St. Gallen train station

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St. Gallen
St. Gallen railway station (2018)
St. Gallen railway station (2018)
Data
Location in the network Separation station
Platform tracks 7 standard gauge (SBB),
2 narrow gauge (AB)
abbreviation SG
IBNR 8506302
opening 1856
Architectural data
Architectural style Neo-baroque
architect Alexander von Senger
location
City / municipality St. Gallen
Canton Canton of St. Gallen
Country Switzerland
Coordinates 745 658  /  254264 coordinates: 47 ° 25 '23 "  N , 9 ° 22' 9"  O ; CH1903:  745 658  /  254264
Height ( SO ) 670  m
Railway lines
List of train stations in Switzerland
i16

Aerial photo from 150 m by Walter Mittelholzer (1929)

The St. Gallen train station is the largest and most important train station in the Swiss city ​​of St. Gallen . It is of central importance for Eastern Switzerland because the St. Gallen S-Bahn is geared towards it. Trains from Germany and Austria reach the station . The station, and especially the station building, is also known as the St. Gallen main station .

history

The first train station in St. Gallen goes back to the years 1853–1856. At that time, the United Swiss Railways carried out a situation planning. However, the first system, which was completed in 1856, no longer met the requirements in the 1880s. After 25 years of planning disputes, the newly founded Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and the city of St. Gallen implemented a total redesign of the station area from 1902. The following buildings were created with the redesign:

  • A new reception building with platform hall and narrow-gauge station west of the existing station (the latter was only realized later)
  • A new circle segment remise with living and bathing house and water tower
  • Three new signal boxes
  • The lowering of the north-eastern driveway and the
  • Expansion of the freight, parking and shunting facilities with a new customs and freight station.

The water tower made of reinforced concrete was built in 1906 under the direction of engineer Robert Maillart .

The station area was converted in cooperation with the St. Gallen city authorities. As a result of the boom in the St. Gallen textile industry , large-city planning was tackled. A new business district was created between the Multertor and the new train station. The city asked SBB that a station square had to be created when the new reception building was built. Together with the Federal Department of Home Affairs , a competition was announced in 1906 that also included the design of the new main post office. The architects Kuder and von Senger were awarded first place in this competition together with two other offices, and von Senger realized the neo-baroque reception building there by 1913 . Since the renovation in 1999, the Migros Club School has been located on the upper floors of the building , while new shops have opened on the ground floor next to the SBB counter hall.

In 1915 the single-nave platform hall with a floor space of 42 × 190 meters was completed. Professor Karl Moser was called in to complete the design of the Remise . Today the Remise is the largest still preserved round railway depot in Switzerland. Since autumn 2006 it has served as a cultural center and for exhibitions. On November 30, 2008, a referendum in the canton of St. Gallen decided that the canton should acquire the remise with the associated bathhouse and water tower for 22.64 million francs and convert it into a cultural center with theater rooms and a cinema through gentle renovation.

So after the turn of the century between Lagerstrasse and St. Leonhardstrasse, a new, metropolitan area with public buildings was created. This quarter is surrounded by rental and commercial buildings from the same period.

The so-called main post office was also part of the area around the station from the start, even if it has moved several times. The post center had stood on the site of today's Hotel Walhalla since 1861, and on today's bus station from 1887 - with a switchboard for the first time. Since 1915, the main post office has been located in the building built between 1911 and 1915 by Pflegehard and Haefeli opposite the reception hall. The clock tower on the north side is striking.

Railway station from the east

In 1976, the new town hall of the city of St. Gallen was completed at the east end of the station, at the point where the old station building from 1856 had stood until 1972 . The high-rise building with its coated panes reflected the light in a golden color; after the renovation in 2006/2007, the facade was renewed with significantly darker panes.

Since November 21, 2009, St. Gallen station has been a “RailCity”. It is the ninth train station in which this SBB concept is being implemented. This includes longer opening times for most shops as well as a higher quality standard of safety and cleanliness. The previous station concept hardly had to be changed in St. Gallen. The main tenant of the reception building will continue to be the Migros Club School.

The platforms in St.Gallen station 2018

Since 2012, as part of the “Bahnhof Nord” project (approved by the St. Gallen electorate in 2008), there has been a new building for the St. Gallen University of Applied Sciences (FHSG), an underground train station entrance with a parking garage from Cityparking AG and a guarded bicycle station. As of October 1, 2012, the station square was closed to private traffic, the parking spaces at the station were canceled and the newly gained area was used as bus stations for the Postbuses and public buses. Since then, access for private traffic has been via the new underground train station entrance on Rosenbergstrasse.

