railway station
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A train station (abbreviated Bf or Bhf, usually without a point) is a traffic and operating system of a railway , for example a railway .
Definitions and terms
In Germany and Austria, a train station is always an operating and train reporting point . In terms of rail operations, the definition of a station is similar in both countries, but slightly different in Switzerland:
- In Germany , the definition is contained in Section 4 (2) of the Railway Construction and Operating Regulations (EBO):
“Railway stations are railway systems with at least one switch where trains can start, end, avoid or turn . The entrance signals or trapezoidal boards are generally used as the boundary between the stations and the free route , otherwise the entry points. "
- In Austria , the definition in Section 2 (1) (a) of the ÖBB operating regulations is :
“Train stations are operating points where trains begin, end or avoid one another. Train stations are delimited by entry signals or trapezoidal panels ... "
- In Switzerland , a distinction was previously made between train station and station in the sense of two size classes with the same function (the traffic points were decisive). Today the two terms are used synonymously, with the term station becoming more prevalent. Legislation has long used the terms synonymously, but means by them the access points for public traffic, possibly goods traffic. In the driving service language, a train station is the
This also includes freight yards, shunting yards and service stations."System within the entry signals, where they are missing within the entry points, to regulate train traffic and shunting movements, mostly with public traffic."
- Colloquially called station ...
- a facility at which travelers are allowed to board or leave trains (this also includes stops ) or trains are loaded or unloaded or reassembled or regrouped,
- the reception building (Germany) or reception building (Switzerland and Austria) or
- the entirety of railway facilities and reception buildings for which the station operator has the house right .
Similar definitions are also common in Central and Eastern Europe , the Balkans , Scandinavia and Russia. Elsewhere there is often no equivalent of a station, but it is based on the completely different principles of the British or North American railways.
In Great Britain there are “ Station Limits ”, which range from the first main signal of a signal box (“ Home Signal ”) to the following block signal (“ Section Signal ”). However, this only applies to routes without an automatic route block (“ Track Circuit Block ”). On other routes there is no distinction between open routes and operating points.
In North America, which is heavily influenced by timetable and train orders , there are " interlocking limits ", each of which encompasses a point area and the main signals that cover them (but here - apart from modern routes with centralized traffic control - only the route definition and sometimes the train sequence, but not regulate the order of turns). There are also “ Yards ”, which roughly corresponds to the German side tracks or local service areas , and “ Yard Limits ”, within which maneuvers can be made on continuous main tracks without the consent of the dispatcher .
Train station and stop
According to the railway building and operating regulations in Germany, an access point without a switch is not a train station in the operational sense, but a stopping point . With a partial road closures in most cases the traffic is maintained on the track to the nearest train station, because the trains can not turn without complex operational procedures at the breakpoints in the rule and the corresponding stretch not always a signal covered is.
The Austrian stop corresponds approximately to the German stop.
In Germany, in turn, is a stop of the railway a breakpoint with a branching point or a junction coincide.
There are also train stations that do not have passenger access (platforms and reception buildings). In addition to freight stations, there are stations that serve exclusively railroad operations, in particular the formation and disbanding of trains, train crossings and the overtaking of trains. If such a station primarily serves one of these functions due to the timetable situation, it is also referred to as a depot , especially a marshalling yard or overtaking station .
In the case of subways, there is generally no distinction between train stations and stops.
Operational hierarchy
In a network of train stations, some have a prominent position, either because a particularly large number of traffic lines are bundled in them, they are centrally located in metropolitan areas and cities, they are served by high-speed trains or they are central transhipment points for goods. In special cases, other stations are also classified to differentiate.
Central Station
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If there are several train stations in one place, one of which is operationally superior to the others or at least once was historically, this is often referred to as the main train station . This is mostly - but not necessarily - in a central location and is well developed in terms of traffic, especially as an important connection point between different lines of rail traffic with those of local public transport .
Long-distance train station
Stations served by train types of rail passenger transport (SPFV) or inter-city transport . Main train stations are mostly also long-distance train stations, as they bundle the passenger flows in a convenient way. Larger cities (metropolises) often have more than one long-distance train station. On the other hand, it is also possible that conveniently located train stations outside the metropolitan areas become long-distance train stations. At long-distance stations, there are usually also types of local transport that serve as feeders for long-distance trains. The Limburg Süd train station , for example, is an exception .
Regional train station
Railway stations that in Germany are served exclusively by local rail passenger transport trains. In Switzerland, these are similar to train stations, where only regional train types stop. In Austria, these are stations that are only served by regional trains and S-Bahn trains, as well as by other local passenger rail companies.
Special features in Germany
The DB Station & Service informs all stations and stops in seven station categories A, from the busy city Hauptbahnhof (category 1) to the small country maintenance (Category 7).
In addition, there has been the overriding category of the metropolitan train station since 2018, which includes all train stations in Germany that have over 50,000 visitors every day. These are u. a. the main train stations of large cities, but they are also junctions for S-Bahn traffic .
