During the 1960s, work began on the construction of a replacement station for the city's old terminus, Katowice historic train station, which dated back to the nineteenth century. The new complex was designed to serve as a high-profile example of modern architecture; the main railway hall of the building was designed as a collaborative effort between the Polish architects Wacław Kłyszewski, Jerzy Mokrzyński and Eugeniusz Wierzbicki, while the construction of the station was supervised by the noted civil engineer and designer Wacław Zalewski. Beyond its aesthetic qualities, the hall's design took into account the troublesome ground conditions present at the site, as the region has been previously used for coal mining and is known to remain susceptible to tectonic movement to the present day.