For the expansion of the S-Bahn in eastern Switzerland, a new person was built at the same time as the construction of the university of applied sciences. The two new tracks on the north side of the station were put into operation with the timetable change in December 2013.

From 2016 to 2018 the station building, underpasses and the station square were completely redesigned. The project included:

  • Redesign of the station square with new, standardized stop edges for the St.Gallerbus (VBSG), regional buses and post buses
  • Construction of the arrival hall with new stairs and escalators
  • Expansion of the 100-year-old town hall underpass with a new staircase to Bahnhofplatz and shopping opportunities in the underpass
  • Expansion of the west underpass with escalators and lifts to the platforms
  • Reconstruction of the station building and the rail travel center
  • Redesign of the Kornhausplatz south of the Bahnhofsplatz with new seating
  • Relocation of the taxi stands
  • Redesign of the "Bahnhofspärklis" east of the Bahnhofplatz
    Redesigned station square and St. Gallen station (August 2018)

The aim was to turn the aging train station into a "calling card" for visitors to the city and to ensure that the capacities of the train station and the bus station can cope with the expected increase in regional traffic in the future. In addition, the station was adapted to the new regulations on accessibility. The official inauguration of the new station square took place as part of a festival on August 31 and September 1, 2018.

building

Old train station from 1865 (demolished)

Old train station, steel engraving on the occasion of the opening in 1856

Already at the first station there were disputes about the execution. At that time, the chief builder F. Bitzer and the board member B. Simmon clashed. These disputes went so far that F. Bitzer signed the main building under the guidance of B. Simmon, but expressly declined any responsibility for it. The Board of Directors decided on October 25, 1855 that the two architects Felix Wilhelm Kubly and Johann Christoph Kunkler should be invited to the railway commission to examine the plans. Her expertise was generally positive, only a few details of the lobby were changed on her advice. At the beginning of 1856, work on the interior of the reception building could begin. But there was also a dispute between Bitzer and Simmon at the entrance hall. Here, however, the experts Kubly and Kunkler came to the conclusion that Simmen's draft should be rejected. That Bitzer's design with intermediate posts for water drainage should be preferred. Construction of the entrance hall could begin on February 23, 1856. When the railway line opened on March 24, 1856, the reception building and entrance hall were not yet completed. The reception building was completed after two months and the entrance hall in November. In view of the new construction of the main building, the old reception building was rebuilt in 1912/13 and still served the railway service until it was demolished in 1973. The new town hall of St. Gallen was built in its place.

main building

The train station from the west. On the left the departure hall with the arched roof, in the middle in front the SBB Cargo freight forwarding building, behind (covered) the counter hall, behind it the town hall. Right in front the secondary station, behind with the striking clock tower the main post office

The main building not only had to take on the function of a reception building, but also served as the administrative building of District V of the SBB. This explains the generous dimensions of the building. In 1907 a " competition to obtain drafts for the uniform architectural design of the facades of the post office building and the new reception and administration building of the SBB in St. Gallen, as well as the reception building of the narrow-gauge station and the connecting corridor to the latter " was announced. 25 drafts were received, whereby no 1st place was awarded. In second place came three designs, the design by Pflegehard and Haefeli, Zurich, the design by Curjel and Moser, St. Gallen and the design by Kuder and Senger from Zurich. Two designs came in 3rd place, the design by Montando and Odier, Geneva and the design by Yonner and Grassi, Neuchâtel. The Federal Department of the Interior entrusted Pflegehard and Haefeli with the execution of the post office building , while the SBB entrusted Kuder and von Senger with the further processing. This did not result in a uniform design like the project competition had intended. In the new proposal submitted by Kuder and von Senger in February 1909, the façade was a visible concrete structure and thus differed from the competition entry, in which stone cladding was planned. As a result, there were some discrepancies and an expertise was commissioned. This was carried out by Robert Maillard and advocated a reinforced concrete structure. The SBB general management was bothered by the exposed concrete construction. Open thought was given to subcontracting the project to another architecture firm. However, this led to Kuder withdrawing from the project at the end of November 1910. Meanwhile, von Senger tried to address the points of criticism in the design of the main entrance, so that in the end there was still an agreement. Construction began in 1911, and on December 23, 1913, the main building was ready for use.

The painting by Walter Näf from Zurich that was put up in the ticket hall has not been preserved. The painting in the Kreisbahnratsaal by Brandes and H. Schmutz, however, is. Between 1985 and 1987 the building was completely renovated, outside by Spirig and Kask from Zurich, inside by Robert Bamert.

