Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

for ''Innsbruck Main Station or'' ''Central Station'') is the main railway station in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

, the capital city of the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

federal state A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

. Opened in 1853, the station is a major hub for western and central Austria. In 2019, it was the 8th-busiest station in the country, and the 2nd-busiest outside of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

after only

Linz Hauptbahnhof Linz Hauptbahnhof or Linz Central Station is a railway station in Linz, the third largest city in Austria, and capital city of the States of Austria, federal state of Upper Austria. Opened in 1858, the station is the centrepiece of the Linz trans ...

, with 315 train movements and 38,500 passengers daily. The station is owned and operated by

ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways (german: Österreichische Bundesbahnen, formally (lit. "Austrian Federal Railways Holding Stock Company") and formerly the or ''BBÖ''), now commonly known as ÖBB, is the national railway company ...

. It forms the junction of the

Arlberg Railway The Arlberg Railway (german: Arlbergbahn), which connects the Austrian cities Innsbruck and Bludenz, is Austria's only ''east-west'' mountain railway. It is one of the highest standard gauge railways in Europe and the second highest in Austria, a ...

to Bregenz, Brenner Railway to Italy,

Mittenwald Railway The Mittenwald Railway (german: Mittenwaldbahn), popularly known as the Karwendelbahn (Karwendel railway), is a railway line in the Alps in Austria and Germany. It connects Innsbruck via Seefeld (both in Tyrol, Austria) and Mittenwald to Garmisch ...

to Germany's region of Ällgau,

Stubaitalbahn The Stubaitalbahn (Stubai Valley Railway) is an long narrow gauge interurban tram from Innsbruck to Fulpmes in Tyrol, Austria. In the city of Innsbruck, it uses the local tramway tracks. At the Stubaital station, the branch line-rated part begi ...

and the main east-west artery

Lower Inn Valley Railway The Lower Inn Valley Railway (german: Unterinntalbahn) is a two-track, electrified railway line that is one of the major lines of the Austrian railways. It was originally opened as the '' k.k. Nordtiroler Staatsbahn'' (Imperial and Royal North ...

Location

Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof is located at Südtiroler Platz. It is at the southeastern side of the city centre and a 10-minute walk away.

History

The planning of a railway line in the region of Tyrol began in 1850 under the Austrian Empire. Three years later,

Emperor Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...

approved the route from Innsbruck to

Wörgl Wörgl () is a city in the Austrian state of Tyrol, in the Kufstein district. It is from the international border with Bavaria, Germany. Population Transport Wörgl is an important railway junction between the line from Innsbruck to Munich, and ...

across the Inn Valley. In 1854, the line is extended to the border city,

Kufstein Kufstein (; Central Bavarian: ''Kufstoa'') is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the administrative seat of Kufstein District. With a population of about 19,600 it is the second largest Tyrolean town after the state capital Innsbruck. The great ...

, close to the Kingdom of Bavaria. Franz Czwerwenka, head of the civil construction department, designed the railway station as one of the most beautiful

station building A station building, also known as a head house, is the main building of a passenger railway station. It is typically used principally to provide services to passengers. A station building is a component of a station, which can include tracks, p ...

s within the Austrian Empire. Innsbruck station opened along with the line to Kufstein. In 1867, the station then assumed greater importance upon the commissioning of the Brenner Railway (then part of the Southern Railway crossing the Alps at 1,371 metres above sea into South Tyrol) and, in 1883, the Arlberg Railway (reaching the westernmost of modern-day Austria).

Innsbruck West railway station Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a p ...

was created for the Arlberg Railway. By the 1880s, due to the heavy train traffic over the

Brenner Pass The Brenner Pass (german: link=no, Brennerpass , shortly ; it, Passo del Brennero ) is a mountain pass through the Alps which forms the border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has ...

, the original station had become too small to accommodate passengers and freight; therefore, the station building and

train shed A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...

were rebuilt on the same site.

Transfer to ÖBB

On 1 January 1924,

took over all railway lines of the

Austrian Southern Railway The Austrian Southern Railway (german: link=no, Österreichische Südbahn) is a long double track railway, which linked the capital Vienna with Trieste, former main seaport of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, by railway for the first time. It now ...

