Vienna west train station
| Vienna west train station | |
|---|---|
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| Data | |
| Operating point type | Long-distance station for ( WESTbahn ), terminus station |
| Platform tracks | 11 |
| abbreviation | Ws ( ÖBB ), WS ( VOR ) |
| IBNR | 8100003 |
| opening |
1858 1st Westbahnhof (Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Bahnhof), Nov. 24, 1951 Partial opening of the 2nd Westbahnhof |
| Architectural data | |
| Architectural style | classic modern |
| architect | Moritz Löhr (1858), ArGe Robert Hartinger jun., Sepp Wöhnhart & Franz Xaver Schlarbaum (1949–1954) |
| location | |
| City / municipality | Vienna |
| state | Vienna |
| Country | Austria |
| Coordinates | 48 ° 11 ′ 47 " N , 16 ° 20 ′ 10" E |
| Railway lines | |
| List of train stations in Austria | |
| Westbahnhof | |
|---|---|
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| Subway station building between the outer and inner belt | |
| Basic data | |
| District : | New building , Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus |
| Coordinates : | 48 ° 11 ′ 47 " N , 16 ° 20 ′ 10" E |
| Opened: | 1989 |
| Tracks (platform): | 4 (2 central platforms) |
| Station abbreviation: | WS |
| use | |
| Subway lines : |
 
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| Transfer options : |
Westbahnhof: R REX CJX 5 6 9 18 52 60 N6 N8 N49 N54 Regional buses Vienna Airport Lines  |
| Passengers: | 200,000 / day (as of 2011) |
As a terminus station, the Westbahnhof in Vienna forms the starting point of the Westbahn . The station was inaugurated on December 15, 1858 on the occasion of the commissioning of the "kk priv. Kaiserin Elisabeth-Bahn" from Vienna Westbahnhof via Linz Hauptbahnhof to Linz Südbahnhof. The current station concourse, which is listed and opened in 1951, was reopened on December 21, 2010 after two years of renovation. An underground shopping center called BahnhofCity Wien West was completed in autumn 2011 . The hall is surrounded on both sides by taller new buildings, in which u. a. a hotel is housed. In 2012 and 2013 the station won the election as the most beautiful station in Austria .
Since December 13, 2015, all ÖBB long-distance trains have been running from Vienna Central Station or Vienna Meidling . The long-distance trains of the WESTbahn to Salzburg and the regional traffic to Lower Austria and, on weekends, through the Gesäuse National Park to Selzthal remain at the Westbahnhof .
location
The Westbahnhof is located in Vienna's 15th district , Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus , on the inner-city, six- to eight-lane belt transport axis (Neubaugürtel) and is accessible by two underground lines (U3, U6) and tram lines 5, 6, 9, 18 , 52 and 60 reachable. Like the U3 , Mariahilfer Straße , which runs in a west-east direction near the south side of the building, provides a direct connection to the city center.
Lines that run from Wien Westbahnhof
There are also individual trains to Waidhofen an der Ybbs , Kleinreifling , St. Valentin , Passau , Laa an der Thaya and Selzthal .
meaning
Until the timetable change on December 13, 2015, the Westbahnhof was the starting point for long-distance rail traffic to Germany , Switzerland , France and Belgium and the loading point for motorail trains to Salzburg Hbf , Schwarzach - St. Veit , Innsbruck Hbf , Feldkirch , Düsseldorf Hbf , Hamburg-Altona and Berlin-Wannsee . Since there is a connection to the railways to Italy , Slovenia , Hungary , Serbia and Romania in the south, east and south-east via the connecting railway , legendary long-distance trains such as the Orient Express were once run via Vienna West Station. Since the Westbahnhof is a terminus, all trains had to leave the station in the opposite direction to the entrance. Today, the long-distance trains of the ÖBB serve the stations Wien Meidling and Wien Hauptbahnhof instead .
The private railway company WESTbahn has been offering regular service from Vienna's Westbahnhof to Salzburg since December 2011 and is currently the only provider of long-distance trains at the Westbahnhof.
For ÖBB, the Westbahnhof continues to be the starting point for regional connections to Lower Austria that are part of the Verkehrsverbund Ost-Region .
In the summer of 2019, there was a daily direct international connection with the train pair REX 5914/5927 (Radtramper Donau) from Vienna Westbahnhof to Passau Hbf (D) and back.