Another renovation of the ground floor of the main building took place from 2016 to 2018, with the station concourse being redesigned and the SBB customer areas and shopping areas being relocated. This renovation took place in connection with the redesign of the entire station square, the extension of the town hall underpass (including accessibility) and the adaptation of the platforms.

Secondary station

The secondary station is connected to the main building by two arches, in the middle a train towards Trogen, on the right a train towards Gais
Exit of a train in the direction of Gais, in the center of the picture the storage group for trains to and from Trogen

The main building is supplemented with the standard-gauge tracks around the so-called secondary station , also called Gaiserbahnhof , where the narrow-gauge trains of the Appenzeller Bahnen (AB) depart. The side station is located in the western part of the station and was added in 1914 by Hermann Lüthy and city architect Max Müller. It consists of two operationally independent terminal stations that have no track connection to each other and are served from opposite directions.

The Trogen part of the station has two tracks, a platform track with the number 12 and a bypass track with the number 11. A three-track storage group is then available. The trains in the direction of Gais and Appenzell have three tracks, including the two platform tracks 13 and 14 and an additional siding on the outer edge of the station. The three-storey station building of the secondary station is arranged like an island station and slides in a wedge shape between the two tracks 12 and 13, which share a central platform . The main building and the secondary station are structurally connected to each other, the trains to and from Trogen pass under the bridge-like connecting wing between the two reception buildings. 2018 we from the next station to an extension through station will be completed to a diameter line to allow from Trogen to Appenzell.

The branch station used to have the names St. Gallen TB for tracks 11 and 12 and St. Gallen SGA for tracks 13 and 14, based on the former Trogenerbahn and Electrical Railway St. Gallen – Gais – Appenzell companies . After the 2006 merger The name of the two companies was St. Gallen AB , in the course book (Switzerland) no additional words are used today.

Depot (locomotive depot)

Overview of the infrastructure

The locomotive shed was built between 1902 and 1903. This was based on the plans of the civil engineer Koenig, who was awarded the contract for his project from 1897/98 by the United Swiss Railways. The detailed plans of the round shed, which were created in 1901, contained 15 locomotive stands. Heinrich Ditscher and Karl Moser were responsible for the facade design, the construction work was entrusted to Luitpol, Kottmann & Cie from Basel. As a result of the increased need for parking spaces due to the construction of the Bodensee-Toggenburg Railway, the round shed was expanded between 1909 and 1911 and then comprised 21 locomotive stands. The Strauss pile foundation was used for the foundation of the extension. A second tall chimney was also built during this renovation.

The depot has been used as a cultural center since the end of 2010.

Water tower

The water tower

Today's water tower was built in 1906 according to plans by Robert Maillart . It was to be built together with the depot; But since there was no agreement on the design, its construction was delayed. In 1905 the SBB decided to build a concrete skeleton tower based on a design by Robert Maillart.

Passenger and operating numbers

75,000 rail travelers use the station every day (2015). St. Gallen train station is only closed for a few hours at night. The first trains leave shortly after 4:00 a.m., the last at 1:00 a.m., around the clock from Friday morning to Sunday evening.

St. Gallen station is served by 304 passenger trains and 24 freight trains every day (as of 2007).

traffic

Long-distance transport

St. Gallen train station is located on several internationally or nationally important railway lines. The most important connection leads from St. Margrethen via Rorschach to St. Gallen and then on to Wil , Winterthur and Zurich .

Three to four long-distance trains run to Zurich every hour, most of them on to Basel , Lausanne or Geneva . Three trains in each direction connect the city directly with the German metropolis of Munich .

Regional traffic

Rail transport

The St. Gallen train station is the center for the St. Gallen S-Bahn, which operates regionally . It is also served by trains of the Südostbahn , the Appenzeller Bahnen and the Trogenerbahn , which it owns .

The Südostbahn connects Romanshorn with Wattwil and operates the Voralpen-Express , which runs every hour to Lucerne . It also operates the S4 S-Bahn ring line.

Thurbo operates a large part of the regional transport lines around the city, including the connections to Bischofszell and Weinfelden and the so-called lake line via Romanshorn to Schaffhausen .