. In 1927, the station was once again rebuilt to enhance its capacity. The departure hall was frescoed by Rudolf Stolz; the platforms were connected with a subway underneath and the train shed was replaced by platform roofs. At the same time, the Operations Directorate moved into the "Clock Tower Building" (so called due to a small clock tower at the top) in the station's north wing. Stubaitalbahn 83 Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof

By the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the station was completely destroyed by Allied bombings. An ÖBB architect later combined various designs of other well-known architects to create a plain, functional replacement station building in the style of the 1950s. In 1954, the Austrian artist

Max Weiler Maximilian Weiler (25 September 1900 – 1 September 1969) was a Swiss footballer who played as a defender. He played for SC Veltheim and Grasshopper Club Zürich, and also represented Switzerland at international level. He won 37 caps for ...

was awarded the contract for the design of a large departure hall. His design, however, has attracted controversy, as he chose a pair of murals on display to represent Innsbruck's heritage. In 1997, the ÖBB launched ''Bahnhofsoffensive'', a scheme to reconstruct existing railway stations within Austria. Innsbruck Hauptbhanhof received a new design by the architects of Riegler Riewe. The groundbreaking ceremony took place in 2001 and the new station was officially open on 19 May 2004. ÖBB renovated the 1920s clock tower in the north wing for housing a police station.Innsbruck station rebuild completed ''

Today's Railways Europe ''Today's Railways Europe'' is an English-based monthly magazine covering rail transport in Europe. It was founded by Platform 5 in July 1994. Initially published bimonthly, from August 1997 it was published monthly. It also covered rail trans ...

'' issue 105 September 2004 page 45

Station building

The central component of the present station building is the main hall, which extends through to the basement, with access to the platforms through two tunnels (north tunnel and south tunnel). There is also access from the main hall to the underground parking station (and then, via another pedestrian tunnel, to the Hotel Europa and escalators to the bus and tram terminals), and, via an additional pedestrian tunnel, to the bus station and local shops. On its northern side, the station building adjoins an office building. The striking frescoes by Max Weiler, together with a few centimetres of underlying masonry, were removed from the 1950s station building in one piece and remounted in the new concourse. Almost simultaneously with the construction of the new station building, a public transport hub was created in the station forecourt, which is paved with a red-colored asphalt (and nicknamed "Red Square"). The new hub serves the Innsbruck tramway network, regional and urban bus lines, and the

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

Stubai Valley Railway. At the time it was created, a rail junction was built at the southern end of the square for a proposed new tram route towards the south, but construction of the new route itself was deferred.

Other facilities

The station has eight through tracks. Of these, platform 1 is accessible at ground level as "home platform", and platform 8 is accessible from the East (only) for loading cars onto

motorail A motorail train or accompanied car train (ACT) is a passenger train on which passengers can take their car or automobile along with them on their journey. Passengers are carried in normal passenger carriages or in sleeping carriages on longer ...

trains. Additionally, there are four

bay platform In the United Kingdom and in Australia, a bay platform is a dead-end railway platform at a railway station that has through lines. It is normal for bay platforms to be shorter than their associated through platforms. Overview Bay and islan ...

s (platforms 21-22, 31 and 41), for regional passenger traffic via the Mittenwald railway, the Arlberg railway and the Brenner railway. The Hauptbahnhof complex includes the Frachtenbahnhof Innsbruck, which, amongst other facilities, lost much of its importance when the Innsbruck goods train bypass (Inntaltunnel) was completed in 1994. It now stands to be partially transformed in the course of urban development into a residential area. The

shunting yard Shunting yard may refer to: * Classification yard * Shunting yard algorithm * British term for rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and ...

of the Innsbruck railway junction is located at

Hall in Tirol Hall in Tyrol is a town in the Innsbruck-Land district of Tyrol, Austria. Located at an altitude of 574 m, about 5 km (3 mi) east of the state's capital Innsbruck in the Inn valley, it has a population of about 13,000 (Jan 2013). History ...

Services

Significance

The station is important for commuter traffic to and from the Tyrolean provincial capital, and in providing a hub function for east-west traffic ((

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

) –

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

–

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

–

– Innsbruck (

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

) /

Bregenz Bregenz (; gsw, label= Vorarlbergian, Breagaz ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switze ...

) and north-south traffic (

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

– Wörgl – Innsbruck –

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

–

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

– (

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

)). Since December 2007, the station has also been the focal point of

Tyrol S-Bahn The Tyrol S-Bahn provides regional rail services in metropolitan Innsbruck, Austria and its hinterlands in the state of Tyrol. At present, it is only a nominally an S-Bahn in that it only operates on the lines of the Austrian Federal Railways. Expa ...

lines , and , and a terminus of lines and . The railway line between

Baumkirchen Baumkirchen is a community in the district of Innsbruck Land. It lies in the Inn Valley north of the Inn River , image = UnterinntalWest.JPG , image_caption = Lower Inn valley from Rattenberg castle , source1_location = Swiss Al ...

(about east of Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof) and

Wörgl Hauptbahnhof Wörgl Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station of Wörgl, a city in the Kufstein district of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, about 20 km from the state border with Bavaria. It is a major hub for regional and international rail travel, ...

