Leipzig Central Station

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Leipzig Central Station
View from the city skyscraper on Augustusplatz
Data
Location in the network Terminus
Design Terminal and through station
Platform tracks 23
  • 20 (platform hall)
  • 2 ( tunnel )
  • 1 museum track
abbreviation LL (terminus)
LL T (city tunnel)
IBNR 8010205
Price range 1
opening 4th December 1915
Profile on Bahnhof.de Leipzig_Hbf
Architectural data
architect William Lossow ,
Max Hans Kühne
location
City / municipality Leipzig
country Saxony
Country Germany
Coordinates 51 ° 20 '43 "  N , 12 ° 22' 56"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 20 '43 "  N , 12 ° 22' 56"  E
Railway lines
Railway stations and stops in Saxony
i16 i16 i18

Leipzig Hauptbahnhof is the central passenger station in Leipzig and, with around 120,000 travelers and visitors every day, is the 13th most frequented long-distance train station of Deutsche Bahn . The terminus with 23 platform tracks, 22 of which are used for tourist traffic, is one of the 21 stations in the highest price class 1 from DB Station & Service and, with a covered area of ​​83,640 square meters, is the largest terminus in Europe. The facade of the reception building facing the city center is 298 meters wide.

With regard to the number of platform tracks, it has been exceeded in Europe by the Frankfurt , Munich and Zurich main stations as well as the Paris East and North stations since 1996 after dismantling .

Leipzig Central Station is the central rail passenger transport hub of the S-Bahn in Central Germany in the Leipzig-Halle conurbation . Almost all of their trains run through the City Tunnel , which went into operation in December 2013, and stop at tunnel platform tracks 1 and 2.

In the European Railwaystation Index 2020 by the consumer organization Consumer Choice Center , the station was ranked third-best station in Europe, after London and Zurich and ahead of Rome .

history

Predecessor stations

Railway monument in memory of the Leipzig-Dresden Railway from 1839
Thuringian , Magdeburg and Dresden train stations (from left to right around 1862)
The Thuringian train station on a map from 1860, south-east of it the Magdeburg and Dresden train stations are shown.
Dresden train station around 1860
Magdeburg train station around 1844
Thuringian train station, around 1862

To 1859, who had railway junction Leipzig developed: In addition to the 1837/39 inaugurated Leipzig-Dresden Railway later opened a year, the Magdeburg-Leipzig Railway Company their route Magdeburg-Leipzig , followed in 1842 by the route Leipzig-yard of the Saxon-Bavarian Railway and 1856 the connection Leipzig – Großkorbetha (further to Halle / Bebra ) of the Thuringian Railway .

The Dresden , Magdeburg and Thuringian train stations were built in the immediate vicinity on what was then the northern outskirts of Leipzig . The Bavarian and Eilenburg train stations were located approximately two kilometers southeast of it, and the Berlin train station in the north .

Environment development until 1907

The population of Leipzig grew from 1871 to 1899 4.2 times from 107,000 to 450,000 people. At the same time, the number of rail travelers rose by the same factor from 1.48 million in 1872 to 6.29 million. The spatial separation of the five long-distance train stations forced more complicated train runs and shunting movements.

A standardization of the traffic routing and an expansion of the privately owned facilities was out of the question due to the competition between the companies. In order to end the rivalries and the pursuit of greater profitability, the private joint-stock companies were taken over by the state railway system. This made extensive public investments in the railway network possible.

This led to the design and standardization of the state railway networks, and new passenger and freight stations were built. The existing stations with their individual lines were to be combined in large main stations.

A standardization of the German railway system in accordance with the constitution of April 16, 1871 initiated by Otto von Bismarck , could have prevented competition. However, this failed due to the contradiction of the Mittelstands, as did the draft of a Reich Railroad Act submitted to the Federal Council by Albert von Maybach in 1875 .

In the meantime, the Sächsisch-Baierische Eisenbahn-Compagnie and the Leipzig-Dresdner Eisenbahn-Compagnie were combined in the Royal Saxon State Railways until 1895 , the Magdeburg-Leipzig Railway was bought by the Magdeburg-Halberstädter Railway and this in turn by the Kingdom of Prussia together with the Thuringian Berlin-Anhalter and the Halle-Sorau-Gubener Railway bought up and thus part of the Prussian State Railways with railway directorates in Magdeburg, Erfurt and Halle. The railways of two member states of the German Empire , some of which had conflicting interests, ran within Leipzig . The word Prussian-Saxon railway war made the rounds.

Planning the new building

For Leipzig, as an important node in the network of the European railway and as an important European trade fair and trading center, the renovation of the entire railway system could not be postponed. The conflicting interests of the railway administrations were already evident in the basic planning for the reconstruction of the railway network. All of the concepts developed for Leipzig Central Station since the 1880s came to a head: through station - worked out by Professor August Rincklake  - or terminus?

The administration of the Royal Saxon State Railways preferred a through station with only eight tracks, which was to be built outside the city center in the area of ​​the Leipzig- Schönefeld station on what is now the Leipziger Güterring . However, the Prussian administrations did not want any competition to their through station in Halle (Saale) , which is only 35 kilometers away, and insisted on the rather cumbersome terminus station concept.

The Leipzig council decided on a terminus station with the argument that the new representative station could be built closer to the city center. After controversial discussions of the advantages and disadvantages of the designs from 1887, 1890, 1892 and 1898, a decision was made in 1898 for a terminal station with passenger and freight traffic on the site, which at that time was already occupied by the Dresden, Thuringian and Magdeburg train stations.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the project to build the new Leipzig Central Station finally took shape after several expert rounds. The construction was essentially based on a contract system negotiated between 1898 and 1902 between the Leipzig City Council, representing the municipality on the one hand, and the Royal Prussian Railway Directorate, the Royal General Directorate of the Saxon State Railways, representing the State Treasury in the Kingdom of Saxony and the German Reich Post Treasury, represented by the Kaiserliche Oberpostdirektion Leipzig, on the other hand.

