Hamburg Hauptbahnhof

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Hamburg Hbf
Aerial view of the station hall
Architectural information
Opened 1906
Location Hamburg
State Hamburg
Country Germany
Local authority Hamburg-Mitte
Hachmannplatz 16
20099 Hamburg
Operations
DS100 code AH (main line)
AHS (S-Bahn)
Station code 2514
Type Bf
Category 1
Deutsche Bahn - Stations in Germany

BW BY BE BR HB HH HE MV NI NW RP SL SN ST SH TH

Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (usually translated from German as Hamburg Central Station, short form: Hamburg Hbf) is the Hauptbahnhof for the German city of Hamburg [1]. It was opened on 6 December 1906. The station is a through station, situated in the city centre.

Contents

[edit] History

Before today's central station was opened in 1906, Hamburg had several smaller stations located around the city centre. The first railway line (between Hamburg and Bergedorf) was opened on 5 May 1842, coincidentally the same day the "great fire" (in German Der große Brand) ruined most of the historic city centre. 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 was arranged in 1900. The German emperor William II declared the first draft as "simply horrible", but the second draft was eventually 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] Station services

In brief
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

[edit] Trains

[edit] Long distance

Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is one of the largest stations in northern Germany and connects 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). To the North ICE trains are connecting Hamburg with Aarhus and Copenhagen in Denmark and Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein.[2]

[edit] Regional trains

There are numerous RegionalExpress and RegionalBahn services to Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony.

[edit] Rapid transit

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 or city train) and the Hamburg U-Bahn (subway).[3]

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] Facilities at the station

Inside the station hall
Inside the station hall

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 was 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.

Preceding station   DB AG   Following station
ICE 20
toward Basel SBB
ICE 22
ICE 25
ICE 28
Preceding station   Hamburg S-Bahn   Following station
toward Wedel
 S1
toward Blankenese
 S11
toward Ohlsdorf
S2
toward Hamburg-Bergedorf
S21
toward Aümuhle
toward Pinneberg
 S3
Hammerbrook
toward Stade
S31
Hammerbrook
Preceding station   AKN Eisenbahn   Following station
toward Neumünster
 A1 Terminus
Preceding station   Hamburg U-Bahn   Following station
Steinstraße
 U1
toward Großhandorf / Ohlstedt
U2
toward Wandsbek-Gartenstadt
Mönckebergstraße
toward Barmbek
 U3
toward Mümmelmannsberg

In 2011 the Hamburg U-Bahn is planning to open the line U4:

Preceding station   Hamburg U-Bahn   Following station
toward HafenCity Universität
 U4
toward Billstedt

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Liste Bahnhofskategorie 2008 (pdf), DB Station&Service AG, Köthener Straße 2, 10963 Berlin (2008) (German)
  2. ^ ICE Netz 2008, DB Netz AG, Zentrale, Frankfurt am Main
  3. ^ Network plan HVV (pdf) 560 KiB

[edit] External links

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Coordinates: 53°33′10″N, 10°00′23″E