In 2020/2021 , a furniture store for the Swedish IKEA group will be built right next to the train station on the outer Mariahilfer Straße . The group is there on five floors of approximately 18,000 square meters of play on . A chain hotel will also be housed in the building. In contrast to other Ikea sales outlets, this one is not geared towards motorists; Up to 150 trees are to grow on the facade of the new building.
history
1858 to 1949
The Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Bahn , which opened in 1858 with the Westbahn - originally: Imperial and Royal Privilege Empress Elisabeth-Bahn - was designed by the railway architect Moritz Löhr . When it opened, the Westbahnhof was outside the city of Vienna and the line wall surrounding it . From 1873 on, the Gürtelstrasse , soon known as the Gürtel, was built parallel to the front of the station; the former train station only showed its narrow side from the belt. The representative entrance portal was on the south side of the train station, facing today's Mariahilfer Strasse, i.e. the street that connected the emperor's living and working place (Schönbrunn Palace and the Hofburg). In 1892 the so-called suburbs, including the station area, were incorporated. From 1894 the line wall was removed. The first electric tram line in Vienna, called line 5 or 5 since 1907 (until today), has been running from the Westbahnhof to the Nordbahnhof , Vienna's most important train station at the time , since 1897 .
The station comprised four components built in a historicizing style. The station concourse was originally 104 m long and 27.2 m wide. It was covered by an iron tent roof with girders and offered space for four tracks. Pronounced tongue platforms were initially not available. The exit from the hall was flanked by two towers. In the east, a two-story administration building closed off the track system from the Gürtel.
The side wings accommodated the facilities for departure and arrival. The south-facing departure side consisted of a representative portal with a flight of stairs and three large arches supported by columns and crowned by statues; Connecting wings to the right and left of it created a connection to two two-story office buildings each. Through the portal one reached the ticket hall and the platform for the departure. Located on slightly elevated terrain, the departure side from the southeast offered the most impressive view of the station. This structure was repeated on the arrival side to the north; Due to the terrain, however, the building plinth was omitted and the portal was less high, but arcades offered protection from the weather to passengers waiting for fiakers or carts.
In order to take account of the increased number of passengers, the two towers that flanked the exit were removed, the roof structure was changed and space was created for a fifth track during a renovation carried out between 1910 and 1912. In addition, further covered platforms and departure tracks were laid in the run-up to the hall tracks.
In April 1945 the station was hit by bombs in the course of the fighting at the end of World War II and burned down; the roof of the hall collapsed. After the end of the war, the buildings were initially poorly adapted for rail operations, but it was decided to build a completely new one, so that the station was demolished in 1949.
A statue of the original namesake of the railway, Empress Elisabeth , reminds of the old station , which used to be on the facade of the station and is now placed in the lower hall of the Westbahnhof. It still shows damage from the time of the Second World War.
The Westbahnhof 1862
The Westbahnhof 1895
Westbahnhof, Neubaugürtel and Café Westend around 1900
Statue of Empress Elisabeth in the station hall
Westbahnhof on a picture postcard from the Austrian National Library
Since 1949
For the new building, the general management of the ÖBB had announced a competition with the Vienna City Building Office and the Austrian Post and Telegraph Administration: The designs were assessed from the standpoint of the overall impression, the functional character, the urban solution, the architectural design and the constructions. The participants in this competition also had to deal with the connection to the light rail and the Westbahnhof bunker. (City hall correspondence, June 2, 1949). 55 designs were received, thirteen of which were shortlisted.
Since the jury was unable to decide on a first prize, even after several detailed reviews of the drafts, a second prize was awarded: The draft for the new Westbahnhof building submitted by the consortium of architect Robert Hartinger, architect Sepp Wöhnhart and Franz Xaver Schlarbaum was made from 1949 to 1954 realized and was partially opened on November 24th, 1951.
Since only narrow administration wings were built on the sides, there was space for a total of eleven tracks, which are accessed through covered tongue platforms. The central area is the large station hall, which can be entered from the Gürtel (since June 21, 1958: Europaplatz), which is divided into a lower and an upper level, which can be reached via two staircases and escalators . The hall is lit through high windows that are built into the facade to the east and west (there above the roofing of the platforms). Until 2008, the ticket offices were located under the upper hall, accessible from the lower hall. On the outside facing the Gürtel (Europaplatz), a canopy provided protection from bad weather when getting into and out of cars and taxis .