The main contract on the Prussian side, where the individual steps of the construction were precisely regulated, was signed on May 22, 1902. This was preceded by sales of land by the city of Leipzig in 1898 and 1900. For the 211,873 square meters of space that was required for the construction of the main train station including the tracks, the proceeds amounted to 5,727,595 marks, which was almost 10 percent of the total construction cost for the train station. In the special part of the contract signed in 1902, the relocation of the Parthe and the widening of Blücherstrasse (Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse) to 30 meters were also regulated.

The architectural competition for the construction of the reception building was announced in 1906. The prices of the competition, for which all German architects were admitted, were 32,500 marks, plus 3,000 marks were earmarked for purchases. A total of 76 architects took part in the competition. The tender was dominated by a sovereign aspect, as the Saxon State Railways and the Prussian railroad departments were supposed to use the building at the same time. Therefore, a symmetrical design with two connected halves of the station was drawn up, one of which was operated by the Prussian railways and the other by the Royal Saxon State Railways .

The first prize of the competition was awarded to the design of Truth, Clarity, Light and Air by Jürgen Kröger in Berlin and to the design of Light and Air by William Lossow and Max Hans Kühne in Dresden. The last-mentioned draft was finally able to prevail, as the jurors praised the following:

  • it was carefully worked out,
  • make clever use of the scope for tenders,
  • convince with excellent light and air supply,
  • perfect accessibility of the service rooms,
  • good investment of the apartments and
  • monumental design of the entrance halls.

However, the following was criticized:

  • the insufficient size of two waiting rooms,
  • the design of the two side exits and
  • the arrangement of the access to the princely room from the platform.

A secondary design by Lossow and Kühne with high towers over the entrance halls was discarded for financial reasons. After minor corrections to the design, Leipzig Central Station was created as a terminus in the form we know today.

The architect Rudolf Bitzan , who worked in the Dresden office of the two architects, saw himself as the actual creator of the architectural design and denied the authorship of Lossow and Kühne. Bitzan's contribution to the draft has yet to be clarified after a few publications.

Already during the planning phase, the Thuringian train station was the first of the still existing old train stations to be closed and demolished on October 1, 1907, so that the new construction could immediately begin at this point. Then the train traffic was shifted to the Magdeburg train station , which was now called the Provisional Thuringian train station .

New construction and step-by-step commissioning

Track plan from the construction period (1909)
The floor plan for the new building
Construction of the cross platform (photo from 1913 by Bernhard Müller, Hermann Walter's brother-in-law )
Construction of the main train station
The western entrance hall in 1913
View of the completed cross platform in 1916
The finished building in 1913

The engineers Eilers and Karig won the competition for the platform hall, initiated in 1909. Karig created the preliminary draft, which Louis Eilers then worked on. Eilers, who was an entrepreneur and owned a company in Hanover-Herrenhausen, then delivered the construction parts at the same time.

The foundation stone of the station was laid on November 16, 1909 in the southwest corner of the reception building. Completion was scheduled for 1914 at this time. But since the construction workers went on strike in 1911 for higher wages, the station was not completed until 1915. In a capsule, which was built into the foundation, there are coins and daily newspapers as well as the cost estimate for the main train station and documents for the architectural competition. This should show future generations the budget discipline of that time.

The train traffic had priority during the construction phase and was not interrupted. Only the freight traffic was mostly temporarily relocated from the center of the city. Since the demolition of the old and the construction of the new structures took place in parallel, the train traffic had to be relocated again and again.

Difficulties were caused by the boggy building site of the main station. In order to achieve sufficient stability, 3125 foundation piles made of reinforced concrete had to be driven seven meters deep into the earth. The watercourse of the Parthe was laid underground for the construction and diverted in order to obtain a corresponding terrain cut.

After the west side of the main station had taken on contours on the former terrain of the Thuringian station, the buildings of the provisional Thuringian station and the former Magdeburg station were demolished.

The demolition of the old train stations dragged on from 1907 to 1913. While the old Dresden train station was still in use, the west hall was already in operation. The first train from Corbetha arrived at platform 1 in the west aisle on May 1, 1912 . The locomotive was a Prussian P 4 with the train number 1930 Halle . At the same time, the trains to and from Zeitz and on to the newly built facilities were relocated. At this point in time, four platforms with six tracks were usable.

More and more train connections were taken over from the not yet completed main train station in 1912 and 1913:

  • September 20, 1912 the connection between Leipzig and Halle from the Berlin train station
  • October 1, 1912 the connection from Berlin from the Bavarian and Berlin train stations, as well as the express and express train connection from the direction of Hof from the Bavarian train station
  • February 1, 1913 connections to and from Chemnitz and Dresden.

Thereafter, the buildings of the Dresden train station were also removed to finally create construction clearance.

With the partial commissioning of the main train station, long-distance traffic in the direction of Cottbus was also relocated from the Prussian Eilenburg train station two kilometers away to the new station. The festive inauguration of the station with the laying of the keystone on the gallery of the east hall took place on December 4, 1915. The keystone with the chiseled lettering Keystone 4th December 1915 was the cornerstone of the Dresden train station. At that time, Leipzig Central Station was one of the largest train stations in the world, with 26 tracks in the station hall and another five outside platforms.

The total sum for the complete renovation of the railway facilities including the station was 137.05 million marks, with the construction of the main station building accounting for 60.75 million marks. This sum was divided between Saxony with 54.53 million marks, Prussia with 55.66 million marks, the imperial postal administration with 5.76 million marks and the city of Leipzig with 21.1 million marks.