(known as the

Lower Inn Valley railway The Lower Inn Valley Railway (german: Unterinntalbahn) is a two-track, electrified railway line that is one of the major lines of the Austrian railways. It was originally opened as the '' k.k. Nordtiroler Staatsbahn'' (Imperial and Royal North ...

) is one of the busiest railway lines in Austria (up to 430 trains a day) and is therefore currently being rebuilt as a four track line, as part of the TEN Berlin–Palermo axis. In Wörgl Hauptbahnhof, the railway line divides into a northern branch via

to Salzburg and Munich, and an eastern branch via

Zell am See Zell am See is the administrative capital of the Zell am See District in the Austrian state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. Located in the Kitzbühel Alps, the town is an important tourist destination due to its Ski resort, ski resorts and shorel ...

to Salzburg,

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

and

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

( Gisela Railway). ÖBB EC 162 in Innsbruck Hbf

Rail services

The following services call at this station (incomplete): Domestic * Intercity train (

Railjet Railjet is a high-speed rail service in Europe operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and Czech Railways (ČD). Branded as ''Railjet Express (RJX)'' for the fastest services and as ''Railjet (RJ)'' for services with additional stops, it wa ...

'RJ' / Intercity) Innsbruck-Salzburg: Innsbruck - Jenbach - Wörgl - Kufstein - Salzburg * Intercity train (

Railjet 'RJ' / Intercity) Zürich-Vienna: Zürich - Feldkirch - St. Anton am Arlberg - Landeck-Zams - Imst-Pitztal - Ötztal - Innsbruck - Jenbach - Wörgl - Kufstein - Salzburg - Linz - St. Pölten - Vienna * Intercity train (

Railjet 'RJ' / Intercity) Innsbruck-Bregenz: Innsbruck - Ötztal - Imst-Pitztal - Landeck-Zams - St. Anton am Arlberg - Feldkirch - Bregenz * Metre-gauge train (

) Innsbruck-Fulpmes: Innsbruck - Fulpmes Domestic and Germany/South Tyrol (D for Germany, I for Italy) * Intercity train (

Eurocity) Munich-Innsbruck: Munich (D) - Rosenheim (D) - Kufstein - Wörgl - Jenbach - Innsbruck * Intercity train ( DB

Intercity Express The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerla ...

'ICE') Munich-Innsbruck: Munich (D) - Garmish-Partenkirchen (D) - Mittenwald (D) - Seefeld-in-Tirol - Innsbruck * Regional train (

Regional-Express 'REX') Innsbruck-Mittenwald: Innsbruck - Seefeld-in-Tirol - Mittenwald (D) * Regional train (Südtirol Bahn Regional-Express 'REX') Innsbruck-Bozen: Innsbruck - Matrei-am-Brenner - Brenner/Brennero (I) - Franzensfeste/Fortezza (I) - Bozen/Bolzano (I) Cross-border (Night train) (CH for Switzerland, D for Germany, H for Hungary, F for France, I for Italy, PL for Poland, BR for Belarus, R for Russia, CZ for Czech Republic, SLO for Slovenia, HR for Croatia, SEB for Serbia) On 11 December, ÖBB will take over all night trains of Deutsch Bahn and rebrand EuroNight services as "

Nightjet Nightjet (stylised as nightjet) is a brand name given by the Austrian Federal Railways ÖBB to its overnight passenger train services. ''Nightjet'' operates in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland. The ...

". * Night train (

EuroNight) Budapest-Zürich: Budapest (H) - Györ (H) - Vienna - St Pölten - Linz - Salzburg - Innsbruck - Feldkirch - Buchs SG (CH) - Sargans (CH) - Zürich (CH) *Night train (DB

CityNightLine CityNightLine AG (timetable and platform sign abbreviation: CNL) was a Swiss night train service. CNL had right of passage grants in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark. It served stations in Belgium, France, Italy and ...

) Munich-Milan/Rome: Munich (D) - Rosenheim (D) - Kufstein - Wörgl - Jenbach - Innsbruck - Bozen/Bolzano (I) - Verona^ (I) - Perschiera del Garda (I) - Brescia (I) - Milan (I) * Night train (

EuroNight) Feldkirch-Zagreb: Feldkirch - St. Anton am Arlberg - Landeck-Zams - Innsbruck - Jenbach - Wörgl - Bad Hofgastein - Bad Gastein - Villach - Jesenice (SLO) - Ljubljana (SLO) - Zagreb (HR) ^ Train connects at Verona with ÖBB EuroNight Vienna-Rome From 11 December, a new service Düsseldorf-Innsbruck will be operated by ÖBB: * Night train (

