Attard to San Salvatore

A station lost and found

By 1900 the Government had started the process of assembling land around the existing Attard station with a mind to expand it. There had long been complaints about the poor facilities and lack of shelter, critical letters appearing regularly in the press. However, it would be another decade before the project was complete.

A crazily ambitious scheme was drawn up in 1904 for a new station building, one that might have rivalled Valletta in its size and architectural grandeur. This, however, was shelved and it would be a considerable time before the Railway officials returned to address the Attard problem.

Eventually, reconstruction works began in about 1909. Expanding the station wasn’t straightforward. Its location was at the end of one of the railways longest and tallest embankments, the topography around the existing station being problematic. To address this, a large podium needed to be created on both sides of the line to create a level base of sufficient size for the planned platforms, buildings, and gardens. The engineering works included arched and vaulted abutments around three sides to support the new base off which tall stone piers and railings defined the station boundary.

Tangible traces

The site, though, continued to offer attractive gardens, eventually being formalised as a park. More recently, the park was chosen as the location for a new local library. After intervention by the Malta Railway Foundation the incongruous original design was redrawn as a near-replica of the original waiting room building: a happy conclusion. This has also been accompanied by a remarkable life-size recreation of one of the railway locomotives made entirely of corrugated cardboard by Stephen Bonello. It stands in a purpose-built shelter on the alignment of the old track bed.