Naming
Railway stations are usually named after the town or district in which they are located. However, historical names can also be retained after incorporation or renaming. Sometimes in places with several stations these were differentiated according to the railway line or the railway company to which they belonged. That was the name for example in Berlin preferred starting point for the Berlin-Görlitz railway Berlin Görlitzer Bahnhof (similar to the other terminal stations in Berlin) or the current station Frankfurt (Main) south Bebraer station . The names of the two train stations in the Saxon city of Großenhain , Grossenhain Berliner Bahnhof and Grossenhain Cottbuser Bahnhof , have persisted to this day. Colloquially, the north and south wings of Munich's main train station are still called Starnberg and Holzkirchner Bahnhof. Similar name forms exist or existed in many other countries.
In rural areas there are sometimes double names for the common train station of two places.
In places with (currently or historically) several train stations, there are various options for naming train stations differently, namely after
- the railway company operating there . Historically, this was very common, for example Main-Weser-Bahnhof in Frankfurt am Main. Today it is mainly used for private and museum railways ,
- In the United States of America there is often a Union Station as a (former) common station for various companies. Some of these stations no longer have any passenger traffic, but the name is mostly used at active stations to this day;
- the type of operational station (passenger, freight, marshalling yard, etc.),
- the geographic location of the station,
- the direction of the compass : in many places there is a north, east, south and / or west train station,
- the height : In the area of Thuringia and Saxony , in Hungary a . a. in some places there is an upper and a lower train station,
- the location to the city: Mitte, Stadt or Zentrum for a centrally located train station from i. d. R. subordinate traffic importance.
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Districts , suburbs or incorporated places, consisting of:
- the prefixed name of the main town and then the name of the district (in some countries with and in other countries without a hyphen , in Germany always with a hyphen, in Switzerland always without a hyphen, except for names in French always with a hyphen) or
- only the name of the district.
- important destinations accessible from the train station, for example Paris Gare de Lyon or formerly Berlin Hamburger Bahnhof
- Street names
- Proper names of institutions or companies that are located near the train station
- Names of personalities,
- including several marshalling yards named after the president of the respective railway company in the USA, e.g. B: Robert R. Young Yard in Elkhart
- Numbers:
- Numbering of the stations. In some countries, especially in the former Soviet Union , the stations were numbered many towns throughout (for example, there is the railway junction Penza five stations with the names Penza Penza I to V). The numbering says nothing about the type and meaning of the stations.
- Naming of the stations according to the route kilometer on which they are located. This is especially common in areas where there is no settlement nearby.
- other geographical names such as valleys or mountains, for example the Drängetal station on the Harzquerbahn or the former Durlesbach station on the Württemberg southern railway.
staff
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The overall management of the traffic and operations services was in the hands of the "station board". This function has not existed in Germany for decades; in some other countries it remained until it was separated into transport and infrastructure. Where the function of the station board has held, it is now usually part of the infrastructure.
For the German railways, the “station” was, on the one hand, a term from the official organizational structure. In this sense, the "train station" as an office was a direct federal authority that mostly consisted of several "train stations" (in the operational sense). This position was led by a head of department , an officer mostly of the higher service with police powers. In this respect, after the dissolution of the Deutsche Bundesbahn and the Deutsche Reichsbahn, the term “station” only exists in the operational sense of the Railway Construction and Operating Regulations (EBO). Commercial , technical and operational tasks are in different hands today.
The station is uniformly under the legal terminology of the railway system , which is subject to the house rules of an infrastructure company. In operational terms , the station is usually a train registration office , which, according to legal regulations, must always be manned by a responsible dispatcher . In the course of technical development, however, the dispatcher is more and more often no longer to be found locally, but regulates the traffic remotely as an employee of an operations center , as a train manager or as an operator of remote-controlled stations.
Station types
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Train stations are differentiated according to various criteria. This includes, among other things, their task and function, their location in the network, floor plan or the structural design of the track and other systems.
Differentiation according to location in the network
Terminus
A terminus is at the end of a railway line or several lines. The architectural form or other properties are not determined by this term.
Intermediate station
An intermediate station is an operating point on a continuous railway line. In some cases, an intermediate station is understood to mean only one from which no further routes branch off, in some cases this distinction is dispensed with or a distinction is made between simple intermediate stations and intermediate stations with route branches.
Separation station
In a separation station at least one route branches off, whereby, in contrast to the connecting station , trains pass from one route to the other, for example Essen Hauptbahnhof , Arth-Goldau Station , Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof .
Connecting station
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A connecting station is a train station where (at least) another line branches off from a line, whereby (depending on the definition) there is no regular through train traffic (which does not, however, exclude operational connections and wagon transfer) or the branch line is clearly subordinate. Sometimes the literature does not distinguish between connecting and separating stations.
Crossing station
One speaks of an intersection station when at least two routes intersect in a station, for example Duisburg Hauptbahnhof , Neuss Hauptbahnhof . If the number of lines that come together in a station increases, the term hub station is also used.
Touch station
A rare type of contact station, where touching two routes without having to cross, for example, the station Montabaur , Landquart station or until June 1996, the station Weida . However, there may be track connections between the tracks on both lines. Another application was the Vienna Main Customs Office from 1925, when the Vienna Steam City Railway was separated from the rest of the Austrian railway network as part of the further development of the Vienna Electric City Railway. At the time of the private railway companies, the Mülheim-Eppinghofen station was also a contact station of the Bergisch-Märkische and the Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft .
Junction station
Junction stations in this context are multiple separating and / or crossing stations of a "larger number" of routes, although this is not specified.
