined together. In 1964, a commuter pavilion and a passenger tunnel were built. The result was a station building that was in fact an amalgamation of four buildings built at different times.
The Irkutsk-Passenger railway station reconstruction project involves four construction stages: Stage 1 – reconstruction of the underground passage and reconstruction of platforms 1 and 2; Stage 2 – construction of a combined passenger hall. Stage 2 of the reconstruction of Irkutsk-Passenger railway station lasted from May 2021 to April 2023.