The following S-Bahn lines run via St. Gallen:

  • S 1 Wil - Gossau - St. Gallen
  • S 2 Nesslau-Neu St. Johann - Wattwil - Herisau - St. Gallen - Rorschach - St. Margrethen - Altstätten
  • S 3 St. Gallen - Rorschach - St. Margrethen (without a stop in Mörschwil)
  • S 4 St. Gallen - Herisau - Wattwil - Uznach (change of direction) - Ziegelbrücke - Sargans - St. Margrethen - St. Gallen (ring line)
  • S 5 St. Gallen - Gossau - Weinfelden
  • S 8 St. Gallen - Romanshorn - Kreuzlingen - Schaffhausen
  • S 21 Gais - Appenzell - St. Gallen - Speicher - Trogen
  • S 81 Herisau - SG Haggen - St. Gallen
  • S 82 St. Gallen - SG St. Fiden - Wittenbach (during rush hour)

In addition to the S-Bahn, other regional trains go to St. Gallen station:

Postbus

St. Gallen is an important center for postbus traffic to the Appenzeller Vorderland ( Rehetobel , Heiden , Stein ) and towards Lake Constance and Thurgau ( Steinach , Arbon ). In St. Gallen, the first double-decker buses from Postauto AG were used on schedule because the use of articulated buses was not possible due to the tight bends on some routes. The utilization of the lines is so high that, as an alternative, it was only possible to run some courses twice.

Local traffic

Around the station, the St. Gallen trolleybus and various bus lines operated by the St. Gallen City Transport Authority (VBSG) ensure that local traffic is distributed precisely .

Until 1957, St. Gallen also had a tram , the St. Gallen tram . The only thing left is the short section of the Appenzeller Bahn tram between the train station and Brühltor.

literature

  • Swiss Federal Railways SBB: Architectural history documentation about the St. Gallen station.
  • Ernst Ehrenzeller: History of the City of St. Gallen. VGS-Verlagsgemeinschaft, St. Gallen 1988, ISBN 3-7291-1047-0 .
  • Daniel Studer (Ed.): Art and culture guide - Canton St. Gallen. Ed.  Society for Swiss Art History GSK. Bern 2005.
  • INSA Inventory of Newer Swiss Architecture 1850–1921, Volume 8 , St. Gallen, Sarnen, Schwyz, Schaffhausen, Orell Füssli, Zurich 1996, ISBN 3-280-02410-2 (main building p. 108–109, depot + water tower p. 126).
  • INSA Inventory of Newer Swiss Architecture 1850–1921, Volume 8. St. Gallen, Sarnen, Schwyz, Schaffhausen, Orell Füssli, Zurich 1996, ISBN 3-280-02410-2 , pp. 107–109.
  • Werner Stutz: Railway stations in Switzerland from the beginning to the First World War. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1983, ISBN 3-280-01405-0 , pp. 129-131, 241-247.
  • Moritz Flury-Rova: The St. Gallen train station. (Swiss Art Guide, No. 950, Series 96). Ed.  Society for Swiss Art History GSK. Bern 2014, ISBN 978-3-03797-155-0 .

Web links

Commons : Bahnhof St. Gallen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Inventory of modern Swiss architecture 1850–1921, Volume 8, St. Gallen, Sarnen, Schwyz, Schaffhausen, Orell Füssli 1996, ISBN 3-280-02410-2 , p. 107.
  2. ↑ Competition for the design of the buildings on the new station square in St. Gallen. In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung Vol. 51, Issue 23/1908. P. 291
  3. ^ Voting documents for the cantonal referendum of November 30, 2008
  4. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from February 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.railcity.ch
  5. ↑ Schweiter Railway Amateur 1/2010 p. 23.
  6. ↑ St.Gallen railway station | SBB . ( sbb.ch [accessed on August 30, 2018]).
  7. ^ Bahnhof & Bahnhofplatz St.Gallen. Retrieved August 30, 2018 .
  8. ^ Werner Stutz: Railway stations in Switzerland from the beginning to the First World War. P. 131.
  9. ↑ Swiss construction newspaper. 50 (1907) p. 246.
  10. ↑ St. Galler Tagblatt AG, Switzerland: The new St. Gallen train station hall: more spacious, airier, more beautiful . In: St.Galler Tagblatt . ( tagblatt.ch [accessed on January 12, 2018]).
  11. ↑ St. Gallen / branch station of the Appenzell tram and the St. Gallen-Speicher-Trogen-Bahn with connection on www.sbbarchiv.ch
  12. ↑ Concentration at the train station. In: St. Galler Tagblatt from April 12, 2012
  13. ↑ [1] (PDF)
  14. ↑ Diameter line Trogen - St.Gallen - Appenzell feasibility study, December 2006
  15. ↑ Station plan St.Gallen (PDF; 1.1 MB)
  16. ↑ Timetable field 855 (PDF; 136 kB)
  17. ↑ Timetable field 859 (PDF; 142 kB)
  18. ↑ [2]
  19. ↑ Information relates to the 2018/19 timetable