Dresden Hauptbahnhof

Dresden Hauptbahnhof
Aerial view of Dresden Hauptbahnhof (2006)
Operations
Category	1
Type	Bf
Platforms in use	16
Daily entry/exit	60,000 (daily)[1]
DS100 code	DH
Construction and location
Opened	23 April 1898
Location	Dresden
State	Saxony
Country	Germany
Local authority	Innere Altstadt
51°02′25″N 13°43′53″E / 51.040278°N 13.731389°E / 51.040278; 13.731389
Route information
Dresden–Děčín railway Dresden–Werdau railway
List of railway stations in Saxony

Dresden Hauptbahnhof (usually translated from German as Dresden Central Station, short form: Dresden Hbf) is one of two main inter-city transit hubs in the German city of Dresden. Designed by Ernst Giese and Paul Weidner, it was built between 1892 and 1897 at the southern border of the inner city and was important in the growth and development of the city.

Construction

Dresden Hauptbahnhof has 18 tracks. Eleven carry traffic through the station whilst the remaining seven, all from the west and located in the middle of the station, are terminal tracks. This layout makes Dresden Hbf unique among German central railway stations. The station is divided into three halls, the central one of which is the biggest and covers the terminating tracks.

The arrivals hall is situated in front of the terminating tracks giving the station the character of a terminal station. The new 30,000 m² roof, covered by a canopy made from Teflon-coated fibre glass, was designed by Foster and Partners with fabric roof design by Buro Happold and other structural design by Schmitt Stumpf Fruhauf and Partner. The reconstructed building was nominated for the 2006 Stirling Prize and won the 2007 IStructE Award for Heritage Buildings.^[2]

History

Exterior of Dresden Hauptbahnhof, December 2006

Dresden Hauptbahnhof is part of the railway system that provides direct connections to Berlin, Prague and Nuremberg. Opening in 1897, it replaced three stations in the south of the city.

The station was damaged by the bombing of Dresden starting in February 1945. This was limited in extent until a specific attack in April 1945.

The station was repaired after the war. It had suffered significant damage to the train sheds and the glazing that had previously covered the train sheds was replaced by timber.^[3]

In the postwar era Dresden Hauptbahnhof became one of the important railway stations in East Germany. However, the legacy or wartime damage subsequently compounded by poor maintenance saw the structure deteriorate to the point where remedial conservation was required.^[3]

Assessments of the structure during its 1997-2006 refurbishment project further revealed that the steel arches of the train shed had even been distorted out of alignment by wartime damage. It was also discovered that the structure had been damaged by corrosion since the war, rendering it unsuitable to carry the weight of a glazed roof and leading architects to use lightweight fabric instead.^[2]

During the floods in August 2002, the station hall was badly damaged by flooding from the river Weißeritz. The entrance hall and the lower platforms were flooded up to one metre by muddy water from the left tributary of the river Elbe coming from the Ore Mountains. Major damage to several tracks around Dresden closed the station for a month. The main reconstruction project was only temporarily interrupted.

In 2007, the station's reconstruction was a contender for the £20,000 Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize for excellence in architecture in Europe.

Operational usage

The reconstructed station hall.

In brief
Number of tracks	18 main line passenger, (of which 7 are terminal tracks)
Trains (daily):	600
Passengers (daily):	50,000

The station is operated and owned by the Deutsche Bahn Group subsidiary DB Station&Service.

Regional and long distance services call at the station. The station is part of the InterCity and ICE network. Night services are provided by DB NachtZug trains. EuroCity services also call, providing connections to Prague in the Czech Republic.

The daily passenger numbers of about 50,000 are relatively low compared to other German cities of the same size. (The central station of Bremen, a city of comparable size, handles around 100,000.) This is because Dresden has two stations at which long-distance trains call: Dresden Hauptbahnhof and Dresden-Neustadt.

Train services

The station is served by the following services (incomplete list):

• regional express service (RE 1) Dresden - Bischofswerda - Bautzen - Görlitz^[4]
• regional express service (RE 3) Nürnberg - Hof - Zwickau - Chemnitz - Freiberg - Dresden^[5]
• regional service (RE 15) Hoyerswerda - Großenhain - Cossebaude - Dresden^[6]
• 2x per day regional express service (RE 20, Wanderexpress Bohemica, summer weekends only) Dresden - Heidenau - Glashütte - Altenberg^[7]
• regional express service (RE 100) Dresden - Bautzen - Görlitz - Wrocław^[4]
• 2x per day regional express service (SE 19, Wintersport Express, winter weekends only) Dresden - Heidenau - Glashütte - Altenberg^[8][7]
• regional service (RB 31) Elsterwerda-Biehla - Großenhain - Coswig - Cossebaude - Dresden^[6]
• regional service (RB 60) Dresden - Bischofswerda - Bautzen - Görlitz^[4]
• 2x per hour S-Bahn S1 Meißen Triebischtal - Dresden - Pirna - Bad Schandau - Schöna^[8][9]
• 2x per hour S-Bahn S2 Dresden Flughafen - Dresden - Pirna^[10][11]
• 1x per hour S-Bahn S3 Tharandt - Freital - Dresden^[5]