Differentiation according to the shape of the floor plan
Terminus
In a terminus or a dead end station , the main tracks end in butt tracks; a passage is not possible. The station building is often at the end of the track. In historically older buildings in particular, a track change or a turntable follows at the end of the track in order to be able to transfer traction vehicles to the other end of your train.
Colloquially, the terms railhead and railhead often used interchangeably. There are differences, however. Terminal stations can also be built in a straight-through form, for example in the case of a planned route extension. Conversely, there can also be intermediate stations in the shape of a head, for example at some switchbacks .
Through station
The most common type of train station is the through station. Here, the main tracks of one or more continuous lines run through the station area, receive track connections there and, if necessary, expand with additional station tracks, for example Wuppertal Central Station or Bern Station . The station building is usually on the side of the track field.
Special designs
Riding station
At a riding station, the reception building is built across the track, for example Hamburg Central Station or Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe Station .
Wedge station
In a wedge station, several routes separate in the platform area. The station building here is between the separating lines which form a wedge, for example: Arth-Goldau station , Döbeln Hauptbahnhof , Jena-Göschwitz station , Wuppertal-Vohwinkel station .
Island station
Railway stations whose reception building is surrounded on all sides by the track system are referred to as island stations. In contrast to the wedge station, the track systems on both sides of the Inselbahnhof are connected both in front of and behind the station building. So at Wunstorf station until around 1905. Current examples are Halle (Saale) main station or Minden (Westphalia) station .
Tower station
In a tower station, several routes intersect at no level , for example Berlin Central Station or Bürstadt Station . At some of the tower stations (e.g. Osnabrück Hauptbahnhof ) there are connecting routes between the two levels.
Tunnel station
Tunnel stations are completely underground. Most of them are simple through stations or quasi-underground tower stations if they connect several tunnels, for example the S-Bahn stations Frankfurt (Main) Konstablerwache and Zurich Stettbach .
The term underground station is mostly used synonymously, but can also designate a station in a trough structure that is open at the top , for example the Cologne / Bonn Airport station or the Zurich Stadelhofen station .
Triangular station
The very rare triangle station is a station with an additional connection between the branches off. Triangular stations are, for example, Ludwigshafen (Rhine) Hauptbahnhof , Herlasgrün , Horrem , Stegna Gdańska in the network of Żuławska Kolej Dojazdowa , Earlestown and Shipley .
Differentiation according to functions
passenger traffic
- Passenger station (abbreviation in Germany Pbf, in Switzerland PB). If there is a separate marshalling yard and / or freight yard (see below) in addition to a passenger station , the stations can be identified by corresponding abbreviated name suffixes (example: Kornwestheim ). Examples of special forms of transport:
- Airport station , for example station Dusseldorf airport ,
- Exhibition train station , e.g. Hannover Messe / Laatzen train station ,
- Fürstenbahnhof , usually a special component of a passenger station, rarely also as a separate station, for example Potsdam Park Sanssouci station
- In Löningen there is a station expressly designated as a passenger station, although only museum trains stop there.
Freight transport
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Güterbahnhof (abbreviation in Germany Gbf, in Switzerland GB)
- Container terminal for handling goods between railways and other modes of transport
- Port station for handling goods between railways and waterways, e.g. Kleinhüningen Hafen in Basel , rarely also with passenger transport to transfer to a passenger ship , e.g. Emden outer harbor station ,
- Eilgutbahnhof , the Deutsche Reichsbahn, in its early days also the Deutsche Bundesbahn and other railways in France and Italy, for example, maintained a express or express freight network for which their own stations or parts of the station were used. For example, platforms 12-14 in Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof were created instead of express goods handling.
- Postbahnhof , the mail was transported in passenger trains or own mail trains until it was moved to the road ,
- Non-public works, industrial or colliery station, for example BASF in Ludwigshafen .
Passenger and freight transport
- Railway junction , important link between different routes,
- Grenzbahnhof , for example Aachen Hbf , and the functionally similar one
- Transit station
- Transfer station - a station where freight trains or groups of wagons are handed over to another freight operator.
- Ferry station , on the coast of a river, a lake or the sea, which directly merges into a ferry dock, so that rail vehicles can drive onto the rail ferries and be transferred, examples: Puttgarden station , Messina
Depot
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Depot , for example Goetheweg station , Schöneweide depot
- Shunting yards , for example Maschen shunting yard , are available as sloping or flat yards , depending on whether part of the shunting operation is carried out with gravity . A sloping station exists if its tracks are on average more than 7 ‰ inclined. This type of construction is rare. Examples are: Nuremberg marshalling yard , Dresden-Friedrichstadt station , Zwickau (Sachs) main station , Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd station and Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf station (closed).
- Parking station for unused railway vehicles , their maintenance and supply.
- Locomotive sweeping station for push locomotives to increase the efficiency of a section of the route.
Seewiese train station : on the Odenwaldbahn between Osterburken and Lauda . Originally block station 96 (between Eubigheim and Uiffingen ) was equipped with a locomotive waiting track and a transfer track in the 1930s; it was secured with entry and exit signals.
Dornstadt train station : equipped with a standard
signal box. Mönchsbrunnen train station : on the Gäubahn , km 20.6.