The footprint of the reception building and the platform hall is 83,640 square meters, the enclosed space is around 1.5 million cubic meters, and the width of the cross platform is 270 meters. The quantities of building materials processed are given as 625 tons of glass, 34,000 tons of cement and 7,000 tons of iron parts.

While the existing signal box systems on the Prussian side were merely adapted, the Saxon State Railroad relied on the most modern of what was available at the time. Command interlockings 1 and 2 and some guard interlockings were built as electromechanical interlockings of the 1907 design.

The operational separation according to railway networks continued after the establishment of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1920. The Reichsbahndirektion Halle was responsible for the formerly Prussian part, the RBD Dresden for the formerly Saxon part. It was not until 1934 that the entire station was assigned to the RBD Halle.

In the summer timetable of 1939, the station recorded a total of 156 arrivals and departures of regular long-distance trains. This made it the fourth most important long-distance train node in the Deutsche Reichsbahn network, after Berlin, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main.

In World War II

In 1940 signal box 3 was built on the formerly Prussian west side to replace the old equestrian signal box WO. It was designed as an electromechanical four-row lever mechanism of the VES design.

During the first heavy air raid on Leipzig by the Royal Air Force on December 4, 1943, some bombs hit the station or the station area. A large number of freight and express freight cars burned out (around the express freight shed on both sides of the platform hall).

The attack by the 8th US Air Force on July 7, 1944 caused severe damage, especially to the West Hall and the cross-platform hall. 46.2 tons of bombs hit the train station that day, whereby one of the supporting arches made of reinforced concrete broke. This led to a chain reaction in the next 20 minutes, in which the reinforced concrete arches between the hall aisles and the roof of the cross-platform hall collapsed completely. The east hall remained largely intact. On that day, hundreds of railway workers and travelers died in the air raid shelters between the platforms.

From February 1945 the train traffic was severely restricted by the destruction, in April 1945 it came to a complete standstill.

post war period

The removal of debris from the platforms initially made it possible to resume train traffic at the end of May 1945. Debris trains ran right in front of the main train station and in the gaping gap in the destroyed transverse platform on the level of the former baggage facility . Within more than six years, 20,000 blastings had to be carried out and 30,000 cubic meters of rubble had to be removed. The blasting was necessary to reduce the size of the reinforced concrete rubble so that it could be removed. For the first peace fair in March 1946, some platforms were completely accessible again and in 1947, on the occasion of the spring fair, the transverse platform was partially usable again. The most important repairs to the cross platform followed in 1948. 7,000 square meters were restored for the autumn fair. In 1949 the east hall was largely restored. In the following year, the newly laid concrete ceiling in the cross-platform hall reached 9,000 square meters.

  • Appearance after World War II

  • Cross platform, 1953

  • Station forecourt, 1954

  • Glazing of the platform hall, 1955

  • Winter 1987

After the work on the cross platform was finished, the west hall was rebuilt in 1950/51 and inaugurated on August 15, 1951 in the presence of Soviet officers and opened to traffic. In contrast to the station building, the platform hall remained without a roof until ten years after the war. This situation changed with the decision of the Council of Ministers of the GDR to completely rebuild Leipzig Central Station. In 1954, 60 million marks were budgeted for this. From 1955, the construction cranes turned over the platform hall. One began with the glazing of the side walls along the edge platforms. Then it was the turn of the six aisles, with the glazing of the roof beginning in the middle area (platforms 10 to 18). All six halls with a roof of 60,000 square meters were completed for the autumn fair in 1957, whereby the glazing of the roof lasted until 1961. After the work on the platform hall had been completed, it was the turn of the cross-platform hall. It began with the difficult, true-to-original reconstruction of the destroyed end arches. After the pillars were founded at a depth of 18 meters, the arches were concreted in traditional geometry.

The cross-platform hall was given a different look with large glass surfaces in the upper part and in 1960 had a complete roof again. The repairs to the cross platform lasted until 1963, when it was widened by six meters by removing the platform barriers and elevator towers for luggage. Around 1960 the signal systems were also converted to light signals . The Hl signal system , which was new at the time, was used, in some cases with the main and secondary threads of the signal lamps connected in series while maintaining the 136 V power supply derived from the shape signals. The complete restoration of the station should take until December 4, 1965. The Leipziger Volkszeitung wrote as early as September 9, 1965 , quote:

"Everything added up, all of this thought out, Leipzig Central Station - created from ruins, new, more beautiful - becomes a meaningful symbol for the reconstruction work since 1945, for the vigor that inspires Leipzig's hard-working citizens."

- Leipziger Volkszeitung from September 9, 1965

After the Second World War, the guideline applied to the Reichsbahn not to rebuild badly damaged station halls.

However, since the Leipzig main station had a shop window and representational function, especially for western trade fair guests, a reconstruction that was largely true to the original was sought. The Reichsbahn was praised for this structure at home and abroad, and this also applied to the people of Leipzig and trade fair guests.

With a total of 185 regular arrivals and departures per day in long-distance traffic, the main train station was, after the Berlin node, the second most important node in the network of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in the 1989 summer timetable .

On May 15, 1960, two passenger trains collided in the approach area of ​​the station due to incorrect actions by signal box personnel. It was one of the worst rail accidents in the history of the GDR.

Uprising of June 17, 1953

At noon on June 17, 1953, the transport police at the main train station were put on alert. At 2:30 p.m., demonstrators led by former transport police officer Herbert Kaiser stormed the guard across from platform 1. The demonstrators stole weapons that were about to be locked in the gun safe. The weapons were later found unused. Herbert Kaiser was arrested for leading role in the disarming of the transport police and handed over to the Soviet occupation forces on June 19. He was executed on December 15, 1953.