Series	Train Type	Route	Material	Frequency
EC27	EuroCity	Berlin Gesundbrunnen - Berlin Hbf - Dresden Hbf - Bad Schandau - Decin Central Station - Usti nad Labem Central Station - Praha-Holešovice - Prague Central Station - Kolin - Pardubice Central Station - Brno Central Station - Breclav - Wien Floridsdorf - Wien Praterstern		1x per day, to Wien only
EC27	EuroCity	Szczecin Główny - Angermünde - Eberswalde Hbf - Berlin Hbf - Dresden Hbf - Bad Schandau - Decin Central Station - Usti nad Labem Central Station - Praha-Holešovice - Prague Central Station		1x per day, to Prague only
EC27	EuroCity	Ostseebad Binz - Stralsund Hbf - Angermünde - Eberswalde Hbf - Berlin Hbf - Dresden Hbf - Bad Schandau - Decin Central Station - Usti nad Labem Central Station - Praha-Holešovice - Prague Central Station - Kolin - Pardubice Central Station - Brno Central Station	Class 101/120 with IC Stock	1x per day
IC50	Intercity	Dresden Hbf - Leipzig Hbf - Naumburg (Saale) Hbf - Erfurt Hbf - Fulda - Frankfurt (Main) Süd - Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Fernbahnhof	Class 101/120 and IC Stock	1x per day

Preceding station		DB AG		Following station
Elsterwerda toward Ostseebad Binz		EuroCity		Bad Schandau toward Brno Central Station
Elsterwerda toward Berlin-Gesundbrunnen		EuroCity		Bad Schandau toward Wien Praterstern
Elsterwerda toward Szczecin Główny		EuroCity		Bad Schandau toward Prague Central Station
Leipzig Hbf toward Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbahnhof		IC 50		Terminus
Terminus		RE 1		Dresden Mitte toward Görlitz
Freital-Deuben toward Nürnberg Hbf		RE 3		Terminus
Dresden-Friedrichstadt toward Hoyerswerda		RE 15		Terminus
Terminus		RE 20 Wanderexpress Bohemica		Dresden-Strehlen toward Litoměřice město
Terminus		RE 100		Dresden-Neustadt toward Wrocław Główny
Dresden-Friedrichstadt toward Elsterwerda-Biehla		RB 31		Terminus
Terminus		RB 60		Dresden Mitte toward Görlitz
Preceding station		Städtebahn Sachsen		Following station
Terminus		SE 19 Wintersport Express		Dresden-Strehlen toward Kurort Altenberg
Preceding station		Dresden S-Bahn		Following station
Dresden Freiberger Straße toward Meißen Triebischtal		S1		Dresden-Strehlen toward Schöna
Dresden Freiberger Straße toward Dresden Flughafen		S2		Dresden-Strehlen toward Pirna
Dresden-Plauen toward Tharandt		S3		Terminus

References

1. ^ 36 Mitarbeiter sorgen für Sauberkeit und Sicherheit. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
2. ^ ^{a b} "IStructE - Structural Awards 2008". The Institution of Structural Engineers - IStructE. http://www.istructe.org/structuralawards/2007/category02/projects.asp. Retrieved 2010-10-03. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Dresden Station Redevelopment Dresden, Germany, 1997-2006". Foster + Partners. http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/0916/default.aspx. Retrieved 2010-10-03. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Deutsche Bahn timetable 230 (German)
5. ^ ^{a b} Deutsche Bahn timetable 510 (German)
6. ^ ^{a b} Deutsche Bahn timetable 225 (German)
7. ^ ^{a b} Deutsche Bahn timetable 241.4 (German)
8. ^ ^{a b} Deutsche Bahn timetable 241.1 (German)
9. ^ Deutsche Bahn timetable 241.1 (German)
10. ^ Deutsche Bahn timetable 241.2 (German)
11. ^ Deutsche Bahn timetable 241.2 (German)

External links

• Foster + Partners - project description

Coordinates: 51°02′25″N 13°43′54″E / 51.04028°N 13.73167°E / 51.04028; 13.73167