Lerchenberg train station : between Kornwestheim Pb-Rbf and Untertürkheim Gbf
Multiple functions
Railway station systems can be composed of several parts with different functions: for example, freight or storage stations in small and medium-sized stations are usually located directly next to or often directly behind the passenger station. Many larger and some medium-sized stations are or were connected to a depot . In the largest railway complexes, several stations with different functions are often set up separately from one another, for example in Mannheim the main train station and the marshalling yard.
In the early years of the railroad, train stations in Germany were often built on waterways in order to combine rail transport with the river traffic, which was well developed at that time. After the first railroad junctions were established, the request was made to plan the stations from a logistical point of view. The engineer and director of the Saxon railway administration, Max Maria von Weber , set up the first binding rules that were later generally recognized.
Special functions
Community station
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The infrastructure of several railway infrastructure companies comes together in a shared station . Some border stations are shared stations. Either the systems are used jointly or each company has - in whole or in part - its own systems that are used exclusively by it. A particularly impressive example of a shared station is the Bayerisch Eisenstein station , where the state border divides the reception building in half.
Lane changing station
A lane changing station usually consists of two stations or station sections with tracks of different gauges . There, travelers either have to change trains and the freight has to be reloaded, or vehicles can be relegated . Examples of such Umspurbahnhöfe: Brest Passaschyrski or in the ferry port Sassnitz , example of Umladebahnhof: Galați Transbordare (literal German translation: Umladen ) in Romania .
System changing station
In a system changing station, the power supply for electric traction vehicles changes ( system separation point ). If a multi-system vehicle is not used, the covering of the train must be changed for the onward journey. Often it is a border station . An example of such a system change station is the Brennero / Brenner station on the Brennerbahn on the border between Austria and Italy.
No operational functions
The rare type of bogus station is one of the stations without an operational function . These include the Brazilian station mock-up , which was intended to divert bomb attacks from Stuttgart Central Station during World War II .
Kulturbahnhof
Occasionally station buildings, especially when they are not, little or hardly used, have been used as cultural stations since the mid-1990s . In these exhibitions, theater performances or films are shown, books are loaned out, food culture celebrated, studios are made available to artists, initiatives / associations, discos are housed. These buildings are often listed .
examples are
- Badischer Bahnhof in Basel (including Gare du Nord - station for new music )
- Bad Salzuflen train station
- Cultural center at Bochum-Langendreer train station
- Düsseldorf-Eller train station
- Ebernburg station
- Giesinger Bahnhof cultural center
- Hamburg-Harburg train station
- Heidelberg-Altstadt train station
- Jena Saalbahnhof (see also Kulturbahnhof Jena )
- Kassel main train station
- Kell am See train station
- Artificial construction in the Koenigsplatz station of the Munich subway
- Kreuztal train station
- Münster-Hiltrup train station
- Cultural meeting place at the old station in Neulußheim
- Overath train station
- Radebeul Ost train station
- Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck
- Seidingstadt station on the Heldburger Bahn (see picture on the right)
- Stattbahnhof in Schweinfurt city
- Kulturbahnhof Spalt
- "Sperenberg Sculptor Station"
- Hundertwasser train station in Uelzen
- Weimar train station with the nearby railway museum
- Railway poster museum in Westerburg station
- Works of art in Vienna Central Station
- Worpswede train station
- “Project BürgerBahnhof” in Wuppertal-Vohwinkel station
Draisine station
see leisure tourism with trolleybuses and list of trolleybus routes
history
Initial phase
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Railway stations were immediately necessary for the operation of a railway, as the vehicles had to be parked - hence the German name: Bahn-Hof -, trains had to be formed and travelers and goods had to be given an opportunity to catch the train. The first models for the reception building were the postal relay stations, which also housed waiting rooms and ticket issuance. But since trains were longer than stagecoaches and the number of passengers was higher, platforms , platform roofs and - especially in the large terminal stations - platform halls were added soon .
Since in the early days of the railway the traveling public was not yet familiar with the new technology and underestimated its dangers - or at least the railway administrations assumed it was - the contact between the passengers and the train was strictly regulated: passengers were only allowed to enter the platform if the train had stopped there. Last relics of this passenger protection were the - in Germany - abolished only in the 1970s wickets . Furthermore, the travelers were locked into the car before the train started moving. In Great Britain , until the 1990s, the doors of railroad cars could not be opened from the inside (you had to open the window to operate the door handle on the outside). After the railway accident at Versailles on May 8, 1842, in which more than 50 people died because the travelers could no longer get themselves out of the burning train, it was soon waived. The structural measures for the strictest possible exclusion of unauthorized persons when entering the station area were retained. In Syria, for example, every newly built train station is still surrounded by a wall, and the entry and exit tracks are secured by lockable gates. The station buildings from the very first years of the railway were primarily oriented towards technical necessities and were often of modest dimensions and execution. One example of this was the largely wooden reception systems of the Ludwig Railway, the first German railway from Nuremberg to Fürth . The station buildings on this route are no longer preserved today. Just a few years later, however, prestigious station buildings were built, such as the Müngersdorf station near Cologne, which opened in 1839 .
1850 to 1880
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The station building was, however, the most representative and most effective place for the railway companies to present themselves to the public and travelers. In addition, the railway symbolized progress during this period and was a great economic success. Therefore, in the second phase of the station building (approx. 1850–1880), where a larger public was to be expected, highly representative reception buildings were created, some with special facilities such as separate waiting areas for the highest and highest rulers ( prince station ). But the reception buildings of the provincial train stations were also lavishly designed. Typical examples of this second phase were the first station of the Ludwig-Süd-Nord-Bahn in Nuremberg, the second station in Nuremberg, which was built in a neo-Gothic style, or the old station building in Würzburg , which was later replaced elsewhere . A major train station still in operation at that time is Augsburg Hauptbahnhof .