After this event on June 17, the focus shifted to the remand prison on Beethovenstrasse. At 3:15 p.m., People's Police opened fire on the demonstrators. Dieter Teich was fatally hit. He was the first victim of the uprising in Leipzig. The body was dragged by the demonstrators through the city center to the main train station, where it was confiscated. Before that, the dead woman was showered with flowers by saleswomen from the Blumen-Hanisch in the Westhalle. At 4:00 p.m., the Soviet military commander Yatskewitsch imposed martial law on the entire Leipzig district . In the early evening of June 17, T-34 tanks arrived and flanked the entrance halls of the station until the next day. Martial law was in effect in the city of Leipzig until July 11, 1953.

DEFA Zeitkino

The DEFA - Zeitkino was one of two cinemas of its kind in the GDR until the renovation of the Berlin Ostbahnhof in 1987 and was built in 1950 in the access rooms to the tunnel platforms , which were built as a preliminary service for the connection to the Bayerischer Bahnhof under platform 22/23 and during the Second World War had been used as an air raid shelter. It was finally closed at the end of 1992 due to structural defects. The cinema had 204 seats and between 10:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. showed a 70-minute short film cycle and two feature films. In 1978 the cinema had more than 300,000 viewers in 5589 screenings.

Reconstruction after 1990

Alongside Cologne Central Station , Leipzig Central Station was selected in 1994 for a model project for the redesign and commercial multiple use of heavily frequented stations.

The tourist facilities were comprehensively renewed in the second half of the 1990s. The area of ​​the cross platform and the corner buildings east and west were completely gutted and a shopping center with two additional floors below the cross platform was set up in this area. In the area of ​​the west corner building, preliminary work was also carried out for the city tunnel to be built later. Today the reception building houses around 11,000 square meters of rented space with 71 shops. The renovation was designed by the ECE group , which also manages the shopping center.

The architects' office Hentrich-Petschnigg & Partner (Düsseldorf) won first place in an open competition. A multi-storey car park with 600 parking spaces was built on the area of ​​the former tracks 25 and 26 and below track 24. The original plans for a multi-storey car park on those tracks led to weeks of protests by the population and by monument preservationists. The realized, almost level parking deck variant is based on a compromise. A total of around 250 million euros went into the modernization and renovation of the station.

As a visual separation between the railway facilities and the car parking spaces, historical rail vehicles are exhibited on track 24. You can see there is a steam locomotive class 52 , a rapid combustion railcars of Hamburg Design and one each electric locomotive series E 04 , the E 44 and E 94 .

The converted station building was officially opened on November 12, 1997. In the previous weeks, travelers had to use particularly long and cumbersome access routes via platforms that were not operationally usable and the pedestrian tunnel just in front of the hall apron.

  • Appearance after the modernization

  • West hall

  • Cross-platform hall with shopping center 2004

  • Elevator in the cross-platform hall

  • Hall apron from platform 24

  • Eastern platform hall and museum track 24

  • ICE at Leipzig Central Station

In 2004, the electronic interlockings of the Alcatel type were put into operation , which also include the parts of the station in front of it.

From 1997 to 2007 there was a DB Lounge for first-class passengers and frequent travelers on the cross platform in the Prussian waiting room at platform 10 . After extensive renovation work, a train station bookshop belonging to the Dr. Eckert these rooms. The lounge was in a transition area until the end of 2008 when it moved to the former bookstore premises at the level of the former platform 4.

Integration of the German Unity Transport Project No. 8

For the integration of the German Unity Transport Project No. 8 (VDE 8) in the railway junction, in the first construction phase 2013 to 2015 a. a. 11 kilometers of track and 75 points rebuilt. The platforms on tracks 10 to 15 were demolished, rebuilt and significantly extended. The traffic tunnel II, which was still in use, was tied off and gradually removed along with the remains of the traffic tunnel I, which was closed in 2004. The contract for this was awarded in mid-2013 for a net amount of 31.8 million euros. The station dispatcher line building on platform 12/13 was demolished in April and May 2014.

Platforms 10 to 15 were built from scratch, lengthened by 80 meters compared to the original state and brought to a height of 760 millimeters above the top of the rails. The useful lengths of tracks 12 to 15 increased to 420, that of tracks 10 and 11 to 370 meters. At the same time, the track plan has been optimized for faster entries and exits. The main tracks in the direction of Berlin thus became hall tracks 10 and 11, tracks 12 and 13 in the direction of Erfurt and Halle and tracks 14 and 15 in the direction of Dresden.

Construction work began in September 2013. Together with other changes in long-distance traffic, it caused travel times to be extended by around half an hour on the Frankfurt – Dresden ICE line in 2014 and 2015. In 2013, platform tracks 12 and 13 were closed for this purpose, and tracks 14 and 15 followed in February 2014. At the end of September 2014, platform tracks 12 to 14 were reopened. Tracks 10 and 11 went out of service at the same time. Track 36 with outer platform 10a, formerly the main track of traffic tunnel II, was finally dismantled at this time. As part of a three-day full closure from September 24 to 27, 2015, the first construction stage was completed and put into operation. Platform tracks 16 to 18 and 38 (on platform 18a) on the east side of the station initially remained out of service due to the lack of switches. They can be used again since November 15, 2015.

The renewal of the railway bridges over Rackwitzer Strasse and over the Parthe began in the summer of 2012. The bridge construction was completed in June 2015, the tramway below in August.

