Hamburg Hauptbahnhof
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Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (usually translated from German as Hamburg Central Station, short form: Hamburg Hbf) is the Hauptbahnhof for the German city of Hamburg. It was opened on 6 December 1906. The station is a through station, situated in the city centre.
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[edit] History
Before today's central stations has been opened in 1906, Hamburg – then much smaller than today – had several smaller stations located around the city centre. The first railway line (between Hamburg and Bergedorf) has been opened on 5 May 1842, just the day the "great fire" (in German Der große Brand) ruined most of the historic city center. At that time and built over the next years, the stations were (each of them only a few hundred meters away from the others):
- "Berliner Bahnhof" (1846), located at the place where the Deichtorhallen can be found today, on the right bank of the Elbe river; terminus of the railway line to Berlin
- "Lübecker Bahnhof" (1865, connection to Lübeck)
- "Klosterthor" (1866, eastern terminus of the "Hamburg-Altonaer Verbindungsbahn")
- "Hannöverscher Bahnhof" (1872, originally named "Venloer Bahnhof")
After the decision to close the gap between the lines and the terminus stations as well, a competition has been arranged in 1900. The German emperor William II determined the first draft as "simply horrible", but the second draft has been constructed and opened in 1906.
The Hamburg-Altona railway station already existed at that time, but Hamburg and Altona were separate cities until the Greater Hamburg Act from 1937. Since 1937, Altona is a district of the City of Hamburg.
[edit] Operational usage
| In brief | |
|---|---|
| DB station code: | AH / AHS (S-Bahn) |
| Number of passenger tracks above ground: |
8 main line, 4 S-Bahn |
| below ground: | 8 U-Bahn tracks (6 in usage) |
| Passengers (daily, combined): |
450,000 |
Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is one of the largest stations in northern germany and connects Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark with central Europe. There are permanent InterCityExpress lines to Berlin, Frankfurt (Main) (continuing Stuttgart and Munich) and Bremen (continuing to the Ruhr Area and Cologne).
[edit] Highlights
One of the highlights of the station is the Wandelhalle (promenading hall), which is a small shopping center (with additional business hours, compromising to shops located outside the station). It has been built in 1991 during the renewal of the beam construction. It is located on the northern bridge and includes restaurants, flower shops, kiosks, a drugstore, service centers and more. The upper floor also has a gallery surrounding the hall.
[edit] Rapid transport
Beside the inter urban rail services, the Hauptbahnhof is also the central intersection for two of the three rapid transport systems in the city: the Hamburg S-Bahn (suburban railway) and the Hamburg U-Bahn (subway).
The S-Bahn platforms are located inside the Hauptbahnhof itself (platforms 3 and 4, going eastwards to Barmbek, Harburg and Bergedorf) and in separate tunnel, adjacent to the station building (platforms 1 and 2, going westwards to Altona, Wedel and Eidelstedt).
The U-Bahn is split in two stations: Hauptbahnhof Süd (south) and serving the lines U1 and U3. This part of the station has been included in the 1900 plannings for the new station (the construction for the subway started in 1906, the "ring" has been opened in 1911). Until 1960, this station was simply called Hauptbahnhof without any suffix. From the beginning until the end of 1943, there were two lines: the original Ring and the southeastern branch line leading to Rothenburgsort which tracks has been destroyed due to World War II and never been rebuilt.
The station Hauptbahnhof Nord (north) is serving the line U2, but only using the two middle tunnels (out of four). The two outer tunnels have been build in advance for a future line U4 (which has never been released) and are currently used for a visual arts installation.
[edit] Weblinks
- private website (including pictures; in German)