1880 to 1914
The increasing rail traffic already exceeded the dimensions of the railway systems that were built in the middle of the 19th century by the end of the century. In addition, the urban centers expanded enormously during this time and the old railway systems there became an obstacle to urban planning . Therefore either only the reception buildings were replaced (for example in Nuremberg in 1906 at the third Nuremberg train station) or the entire train station was relocated to the (then) outskirts: Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof , Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof , Hamburg-Altona station or Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof . A third possibility was that train stations (formerly) of different railway companies were combined in a new one ( Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof , Leipzig Hauptbahnhof , Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof ).
1914 to 1960
Due to the competition with rail traffic that arose during this period, the design of the station was now aimed at savings in operation. Above all, this included the removal of terminal stations , which increasingly represented an operational obstacle with increasing traffic and the switch to long-running electric and diesel-powered locomotives. Especially after the Second World War, numerous terminal stations were replaced by new buildings: Kempten (Allgäu) Hauptbahnhof , Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof or Braunschweig Hauptbahnhof , a trend that continued ( Miltenberg Hauptbahnhof or Ludwigshafen Hauptbahnhof ) and continues to this day ( Bahnhof 21 , including, for example Stuttgart 21 or Lindau 21 ).
The decades after the Second World War therefore mostly meant dismantling the station culture, and in some cases simply decay. In addition, in some places there were new buildings of questionable architectural, structural or traffic quality ( e.g. Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe train station ), while historical buildings were treated carelessly. For example, in the track hall of the main train station in Frankfurt (Main), the provisional board cladding that was made during the war was retained on half the roof area. Especially in the area, stations fell into disrepair after the route was abandoned, and the reception buildings often also on the routes that were still in use.
Recent developments
Together with the gradually emerging realization that neglecting the railways is undesirable in terms of transport policy, interest in railway stations increased again in the last quarter of the 20th century. There were only a few new construction of larger train stations and they mostly took place on the new routes of the high-speed traffic or at airports. The two most important exceptions and real new buildings from scratch, placed on the site of the former district train stations, were the two capital train stations Berlin Hauptbahnhof (opened in 2006) and Vienna Hauptbahnhof (opened in 2014).
In isolated cases, train stations were slightly relocated due to new construction. Replacement buildings in place of old reception buildings were more common, often taking historical structures into account. By far the most common building measure was the complete renovation of historic train stations, usually with complete gutting, which is comparable to a new building. After decades of underfunding, from around 1990 onwards, a series of showdowns was undertaken in numerous countries to remove the investment backlog.
In the case of new buildings or renovations, large marketing areas are almost always created in reception buildings. Today, large reception buildings primarily generate money for their operators as commercial property, less as a traffic station.
The development in the area is characterized by rationalization measures. The track systems of many train stations have been greatly reduced in size and train stations have also been reduced to stops . The staffing of train stations often ends when routes are connected to centrally controlled electronic interlockings . Tickets are often only sold at machines .
On the other hand, train stations are also and especially in the area being renovated with enormous effort. While platforms will be brought to standard height to allow the same level, entrance, elevators or flat ramps are built to the platforms accessible to make accessible, and where there are at-grade rail crossings that hinder the road, underpasses are planned and built.
Superlatives
- The Shinjuku station in Tokyo is considered the most frequented station in the world by travelers , practically a pure commuter station with one to four million passengers a day.
- Zurich main station is the most frequented train station in the world , with over 2900 trains passing through the station every day.
- The oldest train station in the world is in Stockton-on-Tees .
- The highest train station in the world is Tanggula (Tibet), 5068 m , on the Lhasa Railway .
- The highest railway station in Europe is the Jungfraujoch (Switzerland), 3454 m , the end of the Jungfrau Railway with the Kleine Scheidegg valley station .
- Highest German station of adhesion railway is the Brocken station , 1125 m . The highest station of a standard gauge railway is at 967 m on the Dreiseenbahn ( Feldberg-Bärental ). The highest station in Germany on a main line is the Sankt Georgen station at 806 m on the Baden Black Forest Railway .
- The largest marshalling yards in the world are the Bailey Yard near North Platte ( Nebraska , USA ), followed by the largest European marshalling yard Maschen marshalling yard near Hamburg .
- The largest and longest platform hall is at the Milano Centrale railway station, built in 1931 .
- Leipzig Central Station has the largest floor space with 83,640 square meters .
- The oldest preserved station buildings in Germany are:
- 1838: Düsseldorf-Gerresheim railway station ( North Rhine-Westphalia , Düsseldorf )
- 1839: Müngersdorf train station ( Belvedere house ) in Cologne-Müngersdorf (North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne )
- 1840: Vienenburg railway station and Schladen railway station ( Lower Saxony , Goslar district )
- 1841: Old Wittenberg station ( Saxony-Anhalt )
- May 15, 1842: Niederau train station ( Free State of Saxony )
- The Leipzig Bavarian Railway Station (opened in 1842) is the oldest surviving terminal station in Germany.
