ADELAIDE STATION (AUSTRALIA)
Historical spot basks in gentler light
| A man and a woman reluctantly say goodbye at Adelaide Station. Not many people are found in the station, except during morning and evening rush hours. |
| Adelaide Station is located in the center of town, and is close to the Parliament and museums. |
| Parties are sometimes held at the National Railway Museum in Port Adelaide. |
| St. Peter's Cathedral is lit up in the twilight. Adelaide is known as the city of churches. |
Photos by Yomiuri Shimbun Photographer Sei Kohama
By Masaki Takakura
Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
The kindness of people encountered in the course of a journey is particularly touching.
One evening in Adelaide Station, I saw a station employee help a man in a wheelchair by placing a folding ramp between the platform and a train bound for the suburbs of the South Australian state capital.
It must have been an everyday scene, but I was impressed with the station employee's relaxed manner.
I was surprised to find so many wheelchair users in the station, but there are no stairs between the platforms and a long slope stretches from North Terrace Street in front of the station.
The station, which is easily accessible by handicapped people due to its lack of stairs, has a long history. The current station building was completely renovated in 1928.
Adelaide was named after Queen Adelaide when it was founded in 1836 by settlers from Britain. German-born Princess Adelheid changed the spelling of her name to Adelaide when in 1818 she married the future William IV of Britain.
One of Australia's first railways, a 12-kilometer stretch of line, was opened in 1856.
The role of Adelaide Station changed in the mid-1980s when the arrivals and departures of long-distance trains were relocated from the station to Keswick Station, about two kilometers away.
Adelaide Station now only serves the suburbs of the city, and of an original 13 platforms, nine are now in use.
But Gordon Dally, 56, who has been working at the station for 40 years, said he liked the station more than before. Although it had become smaller, it was also less crowded and the staff had more time to help passengers.
Two weeks earlier, he said he had repaired a television for an elderly female passenger.
Although he is of course a station employee, Dally said he had known the woman for a long time and that she had mobility problems. On the way home from work, he had stopped by her house and repaired the TV.
JAPANESE
The Daily Yomiuri, The Yomiuri Shimbun
