Leipzig Main Station

The problem of the central station in Leipzig became an urgent topic in connection with the spasmodic growth of the city's population in the second half of the 19th century: up to 450,000 people between 1871 and 1899 (more than 4 times). After long discussions in the 1880s, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, a decision on construction was adopted, enshrined in the 1902 treaty. In 1906, an architectural competition was announced, in which 76 architects took part. The first prize was shared between the projects of Jürgen Kroeger from Berlin and Walter William Lossov and Max Hans Kühne from Dresden . After minor corrections, the version of Saxon architects was adopted as the main plan.

The site on the northern border of the historical city was chosen as the construction site, where by that time Dresden, Thuringian and Magdeburg stations were functioning, each of which was subject to its own special rhythm of work. At the same time, the Thuringian station was closed already at the design stage, on October 1, 1907, in order to make way for the start of construction work, which was launched on November 16, 1909. According to the plan, the station was supposed to open in 1914, but this period could not be observed due to the strike of the workers of 1911.

The first train (from Corbeta ) arrived at the new station in its almost finished western part, still under construction - May 1, 1912; on the same day a message was opened to Zeitz and Thuringia. September 20 trains departed from the new station on Halle , October 1 - to Berlin, and the Bavarian Hof , February 1, 1913 - to Dresden and Chemnitz .

By the official completion of construction on December 4, 1915, the Leipzig Main Station, with its total of 31 railway lines, was one of the largest railway stations in the world. The total amount of construction work amounted to 137.05 million marks, of which 54.53 million fell to Saxony, 55.66 million to Prussia , 5.76 million to the Imperial Post, and 21.1 million to the city of Leipzig. Probably one of the main features of the new station was its actual (administrative and logistic) division between the Prussian and Saxon railways (until 1934): the western part of the station was considered “Prussian”, and the eastern part was considered “Saxon”. This was reflected, inter alia, in the technical equipment: while the Prussian Railways limited themselves only to the modernization of existing technical devices and access roads, the Saxon Railways purchased the latest electrical equipment for their lines.

In the system of imperial railways, the Leipzig station with its 156 long-distance trains per day was in 1939 the fourth largest station in the country (after Berlin, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main ).

In World War II, the station at least twice became the object of allied air strikes: on December 4, 1943, when the freight station along with the rolling stock was almost completely destroyed, and on July 7, 1944, when massive arches of the western part of the building collapsed as a result of a direct hit. At the same time, the station continued its work until April 1945, and then from the end of May of the same year it resumed its activities.

In 1954, after the previous urgent work to analyze the rubble, the Council of Ministers of the GDR decided to completely restore the station in Leipzig, given its increased significance in the transport system of the republic .

In 1994, after the political unification of Germany, the Leipzig station, along with the Cologne station , became a pilot project to turn station buildings into multifunctional transport and trade complexes. The reconstructed station with a combined two-story shopping center and built-in parking (on the site of 24-26 tracks) was opened on November 12, 1997.

Another important event on the territory of the Leipzig train station was the opening in December 2013 of the so-called City Tunnel , which directly connected the main station with the Bavarian railway station located south of the historical center.

In the period from 2012 to 2015, large-scale work was carried out at the station as part of the German Unity Infrastructure Project No. 8 ( German Verkehrsprojekts Deutsche Einheit Nr. 8 ) to modernize access roads and stopping platforms, as preparation for the launch of a new high-speed section Berlin- Munich highway (opened in mid-December 2015), which according to the plan should significantly accelerate the arrival and departure of trains in the direction of Berlin, Munich, Erfurt and Frankfurt.

• The main facade of the station, facing the historic center of Leipzig, is 298 meters long.
• In 2011, a non-governmental association ( German ) Allianz pro Schiene awarded the Leipzig station the title “Station of the Year” in the nomination Station of a major city .
• The station served as a backstage for filming the films Light in the Darkness of 1992 and Mr. Nobody of 2009.

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  View of the station from a bird's eye view

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  Station shopping complex before Christmas

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  One of the station platforms

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  Museum railway equipment

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  Go to S-Bahn trains

• Helge-Heinz Heinker: Leipzig Hauptbahnhof. Eine Zeitreise. Lehmstedt, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-937146-26-1 .
• Andrè Marks (Hsgb.): Verkehrsknoten Leipzig. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2009. ISBN 978-3-88255-254-6 .