- The oldest station building still in operation in a major German city went into operation in Augsburg Hauptbahnhof in 1844 .
Most frequented long-distance train stations in Germany
railway station | Travelers / visitors per day (2019) |
Long-distance trains per day (2018) |
Local trains per day (2013) |
S-Bahn trains per day (2013) |
Platform tracks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hamburg Central Station ( S-Bahn , U-Bahn ) |
537,000 | 270 | 407 | 982 | 12 |
Frankfurt (Main) Central Station ( S-Bahn , Stadtbahn ) |
493,000 | 342 | 290 | 1,100 | 29 |
Munich Central Station ( S-Bahn , U-Bahn ) |
413,000 | 270 | 597 | 1,018 | 34 |
Berlin Central Station ( S-Bahn , U-Bahn ) |
329,000 | 276 | 326 | 620 | 14th |
Cologne Central Station ( S-Bahn , Stadtbahn ) |
318,000 | 282 | 521 | 466 | 11 |
Hanover Central Station ( S-Bahn , Stadtbahn ) |
261,000 | 307 | 210 | 204 | 12 |
Stuttgart Central Station ( S-Bahn , Stadtbahn ) |
255,000 | 236 | 426 | 649 | 19th |
Düsseldorf Central Station ( S-Bahn , Stadtbahn ) |
246,000 | 231 | 450 | 500 | 16 |
Nuremberg Central Station ( S-Bahn , U-Bahn ) |
210,000 | 180 | 290 | 300 | 22nd |
Essen main station ( S-Bahn , light rail ) |
152,000 | 181 | 198 | 403 | 13 |
Bremen Central Station ( S-Bahn ) |
147,000 | 104 | 450 | 0 | 9 |
Duisburg main station ( S-Bahn , light rail ) |
(as of 2017) |
130,000 230 | 550 | 160 | 12 |
Leipzig Central Station ( S-Bahn ) |
(as of 2017) |
120,000 123 | 583 | 227 | 23 |
Dortmund Central Station ( S-Bahn , Stadtbahn ) |
(as of 2017) |
110,000 202 | 485 | 302 | 16 |
Mannheim Central Station ( S-Bahn ) |
(as of 2017) |
110,000 193 | 265 | 155 | 12 |
Source: DB AG
Most frequented long-distance train stations in Austria
railway station | Travelers per day | Trains per day | Platform tracks |
---|---|---|---|
Vienna Central Station | 145,000 | 1,100 | 16 |
Graz Central Station
( S-Bahn ) |
40,000 | 530 | 10 |
Linz Central Station
( S-Bahn ) |
30,000 | 304 | 14th |
Salzburg main station
( S-Bahn ) |
25,000 | 330 | 11 |
Innsbruck main station
( S-Bahn ) |
25,000 | 330 | 11 |
Source: ÖBB-Scotty, station information
Most frequented train stations in Switzerland
The SBB counts the users as well as the travelers at the stations. The station users also include customers of the shops in the station as well as passers-by who do not otherwise use the station infrastructure, but only pass through it.
railway station | Travelers per day | Users per day | Platform tracks |
---|---|---|---|
Zurich main station ( Zurich S-Bahn ) |
466,800 | 438,000 | 26th |
Bern railway station ( Bern S-Bahn ) |
210,000 | 324,000 | 16 |
Geneva train station | 73,700 | 166,000 | 8th |
Lucerne train station ( S-Bahn Lucerne ) |
96,200 | 164,000 | 14th |
Lausanne train station | 108,900 | 148,000 | 9 |
Basel SBB station ( S-Bahn Basel ) |
114,200 | 133,000 | 16 |
Winterthur train station | 108,000 | 117,000 | 9 |
Zurich Oerlikon train station (see above) |
85,700 | 106,000 | 8th |
Source: SBB facts and figures - passengers per day and SBB facts and figures - users per day
Largest passenger stations in the world
This is a list of the largest passenger stations in the world, in descending order according to the number of platform tracks (excluding subway tracks):
Tracks | railway station | place | country | notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
67 (44) | Grand Central Terminal | Manhattan , New York City | United States | 41 tracks on the upper level, 26 tracks on the lower level, 8 tracks for East Side Access under construction / planning (plus 8 underground tracks), plus 22 tracks with no or only post platforms |
34 | Munich central station | Munich | Germany | 32 tracks above ground, 2 S-Bahn tracks underground (plus 6 subway tracks) |
32 | Roma Termini | Rome | Italy | |
31 | Paris Gare du Nord | Paris | France | 27 tracks on the main level, four tracks in the basement, with 700,000 passengers daily the most frequented train station in Europe |
30th | Napoli C | Naples | Italy | 26 tracks on the main level, 4 tracks in the basement (Napoli Piazza Garibaldi) |
30th | Shanghai-Hongqiao | Shanghai | People's Republic of China | largest train station in Asia |
29 | Frankfurt (Main) Hbf | Frankfurt am Main | Germany | 25 tracks above ground, 4 S-Bahn tracks underground (plus 4 subway tracks, one out of service) |
29 | Paris Gare de l'Est | Paris | France | |
28 | Paris Gare Montparnasse | Paris | France | |
28 | Tokyo | Tokyo | Japan | 20 tracks above ground, 10 tracks below ground (plus 2 underground tracks) |
27 | Waterloo | London | United Kingdom | without "Waterloo International" and "Waterloo East" |
27 | Paris Gare Saint-Lazare | Paris | France | |
27 (29) | Shinjuku | Tokyo | Japan | 16 through tracks, 11 end tracks (at four locations), 2 through tracks shared with the underground (plus 4 exclusive underground tracks) |