The estimated costs of the first construction phase totaled around 120 million euros. In a second construction phase, the switch location in the Berliner Bahnhof section, which previously only allowed speeds of 40 km / h on most routes, was converted for higher speeds by the end of 2017. The route towards Mockau should also be expanded and a new Essener Straße stop should be created. The part of the bridge over Berliner Strasse that had not yet been converted has been renewed since November 2015. During the construction work, tracks 198 and 199, the main tracks of route 6367 to Großkorbetha were interrupted, so train journeys to and from Großkorbetha and the routes to Dresden and Chemnitz were only possible via track 503, which was left on the last remnant of the old superstructure, or with a detour Possible via the Güterring (Leutzsch – Wiederitzsch – Mockau). So that a track to the west could be used, the last part of the bridge reconstruction was also carried out in two sections. The second of three planning approval decisions for the integration of the VDE 8 project was issued on October 15, 2015, the associated construction contract was put out to tender in mid-May 2015 and awarded in January 2016 for 61 million euros. The ESTW Leipzig-Mockau went into operation in November 2017. A total of 350 million euros are earmarked for the integration of the VDE 8 project in the Leipzig hub.

The subject of the third construction phase and planning approval phase are existing network measures in the Leipzig-Mockau area. The realization is open (as of April 2016).

The node is to be equipped with ETCS L1LS and ETCS Level 2 . In the platform area of ​​the main train station, ETCS equipment with Level 1 LS is planned for tracks 6 to 20.

In order to integrate the project, full closings took place again in November 2017. The master tracks of the route were Erfurt and Leipzig , which until then were in the Berlin train station between the facilities of the railcar Bw Leipzig Hbf West and the "Halle group," next to the west of the routes of Bitterfeld and station Leipzig North Leipzig Bayerischer postponed . The switch connections between these lines can be driven at 80 km / h in the branching line.

After completion of the construction work, travel times to Erfurt of around three quarters of an hour, to Munich of around three hours and ten minutes and to Frankfurt am Main of around three hours should be achieved. With the full commissioning of VDE 8, a node of the integral cycle timetable with the symmetry minutes 15/45 is to be set up in Leipzig .

Crime hotspot

An open drug scene has established itself in the area around the main train station and around the swan pond . Regular raids are coordinated by the Joint Investigation Group Station / Center. Despite prolonged police efforts, the problem persisted. Theft, assault and drug offenses are more common in this region of downtown Leipzig.

Traffic tunnels I and II

Traffic tunnel II
Traffic tunnel II with Y-steel sleepers after closure, in the background the filling point under tracks 12 and 13, July 2014

At the same time, the postal administration built the Leipzig Post Station on Rohrteichstrasse . It was connected to the Saxon side of the main train station. In order to be able to move the mail wagons to and from the trains of the Prussian State Railway with as few shunting movements as possible, traffic tunnels I and II were built at the instigation of the postal administration. They began as an extension of hall tracks 7 (traffic tunnel I) and 36 (platform 10a, traffic tunnel II), crossed under the tracks in the direction of Eilenburg, Halle and Berlin and ended at the Brandenburg Bridge with the Saxon mainline tracks and the Postbahnhof. The traffic tunnels also made it easier for continuous trains to travel east-west and north-south, since fewer tracks had to be crossed. The S-Bahn also used traffic tunnel I from 1969 to 2004. The traffic tunnels were electrified in 1961 in connection with the Leipzig Hbf – Leipzig-Connewitz line, but the catenary in the traffic tunnels was permanently dead and grounded due to the insufficient height. In the 1990s, the superstructure in the tunnels was converted to concrete-mounted Y-steel sleepers with a particularly small overall height. The bedding also only reached the minimum thickness above the tunnel ceilings.

When the electronic interlockings on the east side were put into operation , traffic tunnel I was shut down in 2004 and then partially demolished to create construction space for the Leipzig city tunnel . The traffic tunnel II initially remained in operation and was mainly used for long-distance trains to and from Dresden. With the start of the integration of the new Erfurt – Leipzig / Halle (VDE 8.2) and the Berlin – Leipzig / Halle (VDE 8.3) upgraded line in the Leipzig junction and the associated redesign of tracks 10 to 15, the eastern remains of the tunnel I were demolished . The 160-meter-long traffic tunnel II was finally closed on February 8, 2014 and then backfilled, starting with the area under the continuous main tracks towards Halle and Erfurt. The southern tunnel ramp in the direction of the platform hall was demolished and filled in in autumn and winter 2014/15, the remains of the eastern ramp with retaining wall in autumn 2015.

City tunnel

Northern portal of the first tunnel started in 1915

A tunnel connection between the main train station and the Bavarian train station was planned by the Saxon State Railway from the outset. However, due to the competitive situation with the Prussian state railway, the tunnel was planned on the eastern side of Saxony, which is now considered less favorable. With the construction of the main train station, the shell of the tunnel coming from the north was completed right up to the end of the building. The track troughs were located under platform 22/23 and were to have outer platforms. The rest of the route across Augustusplatz and Windmühlenstrasse and Grünewaldstrasse was not implemented, but was kept free for decades. The 710 meter long tunnel section, which was built between 1913 and 1915, received several bomb hits during World War II, was only secured afterwards and has since consisted of three parts that were no longer continuously accessible. The "DEFA Zeitkino", accessible from the east hall, was set up in part of the unused tunnel system. The section within the station concourse was broken off when the platform halls were converted in 1997 for the East car park. The tunnel ramp that has never been used is clearly visible at the level of the signal box 12 to the right of the previous main track 21 in the direction of Dresden.

Atrium in the main train station, access to the tunnel platform

About 150 meters to the west, the Leipzig City Tunnel was built by the end of 2013, a roughly two-kilometer connection under the city center to the Bavarian train station with additional stops at Markt and Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz . The Leipzig main station was transformed from a pure terminus to a combined terminus and through station. At the main station of the tunnel over a West ramp in the routes is to truth and to Leutzsch and a north ramp height freely to Eilenburg and to Bitterfeld involved. For this purpose, the track system in the north ramp fans out from two to four tracks. On the two middle tracks there is train traffic in the direction of Bitterfeld, on the two outer tracks there is train traffic in the direction of Wahren and Leutzsch.

