The movie's title, with its religious overtones, is a literal reference to the railway station where Leo Tolstoy died a few days after leaving his wife and home, presumably to become a wandering ascetic (though he brought his personal physician with him).
And not an hour goes by without someone on some radio or television station somewhere in the country making the obligatory reference to the forthcoming tournament.
The young hero, Hugo Cabret, through a series of events outside his control, lives a clandestine life in a grand but unnamed train station in Paris and spends his days winding the enormous clocks which are the unerring reference points for the coming and going of trains connecting all the legendary capitals of Europe across its ancient timeless landscapes.
At all times important information, such as driving directions and the name of a song or radio station is kept at the top of the screen so the driver always has a single reference point.