26th | Zurich HB | Zurich | Switzerland | 16 tracks in the main hall, 4 tracks in the underground train station Löwenstrasse (since June 14, 2014), 4 tracks in the underground train station Museumsstrasse, 2 tracks in the underground train station SZU |
25th | Madrid Atocha | Madrid | Spain | |
25th | Sydney Central | Sydney | Australia | plus 2 unused tracks |
24 | Cape Town | Cape Town | South Africa | |
24 | Milano Centrale | Milan | Italy | |
24 | Beijing South | Beijing | People's Republic of China | |
23 | Leipzig Central Station | Leipzig | Germany | 19 end tracks in the main hall, 2 outside platforms outside the station hall, 2 through tracks in the city tunnel , the largest end station in Europe in terms of area |
23 | Nuremberg Central Station | Nuremberg | Germany | largest through station in Europe (plus 4 underground tracks) + platform 30 |
23 | Paris Gare de Lyon | Paris | France | |
23 | Venezia Santa Lucia | Venice | Italy | |
22nd | Ōmiya | Saitama | Japan | |
22nd | Nagoya | Nagoya | Japan | |
22nd | Bruxelles-Midi / Brussel-Zuid | Brussels | Belgium | thereof 6 tracks for long-distance traffic and 2 tracks for Eurostar (plus 4 underground tracks) |
21st | Madrid Chamartín | Madrid | Spain | 5 high-speed train tracks ( standard gauge ), 11 long-distance train tracks and 5 suburban tracks ( broad gauge ) |
21st | Paris Gare d'Austerlitz | Paris | France | |
21st | Pennsylvania Station | Manhattan, New York City | United States | (plus 2 underground stations with 4 tracks each) |
21st | Hoboken | Hoboken , New Jersey | United States | 18 tracks of the New Jersey Transit , 3 tracks of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (plus 3 subway tracks PATH ) |
21st | Ueno | Tokyo | Japan | 12 tracks on the upper level, 5 tracks on the lower level, 4 underground high-speed train tracks (another 4 tracks in the neighboring Keisei Ueno station, plus 4 underground tracks) |
21st | Shinagawa | Tokyo | Japan | 2 more tracks under construction |
21st | Kyoto | Kyoto | Japan | 14 tracks at ground level, 4 high-speed train tracks, 3 “Kintetsu” tracks (plus 2 underground tracks) |
21st | Howrah | Haora | India | |
20th | Bologna Central | Bologna | Italy | |
20th | Basel SBB / Basel SNCF | Basel | Switzerland | 13 through tracks, two partial end stations from SBB and SNCF, continuous platform edge tracks 4 and 30 |
20th | Vienna Südbahnhof | Vienna | Austria | 9 tracks each in two terminal stations, 2 underground S-Bahn tracks, partially closed on December 13, 2009, and complete closure on December 8, 2012 |
20th | Union Station | Chicago | United States | 10 tracks each in separate sections for north and south |
20th | Paddington | London | United Kingdom | |
20th | Washington Union Station | Washington, DC | United States | |
19th | Victoria | London | United Kingdom | (plus 4 underground tracks) |
19th | Helsinki | Helsinki | Finland | (plus 2 underground tracks) |
18th | Euston | London | United Kingdom | (plus 6 underground tracks) |
18th | Liverpool Street | London | United Kingdom | (plus 4 underground tracks) |
18th | Stockholm C | Stockholm | Sweden | (plus 6 underground tracks ) |
18th | Stuttgart Central Station | Stuttgart | Germany | (plus 4 light rail tracks) |
16 | Utrecht CS | Utrecht | Netherlands | |
16 | Vienna Central Station | Vienna | Austria | 2 underground S-Bahn tracks, 10 tracks for passenger traffic, 4 tracks for car trains (plus 2 subway tracks) |
16 | Düsseldorf main station | Dusseldorf | Germany | (plus 4 underground tracks) |
16 | Bern | Bern | Switzerland | 12 tracks of the SBB and BLS, 4 underground tracks of the RBS |
Quotes and phrases
“There is no arrival on a ride where you can get off at will, but on the train journey the difference between arrival and departure is mysteriously schematized by an operation that takes place in the train stations, these very special places are not part of the city and yet contain the essence of their personality as clearly as they bear their name on the sign. "
The phrase “ I only understand train station ” means colloquially today that I cannot understand something.
See also
literature
- Otto Blum : Passenger and freight stations . Second revised edition by Kurt Leibbrand . Springer-Verlag, Berlin / Göttingen / Heidelberg 1961 (= handbook for civil engineering).
- Berthold Grau : Station design . Volumes 1 and 2. Transpress VEB Verlag for Transport, Berlin (East) 1968.
- Mihály Kubinszky: Europe's Railway Stations. Your story, art and technology . New edition edition. Kosmos Verlags-GmbH, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 978-3-440-03642-6 (first edition: Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1969).
- Train stations . In: Bahn Extra . No. 53 . GeraNova Verlag, Munich August 2001 (issue 4/2001).
