[1] The name was retained for historical reasons only, and the actual main station in Warsaw is Warszawa Centralna located about 1 km to the east.

In 1921, when works on the modernization of the Warsaw railway hub started, it became clear that it was necessary to demolish the obsolete Vienna Station.

The works began in 1932, and the monumental complex was designed by architects Czesław Przybylski and Andrzej Pszenicki, while Wacław Żenczykowski was the structural engineer.

A few weeks before the war, on 6 June 1939, the still unfinished station was partly destroyed in a fire which had been started by a team of reckless welding contractors.

During the course of fighting the fire, led personally by the minister of the interior Felicjan Sławoj-Składkowski, one fireman died and three were wounded.

Four months after the fall of the Uprising, in January 1945 the Germans shortly before retreating, blew the remains up as part of their planned destruction of the city.

[2] After the war, a makeshift Warszawa Główna station was created to the west of city center in the district of Wola, using tracks of a former goods yard and a temporary wooden building on Towarowa Street, serving westbound trains.