The structure under the main station was considered extremely difficult to build. The multi-layered groundwater at a depth of five meters creates a large uplift on the structure. The station was built in several construction phases, which were initially separated from each other by watertight diaphragm walls until the sections were secured against groundwater ingress. Previously, the platform tracks 1 to 6 including their platforms had been dismantled, in order to then erect diaphragm walls 26 meters deep and 1.50 meters thick. The service center of the main train station was under protection from icing .

From September 25 to 29, 2013, the main train station was completely closed in order to integrate the city tunnel into the existing network. After completion of the work, test drives were carried out. The entire commissioning took place, together with the new network of the S-Bahn Central Germany , on December 15, 2013.

The platform is 215 meters long and 55 centimeters high and is around 20 meters below street level. An option to extend the platform to 400 meters to the north was structurally left open. However, due to the location of switches 198 and 199, this platform extension would only be usable in full length for trains using the north tunnel ramp.

In terms of rail operations, the entire city tunnel and the adjoining site of the former Leipzig Bayer Bf station up to and including the southern flyover structure south of Richard-Lehmann-Strasse is part of the main station.

Transport links

Long-distance transport

Leipzig Hauptbahnhof is connected to the long-distance network of German railways by several Intercity Express and Intercity lines. Usually two lines are concentrated at hourly intervals: the ICE line 50 and IC line 55 are concentrated at hourly intervals to Dresden, the IC lines 55 and 56 at hourly intervals between Leipzig and Hanover.

line Line course Cycle (min) EVU
ICE 11 Hamburg  - Berlin  - Lutherstadt Wittenberg  - Leipzig  - Erfurt  - Frankfurt am Main  - Stuttgart  - Augsburg  - Munich 120 DB long-distance transport
ICE 28 Hamburg - Berlin - Lutherstadt Wittenberg - Leipzig  - Erfurt - Bamberg  - Nuremberg  - Munich 120 DB long-distance transport
ICE 50 Dresden  - Riesa  - Leipzig  - Erfurt  - Eisenach  - Fulda  - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt (Main) Airport - Mainz  - Wiesbaden 120 ( Lufthansa Express Rail ) DB long-distance transport
IC 17 ( Warnemünde -) Rostock - Waren - Neustrelitz - Oranienburg - Berlin-Gesundbrunnen - Berlin Hbf - Berlin Südkreuz - Lutherstadt Wittenberg - Bitterfeld - Leipzig - Halle (Saale) - Naumburg (Saale) - Jena - Saalfeld (Saale) - Lichtenfels - Bamberg - Erlangen - Fürth - Nuremberg - Regensburg - Straubing - Plattling - Passau - Schärding - Wels - Linz - St. Pölten - Vienna Meidling - Vienna main station a pair of trains DB long-distance transport
IC 51 Leipzig  - Naumburg (Saale)  - Weimar  - Erfurt - Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe  - Dortmund - Duisburg  - Düsseldorf  - Cologne individual trains DB long-distance transport
IC 55 Dresden - Riesa - Leipzig  - Halle (Saale)  - Magdeburg  - Braunschweig  - Hanover  - Bielefeld  - Dortmund  - Wuppertal  - Cologne 120 DB long-distance transport
IC 56 Leipzig  - Halle (Saale) - Magdeburg - Braunschweig - Hanover - Bremen  - Oldenburg  - Leer  - Emden  - Norddeich Mole 120 DB long-distance transport
IC 61 Leipzig  - Naumburg (Saale) - Jena  - Saalfeld (Saale)  - Lichtenfels  - Nuremberg - Aalen  - Schorndorf  - Stuttgart - Pforzheim  - Karlsruhe a pair of trains DB long-distance transport
FLX 30 Leipzig  - Lutherstadt Wittenberg - Berlin Südkreuz  - Berlin Hbf - Berlin-Spandau  - Hanover - Bielefeld - Dortmund - Essen  - Duisburg - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Aachen two to four pairs of trains per week (line currently only runs between Berlin and Cologne) Flixtrain

Interconnex trains stopped in Leipzig until December 2014 . Since December 2016, due to the discontinuation of the City Night Line offer, night trains no longer operate here .

With the commissioning of the new line towards Erfurt ( VDE 8.2 ), all ICE trains on the Berlin – Munich route will be routed via Leipzig due to the renovation of the Halle (Saale) main station . Furthermore, the ICE line 50 Dresden / Leipzig - Frankfurt (M) / Wiesbaden runs on the new route at a coordinated hourly ICE. There is also a new ICE line from Berlin to Frankfurt via Halle (Saale). With the commissioning of the new Erfurt – Nuremberg line ( VDE 8.1 ), ICE trains to and from Munich are to run alternately via Leipzig and Halle (Saale) from 2017, with a connection in Erfurt at the other hour. (As of March 2015)

International transport

Until December 14, 2019, there was a weekday EuroCity connection to Prague, which was the only international train connection that reached Leipzig Central Station. Since these trains were discontinued, a single pair of trains on IC line 17 has been running between Warnemünde and Vienna via Leipzig. This is used to connect the workshop to the KISS multiple units used on this line, which are still being serviced by the previous owner Westbahn in Vienna.