- Erich Preuss (ed.): The large archive of the German train stations . GeraNova Zeitschriften-Verlag, ISSN 0949-2127 (loose-leaf edition ).
- Erich Preuß: This is how a train station works . Transpress, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-613-71371-0 , pp. 143 .
- Clemens Niedenthal, Christina Graewe, Tim Lehmann: Railway stations in Germany . Modern urban centers. Ed .: Clemens Niedenthal. JOVIS Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-939633-47-1 (bilingual German / English; preface: Sir Norman Foster).
Web links
- Station building: Uses / buildings / transport construction
- Deutsche Bahn information database on 5400 of its stations
- Track plans of all Dutch and many others, especially German train stations
Individual evidence
- ↑ ÖBB operating regulations (DV V3): § 2 terms (1) (a)
- ↑ This is Article 23 of the Railway Act , the first place where the word appears: "The railway company can issue regulations on the use of the station area to ensure proper operation." The Railway Ordinance (EBV, SR 742.141.1) is used only the term station, for example in Art. 18 “Room for travelers in stations” and in Section 5 “Stations”, but without defining the term in more detail. The Passenger Transport Act and its ordinance uses the term stations for commercial stopping points and says in Art. 2 "In this Act ... 'stations' also include train stations, stops, ship and cable car stations ...". The ordinance on geographic names (GeoNV, SR 510.625) defines in Art November 25, 1998 ".
- ↑ a b c Jörn Pachl: System technology of rail traffic: plan, control and secure rail operations . 7th edition. Springer Science + Business Media, 2013, ISBN 978-3-8348-2586-5 , 1.3.5 Different terminology abroad , p. 16-19 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-8348-2587-2 .
- ^ Rail Safety and Standards Board (Ed.): Glossary of Signaling Terms . Railway Group Guidance Note GK / GN 0802. Issue One , April 2014, C2 Main glossary of terms (British English, rssb.co.uk [PDF; 288 kB ; accessed on January 18, 2017]).
- ↑ Jörn Pachl: Transferability of US operating procedures to European conditions . In: Railway technical review . tape 50 , no. 7/8 . Hestra-Verlag, July 2001, p. 452–462 (British English, http://www.america-n.de/Tipps_TWC/ETR_0701.pdf america-n.de [PDF; 671 kB ; accessed on January 18, 2017]).
- ^ Preuss: This is how a train station works , p. 35f.
- ↑ Working group «Developing recommendations for the spelling of community, town and station names»: Guidelines for the spelling of station names. (PDF; 335 kB) Federal Office of Topography , Federal Office of Transport , Federal Statistical Office , January 20, 2010, p. 20 , accessed on April 4, 2018 .
- ^ Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (ed.): Official Gazette of the Reichsbahndirektion Mainz of March 28, 1931, No. 17, p. 109.
- ↑ a b c d Keyword: Bahnhof, in: Lexikon der Eisenbahn , Transpress / Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-344-00160-4 , pp. 69–71.
- ↑ a b c d e f train stations. In: Viktor von Röll (ed.): Encyclopedia of the Railway System . 2nd Edition. Volume 1: Cover - discontinuation of construction . Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin / Vienna 1912, p. 383 ff.
- ↑ a b c d Jörn Pachl : System technology of rail traffic , glossary, digital version in the glossary of system technology of rail traffic, accessed on February 16, 2014
- ^ Preuss: This is how a train station works , p. 96.
- ^ Railways between Neckar, Tauber and Main. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2001, pp. 405-406
- ↑ Between Ulm and Mannheim: E 93 . turntable-online.de. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
- ^ Kulturbahnhof Spalt . sommernachtsspiele-spalt.de. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
- ↑ Printed matter 19/19475 of the German Bundestag. Retrieved on August 13, 2020 (answer to a small request from the FDP).
- ↑ Hamburg Hbf was the station with the most visitors in 2019. Accessed on August 13, 2020 (current visitor numbers for 2019).
- ↑ Number of visitors and travelers per day at selected train stations in Germany in 2017 on handelsdaten.de, from January 2017, accessed on March 22, 2019
- ↑ Long-distance traffic database on grahnert.de, accessed on March 22, 2019
- ↑ Railway station database . Deutsche Bahn. June 12th, 2013.
- ↑ ÖBB project manager Karl Hartig on the main train station: "Sleepless nights are always there". In: kurier.at. Retrieved April 11, 2016 .
- ^ ÖBB Infrastruktur AG. In: www.oebb.at. Retrieved April 11, 2016 .
- ↑ Completion brochure l The new Graz main train station, October 2015. In: www.oebb.at. Retrieved April 11, 2016 .
- ↑ Station information. In: fahrplan.oebb.at. Retrieved April 11, 2016 .
- ↑ Station information . ÖBB – Personenverkehr AG and HaCon Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH. April 11, 2016.
- ↑ Facts and Figures - Railway Stations. In: reporting.sbb.ch. Retrieved April 20, 2018 .
- ↑ Passenger frequencies at the stations . SBB AG. 2016.
- ↑ Station users . SBB AG. 2017.
- ^ NGBE: Plan of the train station ( Memento from January 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Stockholms Centralstation , dinstation.se
- ↑ Marcel Proust: In the shadow of young girls . 1st edition. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-518-57875-8 , pp. 219 .