A pavilion was subsequently built in the lower hall, which housed a service center for bookings, hotel reservations and other things. In the 1980s, a parking garage (which has since been demolished) was connected to the north side of the station . The reception building with its half-timbered roof construction is a listed building . In the course of the construction of the U3 underground line around 1993, a large steel and glass construction was built in the southern area of the hall, in which parts of the station restaurant and a café were housed on several levels . The underground connecting floor to the underground stations of the U3 and U6 was accessible from the lower level of the hall.
Up to the summer of 2008, both levels of the station concourse housed various shops, such as a supermarket , a bakery , tobacconists , an Internet café , a post office , a copy shop , snack bars , a flower shop , a hairdresser and other shops; the police station was closed in 2006 because it was unusable and relocated to the part of the Westbahnhof in Felberstrasse.
Station concourse under construction (1950)
Temporary bridge for the tram during the construction of the new Westbahnhof (1950)
Renovation 2008–2011
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In 2002 the architects Neumann & Steiner was chosen as the winner in a competition to redesign the facility. It was the only project that provided for the maintenance of the hall and fulfilled the requirements of the ÖBB with extensions, a hotel and an office complex. The first preparatory work for the redesign began in 2007. The station concourse was closed from September 2008 to December 2010; during this time were u. a. Restored floors and ceiling. A provisional handling building had been built south of the hall, which was closed in January 2011 and then demolished. The station area was redesigned from 2008 to 2011. In addition to the modernization of the station building itself, which was completed in December 2010, the increased economic use of the area for non-railway functions was his goal.
The renovation of the platforms began in February 2011. It included, among other things, raising the platform edges to the height of 55 cm common in Austria, renovating the platform roofs and replacing the equipment and lighting.
To the left and right of the historic station hall, which is under monument protection, eight-storey buildings were erected at the corners of the outer Mariahilfer Strasse and Felberstrasse, which are not used for rail purposes. Offices, service providers and, at the corner of Felberstrasse, an inexpensive two-star chain hotel were housed here.
A shopping center with 90 shops on 17,000 square meters was built under the station concourse on three levels. The new construction and renovation work cost around 200 million euros, was a public-private partnership and was completed in 2011. The Bahnhofscity Wien West opened on November 23, 2011. In April 2012, the police moved to the new inspection area, from Felberstrasse to Europaplatz.
Architectural criticism
In the architectural criticism of the renewed train station and the new buildings surrounding it, the extremely short distance between the new buildings and the historic terminal building was criticized: The two tin cans clamp the old hall between them like a screw clamp , Wojciech Czaja wrote in 2011 in the Vienna daily Der Standard , Maximizing Space This form of obesity is called . He referred to criticism in this regard from the Federal Monuments Office and the Vienna Municipal Department 19 responsible for urban design , which was underlined by the independent city planner Reinhard Seiß (real estate project with siding) .
On the other hand, Czaja praised the careful and historically appropriate renovation of the historic hall, originally planned by Robert Hartinger, Sepp Wöhnhart and Franz Xaver Schlarbaum. This is where Neumann & Steiner demonstrated their skills: meticulousness, attention to detail and technical construction. […] The subtlety reigns here that one would have wished for in the tendering and planning of the new buildings.
The ÖBB real estate management emphasized that the Westbahnhof was the first railway construction project in which it had been possible to finance an infrastructure project entirely with a real estate project.
Metro station
At the time of the steam light rail
The forerunner of today's U6 station on the forecourt of the Westbahnhof initially served the belt line of the Viennese steam light rail running across the Westbahn and was designed by Otto Wagner on behalf of the Commission for Transport Systems in Vienna . The 110-meter-long, open-top, double-track underground station with two outer platforms was located on today's Europaplatz and was located between two short tunnel sections. In order to shorten the way for passengers to the Westbahnhof and to avoid crossing the Gürtel carriageway, the tram route swiveled in a slight arc to the reception building of the Westbahn.
The square reception building at street level, which is typical of the Stadtbahn, faced Mariahilfer Strasse; no entry or exit was possible on the north side of the station. Its structural completion took place in July 1896, the opening on June 1, 1898. The tram station with the internal abbreviation WB was operationally completely separated from the state train station, a track connection did not exist. In order to avoid confusion, the reception building initially bore the explicit three-line inscription “STADTBAHN HALTESTELLE WESTBAHNHOF”, whereas otherwise only the station name itself was written on the Wagner buildings. In the early urban railway planning of 1890, however, the station was still referred to as the Westbahn .
