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Origin and history

The Abbeville station, which was commissioned by the Amiens Railway Company in Boulogne in 1847, was initially a temporary structural station, 800 metres from the city centre. Its final location, chosen after debates between the Compagnie du Nord, the municipality and the Chamber of Commerce, was established in 1855. The current passenger building, opened in 1862, has a regional seaside style with a wooden frame and red bricks, evoking the villas of Mers-les-Bains. This light choice met the military demands of the time, the city being surrounded by fortifications.

Joined historic monuments in 1984, the station reached its peak as a local railway node between the 1880s and 1950s, with up to five main branches. It was connected to Lille via Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise (1879), then to Tréport via the line from Abbeville to Eu (1882). During the First World War, a strategic triage was created and a DCA train stationed there under the occupation. The station survived the bombings of 1940 and 1944, despite the partial destruction of the city.

In the 21st century, the station remained an active hub of the TER Hauts-de-France network, serving Paris, Calais, Amiens and Albert. Its building, renovated in 1993 and 2013 (for €1.1 million), was restored between 2022 and 2024 after years of administrative controversy. Daily attendance exceeded 3,200 travellers in 2013. The former Sernam Hall, closed in 1998, was reconverted in 2015 into a tertiary building named Garopôle, home to the settlement of the Bay of Somme community.

The station also marked the local culture: in 2015, it was used as a setting for the TV film Le Vagabond de la Baie de Somme, and in 2023, for the film L-Art to be happy with Benoît Poelvoorde. Its historic buffet, abandoned after the floods of 2001, is now a wedding shop. In 2018, she won the prize for the most beautiful station in Hauts-de-France, highlighting its architectural heritage and its role in the territory.

Architecturally, the station is distinguished by its marquise, its side pavilions (including a demolished after 1922), and its campanile, symbol of its identity. The tracks, managed by a modern switch post (PICP), still accommodate occasional freight traffic, as in 2016 for the transhipment of a 179-ton transformer. Its urban environment includes a bicycle park, a photovoltaic parking, and a service via the BAAG bus network and the Trans的80 buses.

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