[2] The 36-metre clock tower was later added because the Finnish railway bureau required it (its total height from ground level is about 50 metres).

The city's main street Hämeenkatu begins at the railway station, continuing over the Hämeensilta bridge to its western end at the Aleksanteri Church.

The Itsenäisyydenkatu (originally called Puolimatkankatu) street begins at the Tammela side of the station, continuing to the Kaleva Church.

[6] Many lines on the Tampere public transport travel past the railway station either via Hämeenkatu and Itsenäisyydenkatu or via Rautatienkatu.

[7] The Rautatieasema tram stop is located near the railway station, used by Tampere light rail lines 1 and 3.

[citation needed] Parking spaces for bicycles are available at the level of platform 1 and at a site with camera surveillance at the ground floor of P-Asema.

[citation needed] The stations is accessible on foot from the Asema-aukio square and from the Itsenäisyydenkatu and Ratapihankatu streets.

In the eastern option, the railway to Ostrobothnia would have been directed towards Orivesi, leaving the station located far away in the municipality of Messukylä.

The engine stables were located to the east of the railway yard, of which the northern part with 12 places was completed already in 1874.

A cargo station designed by Bruno Granholm was built to the north of the engine stables in 1905, which was expanded in 1922 and 1980.

[citation needed] The branch terminal line leading from the railway yard to the Naistenlahti power plant was cut from its northern end in 2004.

Planning of the new station building was hindered by disagreements about the direction of the underpass to be built across the railway yard.

[3] The functionalist new station building in Tampere designed by Eero Seppälä and Otto Flodin was built in 1936.

The baggage handling facilities and the large, two-floor high central hall with offices and cafés were located on the ground floor.

The platform roofs were made with a structurally special folded plate technique from steel-reinforced concrete.

The 36-metre tall clock tower designed by Aulis Blomstedt was added to the plans afterwards through a demand from the railway administration (its total height from the street level being about 47 metres[10] The tower and the northern wing of the station containing a restaurant were built in 1937.

The Finnish Heritage Agency has designated the area of the Tampere Central Station as a nationally important protected site.

Before the new station building was built, traffic from the city centre to Tammela went via a wooden bridge over the railway tracks starting from the end of Hämeenkatu.

[13] The tunnel was completed at the same time as the new station building, and so the connections between Tammela and the city centre were greatly improved.

[16] In 2012 a new 75-metre long underpass tunnel under Rongankatu was opened for the use of pedestrians and bicyclists to help travel between Tammela and the city centre.

[citation needed] According to the zoning plan of the area, which came into force in February 2016, the cargo station will be moved slightly to the east, so an adjustment of the Ratapihankatu street can be built in its place.

In 2018 the city council decided to move the station after all, referring to the complaint stage coming up and to political difficulties.