The first railway station in Lviv, belonging to the Karl Ludwig private stock railway company was ceremoniously opened on November 4, 1861. It was constructed according to plans by engineer Ludwik Wierzbicki, future director of the railway, and author of the concept of the later train station, which is still in place today. The original railway station was located in the Horodotske suburb of Lviv. The building of the station was constructed on the line of the central European watershed between the basins of the Black and Baltic Seas at 314.33 meters (approx. 1093 ft.) above sea level. Regular passenger traffic between Lviv and Vienna (via Cracow) started with the train "Jarosław", which arrived at the platform of the first railway station at the speed of 20 kilometres (approx. 12.5 miles) per hour.