Regional and S-Bahn traffic

line Line course Cycle (min) EVU
RE 6 Leipzig  - Belgershain - Bad Lausick - Geithain - Burgstädt - Chemnitz 060 Transdev Regio East
RE 10 Leipzig  - Eilenburg  - Torgau - Falkenberg  - Doberlug-Kirchhain - Calau - Cottbus 120 DB Regio Nordost
EBx 12 Leipzig  - Pegau - Zeitz  - Bad Köstritz - Gera  - Weida - Pößneck - Saalfeld 120 Erfurt Railway
RE 13 Leipzig  - Delitzsch  - Bitterfeld  - Dessau  - Zerbst - Biederitz - Magdeburg 060 DB Regio Southeast
EBx 13 Leipzig  - Zeitz - Gera - Weida - Zeulenroda - Mehltheuer - Hof 120 Erfurt Railway
RE 42 Leipzig  - Weißenfels  - Naumburg - Jena  - Rudolstadt - Bamberg - Erlangen  - Nuremberg 120 DB Regio Bavaria
RE 50 Leipzig  - Wurzen - Oschatz  - Riesa - Priestewitz  - Radebeul East - Dresden 060 DB Regio Southeast
RB 20 Leipzig  - Bad Dürrenberg - Weissenfels - Naumburg - Apolda  - Weimar - Erfurt - Gotha  - Eisenach 060 Abellio Rail Central Germany
EB 22 Leipzig  - Pegau - Zeitz - Bad Köstritz - Gera - Weida - Pößneck - Koenitz - Saalfeld 120 Erfurt Railway
RB 110 Leipzig  - Borsdorf - Grimma - Leisnig - Döbeln 060 Transdev Regio East
RB 113 Leipzig  - Belgershain - Bad Lausick - Geithain 060 DB Regio Southeast
S 1 Leipzig Miltitzer Allee - Leipzig-Plagwitz - Leipzig  - Leipzig Market - Leipzig-Stötteritz 030th DB Regio Southeast
S 2 ( Jüterbog  -) Wittenberg / Dessau - Bitterfeld - Delitzsch - Leipzig  - Leipzig Market - Leipzig-Stötteritz 030th DB Regio Southeast
S 3 Halle-Trotha  - Halle - Schkeuditz  - Leipzig  - Leipzig Market - Leipzig-Stötteritz - Wurzen (- Oschatz) 030th DB Regio Southeast
S 4 Hoyerswerda - Falkenberg - Eilenburg - Leipzig  - Leipzig Market - Leipzig-Connewitz - Markkleeberg-Gaschwitz 030th DB Regio Southeast
S 5 Halle - Leipzig / Halle Airport - Leipzig  - Leipzig Market - Markkleeberg - Altenburg  - Gößnitz  - Zwickau 060 DB Regio Southeast
S 5X Halle - Leipzig / Halle Airport - Leipzig  - Leipzig Market - Markkleeberg - Altenburg - Gößnitz - Zwickau 060 DB Regio Southeast
S 6 Leipzig Fair - Leipzig  - Leipzig Market - Leipzig-Connewitz - Markkleeberg - Borna - Geithain 030th DB Regio Southeast

Local public transport

Trams and buses of the Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe (LVB) stop at the station forecourt , as do regional bus routes from other transport companies.

Long-distance bus transport

The central long-distance bus terminal has been located directly to the east of the main train station since March 2018.

Trivia

Awards

The Leipzig Central Station was awarded the title Station of the Year in the category of large city station by the Pro Schiene Alliance in 2011 .

List and Harkort busts from an old monument

On June 17, 1999, the two preserved marble busts of the Leipzig railway pioneers at the west end of the renovated head platform were returned to the public. Such an honor can rarely be found in German train stations.

The busts of Friedrich List and Gustav Harkort were created in 1927 by the Leipzig sculptor Adolf Lehnert (1862–1948) together with narrative image plates for a List-Harkort monument, which was located in the northeast area of ​​the green area at the Schwanenteich until the World War. After the facility was destroyed, the busts were stored in the Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts . They were restored in the last years of the 20th century by the Leipzig sculptor Markus Gläser and each provided with a new labeled base.

Movie

Films in which the train station served as a backdrop:

literature

Web links

Commons : Leipzig Hauptbahnhof  - collection of images

Deutsche Bahn AG:

