There is one of the largest railway stations in the country in Vitebsk region of the Republic of Belarus. Thousands of people use the services of this important transport junction every day. There is always a special atmosphere in all stations of the world: here old friends meet; tired students are waiting for their train, looking forward to family comfort and taste of homemade food; the platform is full of couples in love. Conditions of the use of the station are constantly improved and updated: payment terminals are installed and the infrastructure of the station develops. Today, as in the mid-19^thcentury, it is full of life.  Trains arrive and depart, crowds of people and hundreds of goods move to and fro, and itineraries are changed on the electronic display.  

The railway station of Orsha is a historical value; it was built in 1871 in connection with putting into operation the main line Moscow-Brest. At first, the construction was very simple: a small building of several storeys was built of wood. The station was decorated with carved windows and a roof, typical attributes of buildings of that time. The station was rebuilt in 1912: it became a majestic concrete building in the art Nouveau style with crenulated towers on each side, some features of the construction of those years have survived to the present day. In the 1930-ies, the station was widened a little because the flow of people through the city had increased significantly.

When the World War II began the building of the station was seized by the Nazis. Authorities of the Soviet Union made a difficult decision to destroy the transport junction to prevent the enemy attack. So, the jet weapon BM-13 (“Katyusha”) was first used there. The station was destroyed heavily.

Works on repair and reconstruction of the building began in 1944. The building was restored in two years after the end of the war. Of course, the building received new features different in many ways from the variant of 1912. A monument to the partisan and the Hero of the Soviet Union K. S. Zaslonov was erected near the station. In the 50-ies and 70-ies of the 20^th century, the station was again added, and the interior of the station was renovated in the year when the USSR hosted the Summer Olympic Games. In 2004, there was another great reconstruction having concerned the facade of the building and its interior, and platforms were repaired as well.

Now we can observe an ancient massive building with arched openings decorated with columns and mouldings, but at the same time we can take full advantage of the innovations available in contemporary stations of the first class. You can see the locomotive P-36 near the building. It was installed there in 1984 in connection with the fortieth anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from fascist Germany.

Orsha is a city that has reached a new level thanks to its transport links, that's why the station of Orsha is especially noteworthy and historically important.