The steam light rail operation largely ended due to a lack of coal on December 8, 1918, which meant that the Westbahnhof station was temporarily idle. As part of the so-called transfer traffic, the station was then provisionally served again by steam light rail trains from June 1, 1922 to September 30, 1924, not least to relieve the state railway station, which was increasingly burdened after the war.
At the time of the electric light rail
After the electrification of the belt line was completed, the new Viennese electric tram served the Westbahnhof station as a replacement from June 4, 1925 . When full operations began on October 20, 1925, the DG and GD ring lines and the combined tram and light rail line 18G ran here, and finally line G was added on February 14, 1926. On June 5, 1926, the name of the tram station also changed, from then on it was called Mariahilfer Straße-Westbahnhof, its new abbreviation was MS.
In connection with the new construction of the neighboring terminus, the tram station was completely covered with concrete and new underground entrances; the old reception building was demolished. It was the first completely underground station in Vienna at all, a construction method that was not yet possible with the earlier steam light rail due to the smoke development. On December 22nd, 1951, the new station was completed after eight months of renovation: the vestibule , cash registers and barriers were now moved below street level. Access to the light rail lines was now via the ticket hall of the new Westbahnhof through a 30-meter-long underground corridor, via staircases on the outer belt and via a pedestrian tunnel to the Hesser monument on the median between the outer and inner belt.
Between 1981 and 1988 the addition Mariahilfer Straße was dropped again, so that the tram station was given the operational abbreviation WS.
Today's subway station
In the structural condition of 1951, the stop existed until 1990, when it was replaced by the current station of the U6 line, which in turn replaced the last two light rail lines G and GD from October 7, 1989, under the median of the new building belt. Initially, the trains on line U6 stopped provisionally in the new station from January 28, 1990 in the direction of Heiligenstadt or Friedensbrücke (track 1), and from February 4, 1990 also in the direction of Meidling (track 2). The completion of the final stairways and escalators could not take place until November 8, 1991, which is therefore the official opening date of the stop. The old station building from 1898 was abandoned and filled in at that time. However, the access tunnel itself still exists today and was not filled in so that it could be used as a road tunnel if necessary.
The Hesser monument was moved around 200 meters to the north in the middle of the belt.
The U3 line started operating on September 4, 1993, and since then the Westbahnhof underground station has been a three-story, underground junction of the U3 and U6 lines. It is one of the busiest nodes in Vienna's local transport . It is possible to change to tram lines 5, 6, 9, 18, 52 and 60 and to the S-Bahn line 50 in the direction of Tullnerbach - Pressbaum . There is also a direct bus line to Vienna Airport .
The systems of the U3 are located as side platforms in two separate tunnel tubes arranged in parallel and connected by a central platform and extend three stories deep at an angle between the new building belt and Langauergasse. The platforms of the U6, which are also connected by a central platform, are located directly under the median of the new building belt. Exits lead to a reception building, which is located on the median of the new building belt and is surrounded by tram stops.
Both stations are connected via a distribution floor. From there, escalators and elevators lead directly to the ticket hall of the Westbahnhof and to the inner and outer Mariahilfer Strasse . This distribution floor will be closed to the public when the subway closes, but can otherwise also be entered without a ticket. There is also an information point for Wiener Linien .
Design
The installation “Circa 55 Steps Through Europe” designed by Adolf Frohner has also been located on the distribution floor since 1993 . The 40 meter long work of art depicts the development of mankind from primeval mud (left) to the present (right). The depiction begins on the left with a rough, unworked stone from primeval times and ends on the right with a perfect, smooth ball made of stainless steel. The attempt to fill the installation with avant-garde music did not prove successful and was discontinued. Due to repeated vandalism damage, a glass parapet was erected in front of the work of art in the mid-2000s.
On the platform there is a small bronze statue of St. Barbara , patron saint of miners and tunnel builders.