Further evidence:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Map of Leipzig Central Station. OpenRailwayMap, September 28, 2014, accessed October 19, 2014 .
  2. ↑ The kilometer data refer to the distance between Leipzig main station and the starting point of the measurement (kilometering) of the respective route.
  3. ^ European Railway Station Index 2020. In: Consumer Choice Center. Retrieved February 20, 2020 (American English).
  4. ↑ mdr.de: Leipzig Central Station is Germany's best train station | MDR.DE. Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
  5. ↑ a b Ralph Seidel: The influence of changed framework conditions on network design and frequencies in long-distance rail passenger transport in Germany . Dissertation at the University of Leipzig. Leipzig 2005, p. 27, 48 .
  6. ↑ Andreas Glowienka, Reinhard W. Heinemann, Dietmar Ludwig, Walter Stone: Leipzig City Tunnel: reactivation of the project around 1989 . In: City-Tunnel Leipzig. Chronicle of a railway connection from the 19th to the 21st century . Strom & Strom, Leipzig 2004, ISBN 3-9807618-4-3 , p. 69.
  7. ^ Station profile Leipzig Hbf - further information, data & facts. bahnhof.de, accessed on February 3, 2013 .
  8. ^ Association of German Architects / Deutsche Bahn AG / Förderverein Deutsche Architekturzentrum (ed.): Renaissance of the railway stations: The city in the 21st century . Vieweg-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1996, ISBN 3-528-08139-2 , pp. 73-75.
  9. ^ A b Reinhard Nickell: The renovation work in Leipzig main station . In: Eisenbahn-Kurier , No. 300, September 1998, ISSN  0170-5288 , pp. 60-63.
  10. ^ Announcement of the modernization of the station . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 1/2, 1998, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 5.
  11. ↑ a b Germany-Leipzig: Construction work for railway lines . Document 2013 / S 126-216693 of July 2, 2013 in the supplement to the Electronic Official Journal of the European Union .
  12. ^ D-Leipzig: Construction work for railway lines . Document 2012 / S 146-244364 of August 1, 2012 in the supplement to the Electronic Official Journal of the European Union .
  13. ↑ a b c d e Deutsche Bahn AG (Ed.): Integration of the new VDE 8 line in the Leipzig railway junction ensures changes in long-distance traffic in Central Germany . Press release from July 22, 2013.
  14. ↑ a b Large-scale project at Leipzig Central Station: Central platforms are packed for this. (No longer available online.) In: Leipziger Volkszeitung . February 10, 2014, archived from the original on March 10, 2014 ; accessed on March 7, 2014 .
  15. ↑ Day-long closures in Leipzig, Halle (Saale) and Erfurt . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . No. 1 , 2016, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 6 .
  16. ↑ Deutsche Bahn AG (Ed.): New platforms in Leipzig Central Station in a concentrated construction campaign for VDE 8 . Press release 091/2014 FK from August 12, 2014.
  17. ↑ Eisenbahn-Bundesamt (Ed.): Plan approval decision according to § 18 AEG for the project final state integration of VDE 8 in the Leipzig node (PFA 2) km 306.630 – km 311.060 Eltersdorf-Leipzig line (5919) (...) . Leipzig October 15, 2015, p. 46 ( PDF ). PDF ( Memento from November 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  18. ^ Germany-Frankfurt am Main: construction work for railway lines. Document 2015 / S 158-291374. In: Supplement to the Electronic Official Journal of the European Union . May 18, 2015, accessed June 16, 2016 .
  19. ↑ a b Germany-Leipzig: Construction work for railway lines. Document 2016 / S 105-187257. In: Supplement to the Electronic Official Journal of the European Union . June 2, 2016, accessed June 16, 2016 .
  20. ^ DB Netz (Ed.): European Train Control System (ETCS) at DB Netz AG . Frankfurt am Main April 10, 2014 ( dbnetze.com [PDF]). European Train Control System (ETCS) at DB Netz AG ( Memento from June 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  21. ↑ Julia Zimmer: Planning of ETCS signal-guided in Germany. (PDF) (No longer available online.) DB ProjektBau, September 25, 2015, p. 12 , archived from the original on March 7, 2016 ; Retrieved on March 7, 2016 (File 12_Zimer_20150921_Presentation_Fachtagung.pdf in ZIP archive).
  22. ^ Sven Heitkamp: Saxony - major construction site of the railway . In: Saxon newspaper . tape 72 , March 10, 2017, ZDB -ID 2448502-0 , p. 23 ( saechsische.de ).
  23. ↑ Manuel Rehkopf: Complete commissioning of the new / upgraded VDE 8 line, DB Fernverkehr AG service concept . Presentation, August 26, 2013, p. 8.
  24. ^ Raid against the drug scene around Leipzig Central Station
  25. ^ Four arrests after a drug raid around Leipzig Central Station
  26. ↑ http://www.eisenbahn-tunnelportale.de/lb/inhalt/tunnelportale/6368.html
  27. ^ The VDE 8 project: Project management and civil engineering. (PDF; 13.0 MiB) (No longer available online.) DB Projektbau , pp. 39, 88 , archived from the original on December 19, 2013 ; Retrieved May 28, 2012 .
  28. ↑ Bus replacement for trains from Dresden and Meißen . In: Dresdner Latest News . February 5, 2014, p. 5 .
  29. ↑ Martin Pelzl: “Citizen construction supervision” from spring / old traffic tunnel is filled . In: Leipziger Volkszeitung . February 11, 2014, ISSN  0232-3222 , p. 15 .
  30. ↑ Information and pictures about the tunnels on route 6368 on eisenbahn-tunnelportale.de by Lothar Brill
  31. ↑ a b c Torsten Höfig: The Hauptbahnhof station: crossing point between city and long-distance traffic . In: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Bauoberleitung / Construction supervision City-Tunnel Leipzig (ed.): City-Tunnel Leipzig: Chronicle of the development of a Saxon traffic project . Strom & Strom, 2009, ISBN 978-3-939516-07-1 , p. 50-57 .
  32. ↑ Without a source
  33. ↑ Final construction work to integrate the city tunnel: Comprehensive technical inspections and software changes as well as a four-day closure in Leipzig central station required. (No longer available online.) Deutsche Bahn, September 9, 2013, archived from the original on December 2, 2013 ; Retrieved September 26, 2013 .
  34. ↑ a b Dirk Stecher, Michael Menschner, Ulf Lange: The infrastructure project “City-Tunnel Leipzig” . In: Railway technical review . No. 4 , 2014, ISSN  0013-2845 , p. 20-25 .
  35. ↑ Timetable 2016 - Background to the main changes in rail traffic in Saxony-Anhalt from December 13, 2015. (No longer available online.) NASA - Nahverkehrsservice Sachsen-Anhalt GmbH, February 24, 2014, archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; accessed on March 9, 2015 .
  36. ^ Tino Zippel: New ICE route: Sprinters should not stop in Erfurt ( memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). In: Thüringer Allgemeine , September 20, 2010.
  37. ↑ BT-Drs. 17/2939 (PDF; 133 KiB) Answer of the Federal Government to the small question of the MPs Stephan Kühn, Dr. Anton Hofreiter, Daniela Wagner, other MPs and the parliamentary group BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN - printed matter 17/2826 -. Future development of the Leipzig railway junction
  38. ↑ www.leipzig-lexikon.de after Horst Riedel: Stadtlexikon Leipzig from A to Z. ProLEIPZIG 2005, p. 217. Photographs of the busts in the personal articles.