Nightjet) Hamburg/Düsseldorf-Innsbruck/Vienna: Düsseldorf (D) - Frankfurt (D) - Nuremberg/Nürnberg (D) (train connects with Hamburg-Nürnberg-Wien) - Munich/München (D) - Innsbruck Cross-border * Intercity train (

EuroCity) Munich-Verona/Venice: Munich (D) - Rosenheim (D) - Kufstein - Wörgl - Jenbach - Innsbruck - Brenner/Brennero (I) - Franzensfeste/Fortezza (I) - Brixen/Bressanone (I) - Bozen/Bolzano (I) - Trient/Trento (I) - Rofreit/Rovereto (I) - Verona (I) - (Padova (I)) - (Venice (I)) * Intercity train (

EuroCity) Munich-Verona/Bologna: Munich (D) - Rosenheim (D) - Kufstein - Wörgl - Jenbach - Innsbruck - Brenner/Brennero (I) - Franzensfeste/Fortezza (I) - Brixen/Bressanone (I) - Bozen/Bolzano (I) - Trient/Trento (I) - Rofreit/Rovereto (I) - Verona (I) - (Bologna (I)) * Intercity Train (

RZD Russian Railways (russian: link=no, ОАО «Российские железные дороги» (ОАО «РЖД»), OAO Rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi (OAO RZhD)) is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both mana ...

EuroNight) Moscow-Nice: Moscow (Belorusskaja) (R) - Wjasma (R) - Smolensk (R) - Orscha Central (ВR) - Minsk (BR) - Brest Central (BR) - Terespol (PL) - Warsaw West (Wschodnia) (PL) - Warsaw Central (Centralna) (PL)- Katowice (PL) - Zebrzydowice (PL) - Bohumin (CZ) - Breclav (CZ) - Vienna/Wien - Linz-Donau - Innsbuck - Bozen/Bolzano (I) - Verona (I) - Milan (I) - Genova/Genoa (I) - San Remo (I) - Ventimiglia (I) - Menton (F) - Monaco Monte-Carlo (MN) - Nice (F

* Tourist train (

Venice-Simplon Orient Express The ''Venice Simplon-Orient-Express'' (VSOE) is a private luxury train service from London to Venice and other European cities. It is currently owned by Belmond, which operates 45 luxury hotels, restaurants, tourist trains and river cruises in ...

) Venice-London: Venice (I) or Rome (I) - Verona (I) - Innsbruck - Munich (D) - Paris (F) - London (GB)

Tyrol S-Bahn The Tyrol S-Bahn provides regional rail services in metropolitan Innsbruck, Austria and its hinterlands in the state of Tyrol. At present, it is only a nominally an S-Bahn in that it only operates on the lines of the Austrian Federal Railways. Expa ...

*Line 1: Landeck-Zams - Imst-Pitztal - Ötztal - Telfs - Innsbruck - Hall-in-Tirol - Jenbach - Wörgl - Kufstein - (Rosenheim) *Line 2: Landeck-Zams - Imst-Pitztal - Ötztal - Telfs - Innsbruck - Hall-in-Tirol - Jenbach *Line 3: Hall-in-Tirol - Innsbruck - Steinach-am-Brenner *Line 4: Brenner - Gries-am-Brenner - Steinach-am-Brenner - Matrei-am-Brenner - Innsbruck - (Völs) *Line 5: Innsbruck - Seefeld-in-Tirol *Line 6: Scharnitz - Kufstein

Bus services

Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof is the hub of IVB, the bus and tram operator of Innsbruck. Most of the lines have a stop at ''Hauptbahnhof''. With the bus line ''F'', the station is connected to

Innsbruck Airport Innsbruck Airport , also known locally as ''Kranebitten Airport'', is the largest international airport in Tyrol in western Austria. It is located approximately from the centre of Innsbruck. The airport, which was opened in 1925, handles region ...

. From the station forecourt there are departing not only city lines but also regional lines to different destinations in all directions.

References

''This article is based upon a translation of the German-language version as at July 2011''

External links

History and pictures of Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof
{{Authority control Railway stations in Tyrol (state) Buildings and structures in Innsbruck Transport in Innsbruck 1853 establishments in the Austrian Empire Railway stations opened in 1853 Railway stations in Austria opened in 1853

Location

History

Transfer to ÖBB

Station building

Other facilities

Services

Significance

Rail services

Tyrol S-Bahn The Tyrol S-Bahn provides regional rail services in metropolitan Innsbruck, Austria and its hinterlands in the state of Tyrol. At present, it is only a nominally an S-Bahn in that it only operates on the lines of the Austrian Federal Railways. Expa ...

Bus services

See also

References

External links