Statue of St. Barbara on the platform
Installation around 55 steps across Europe
Installation, detail
Installation, detail
Installation, detail
See also
literature
- Wolfgang Kos, Günter Dinhobl (Ed.): Large station. Vienna and the wide world. Czernin, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-7076-0212-5 (= special exhibition of the Vienna Museum 332, exhibition catalog, Vienna Museum , September 28, 2006 to February 25, 2007)
Web links
- wien.gv.at, Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus : Vienna's Westbahnhof through the ages
- tramway.at: III. The history of transport in Vienna - the Stadtbahn
- tramway.at: Michael Suda: The history of Vienna's main train stations - Vienna Westbahnhof (until 1949)
- tramway.at: Michael Suda: The history of Vienna's main train stations - Vienna Westbahnhof (from 1949)
- Austrian Federal Railways: Competition Vienna-West with presentation of the winning design
- Baudoku.at: Multimedia construction documentation of the current renovation work
- Entry on Wien Westbahnhof in the Austria Forum (as postage stamp representation)
- FK: The new Westbahnhof is getting its dress / And the old one is on its last legs . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna June 28, 1951, p. 5 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- Information on the renovation on the ÖBB Infrastructure website
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b wien.gv.at: Vienna in retrospect: The Federal President visits the Westbahnhof tram station ( memento of the original from October 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , November 23, 1951
- ↑ a b c wien.gv.at: Exhibition of the Westbahnhof projects ( Memento of the original from November 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , June 2, 1949
- ↑ a b SOLID Economy and Technology in Construction: From the Vienna Transport Center to the Regional Train Station , September 29, 2009. Accessed on February 19, 2010.
- ↑ derStandard.at - Stephansplatz has the most underground passengers , accessed on November 5, 2011
- ↑ https://www.ikea.com/at/de/stores/wien-westbahnhof/
- ↑ Monika Graf: Ikea am Westbahnhof is taking shape , report in the daily newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten , February 27, 2020, p. 16
- ↑ https://akon.onb.ac.at/#center=u2ed5yjv2p77&zoom=13&id=AKON_AK075_017
- ↑ wien.gv.at: “Europaplatz” - Vienna's commitment to a united Europe ( memento of the original from December 19, 2015 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.
- ↑ ORF Vienna ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Westbahnhof gets new platforms (accessed on February 28, 2011)
- ^ Shop until the train arrives , ORF website, November 17, 2011
- ↑ Police inspection opened at Vienna Westbahnhof ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ in: Bahnhof. Understand? , Edition of November 19, 2011, supplement album , page A 4
- ^ Hans Peter Pawlik, Josef Otto Slezak: Wagner's work for Vienna. Total work of art Stadtbahn (= International Archive for Locomotive History. Volume 44). Slezak, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-85416-185-9 , p. 43
- ^ Otto Antonia Graf: Otto Wagner. 1: The Architect's Work 1860–1902. 2nd Edition. Böhlau, Vienna 1994, pp. 134–248.
- ^ A b Hans Peter Pawlik, Josef Otto Slezak: Wagner's work for Vienna. Total work of art Stadtbahn (= International Archive for Locomotive History. Volume 44). Slezak, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-85416-185-9 , p. 44
- ^ Dampftramway company formerly Krauss & Comp., Overview plan of the projected Viennese light rail. Vienna, 1890.
- ^ Alfred Horn: Wiener Stadtbahn. 90 years of light rail, 10 years of underground. Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7002-0678-X , p. 171.
- ^ Alfred Horn: Wiener Stadtbahn. 90 years of light rail, 10 years of underground. Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7002-0678-X , p. 181.
- ↑ a b wien.gv.at: Vienna in retrospect: Westbahnhof tram station completed - daylight from 160 neon tubes ( memento of the original from January 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , December 22, 1951
- ^ "Die Presse": The great change of the Westbahnhof , May 13, 1950. Quoted in "Die Presse": The world until yesterday: 1950: Westbahnhof, number two , print edition of October 11, 2008
- ↑ tramway.at: Michael Suda: The Westbahnhof since 1949 ( Memento of the original from March 14, 2007 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.
- ↑ tramway.at: Photo series on the Westbahnhof tram, picture 1 to picture 8, November 3, 1985
- ↑ Chronicle 1990–2000 at wiener-untergrund.at, accessed on October 29, 2017
- ↑ What happened to the abandoned stations?
- ↑ Dieter Ronte in Johann Hödl (Ed.): Wiener U-Bahn-Kunst . Wiener Linien, Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-200-02173-0 , p. 111ff.
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