Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (abbrev. ''Hamburg Hbf'') is the main

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

of the city of Hamburg, Germany. Opened in 1906 to replace four separate terminal stations, today Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is operated by

DB Station&Service DB Station&Service AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, responsible for managing over 5,400 train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, ...

AG. With an average of 550,000 passengers a day, it is Germany's busiest railway station and the second-busiest in Europe after the Gare du Nord in Paris. It is classed by Deutsche Bahn as a category 1 railway station. The station is a through station with

island platforms An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

and is one of Germany's major transportation hubs, connecting long-distance

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, Switzerl ...

routes to the city's

U-Bahn Rapid transit in Germany consists of four U-Bahn systems and fourteen S-Bahn systems. The U-Bahn commonly understood to stand for Untergrundbahn (''underground railway'') are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while ...

and

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble c ...

rapid transit networks. It is centrally located in Hamburg in the

Hamburg-Mitte Hamburg-Mitte (Hamburg Central) is one of the seven boroughs of Hamburg, Germany, covering most of the city's urban center. The quarters of Hamburg-Altstadt and Neustadt cover much of the city's historic core. In 2020 the population was 301,231. ...

borough. The ''Wandelhalle'' shopping centre occupies the north side of the station building.

History

Before today's central station was opened, Hamburg had several smaller stations located around the city centre. The first railway line ( between Hamburg and Bergedorf) was opened on 5 May 1842, coincidentally the same day that the "great fire" (''der große Brand'') ruined most of the historic city centre. The stations were as follows (each of them only a few hundred metres away from the others): * '' Berliner Bahnhof'' (1846), on the site of today's

Deichtorhallen The Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, Germany, is one of Europe's largest art centers for contemporary art and photography. The two historical buildings dating from 1911 to 1913 are iconic in style, with their open steel-and-glass structures. Their archi ...

, on the right bank of the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...

river; terminus of the line to Berlin * ''Lübecker Bahnhof'' (1865), terminus of the line to Lübeck * ''Klosterthor Bahnhof'' (1866), eastern terminus of the

Hamburg-Altona link line The Hamburg-Altona link line (german: Hamburg-Altonaer Verbindungsbahn) is a railway line in Hamburg, Germany. It now connects the lines from the north and west of Hamburg and Altona station with Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and the lines to the south ...

* ''Venloer Bahnhof'' (1872), since 1892 named "Hannoverscher Bahnhof", on the line across the river Elbe. (The line splits in Harburg into the lines to Venlo and to Hanover). Temporary railway lines connecting the stations were built partly on squares and streets. When it was decided to build a common station for all lines, a competition was arranged in 1900. Built between 1902-1906, the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof was designed by the architects

Heinrich Reinhardt Enrique Alfredo Kurt (born Heinrich Alfred Kurt) Reinhardt (29 March 1903, Stettin,Zabelsdorf, according tPassengers of the Piriápolis/ref> German Empire – 14 June 1990, Ciudad Jardín Lomas del Palomar, Argentina) was a German– Argentine ...

and Georg Süßenguth, modeled after the ''

Galerie des machines The Galerie des machines (officially: Palais des machines) was a pavilion built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. Located in the Grenelle district, the huge pavilion was made of iron, steel and glass. A similarly-named structure wa ...

'' of the

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

of 1889 in Paris, by

Louis Béroud Louis Béroud (17 January 1852, Lyon – 9 October 1930, Paris) was a French painter of the late 19th, early 20th century. Some of his paintings are visible at the Musée Carnavalet and The Louvre in Paris. On 22 August 1911 Béroud came to The ...

. The German emperor William II declared the first draft to be "simply horrible", but the second draft was eventually constructed. The emperor personally changed the Art Nouveau style elements to

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

, giving the station a fortification-like character. The station was opened for visitors on 4 December 1906, the first train arrived the next day, and scheduled trains started on 6 December 1906. On 9 November 1941, during the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, the station was badly damaged by Allied bombing. Several areas needed to be rebuilt completely, including the baggage check and the eastern ticket counters. One of the clock towers was destroyed in 1943. Between 1985 and 1991 the station was renovated. In 2021, the City of Hamburg announced a competition to design an expansion of the station as well as the redevelopment of the surrounding area.

Facilities

Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is long, wide, and high. It has rentable area and in total. The clock towers are , and the clocks have a diameter of . The track shed is constructed of iron and glass and spans the main line platforms and two

tracks. The platforms are reached from two bridges at street level, one at each end of the track shed; from the northern bridge by stairs and by lifts, and from the southern bridge by escalators. Two other S-Bahn tracks and the subway tracks are in a connected tunnel system. The ''Wandelhalle'' (Promenade Hall) is a small shopping centre with extended opening hours. It was built in 1991 during the renewal of the beam construction. It is located on the northern bridge and includes restaurants, flower shops, kiosks, a pharmacy, service centres and more. The upper floor also has a gallery surrounding the hall. Since 2008, in an effort to disperse drug dealers and users from the area, Deutsche Bahn has been playing classical music (e.g. Vivaldi's '' Four Seasons''). According to the German newspaper ''

Hamburger Abendblatt The ''Hamburger Abendblatt'' (English: ''Hamburg Evening Newspaper'') is a German daily newspaper in Hamburg. The paper focuses on news in Hamburg and area, and produces regional supplements with news from Norderstedt, Ahrensburg, Harburg, and P ...

'' this is a success. Since 2009 the station has switched all its toilets to water-saving 3.5-litre toilets. In 2012 they started producing

Terra Preta ''Terra preta'' (, locally , literally "black soil" in Portuguese) is a type of very dark, fertile anthropogenic soil ( anthrosol) found in the Amazon Basin. It is also known as "Amazonian dark earth" or "Indian black earth". In Portuguese its f ...

in the basement by filtering the excrement and mixing it with charcoal and microbes. The fluids are cleaned and nutrients are extracted. Even pharmaceuticals can be filtered out.

Train services

The following lines connect to the station: *

Berlin–Hamburg railway The Berlin–Hamburg Railway (german: Berlin-Hamburger Bahn) is a roughly long railway line for passenger, long-distance and goods trains. It was the first high-speed line upgraded in Germany to be capable of handling train speeds of over ...

Hanover–Hamburg railway The Hanover–Hamburg railway is one of the most important railway lines in Lower Saxony and Germany. It links the Lower Saxon state capital of Hanover with Hamburg, running through Celle, Uelzen and Lüneburg. History The main section of th ...

* Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg railway (to Bremen and the Ruhr) *

Lower Elbe Railway The Lower Elbe Railway (german: Niederelbebahn or ''Unterelbebahn''), is a railway line between Hamburg and Cuxhaven in northwestern Germany, which was opened in 1881 by the ''Lower Elbe Railway Company'' (''Unterelbesche Eisenbahngesellschaft''). ...

Lübeck–Hamburg railway The Hamburg–Lübeck railway is one of the most important mainline railways of the German states of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. It connects the two Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck, and is part of the line to Denmark. The line was ...

(connecting to

Hamburg-Altona–Kiel railway The Hamburg-Altona–Kiel railway ( da, link=no, Christian VIII. Østersø Jernbane) is the oldest railway line in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, and the first railway in Denmark or its dependencies at the time, and first to reach th ...

) In 2008, 720 regional and long distance trains, and 982 S-Bahn trains served the station per day. There were 6 platforms for the main lines. The station is served by the following services:

Long distance trains

Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is one of the largest stations in northern Germany and connects Northern Europe's railway system, through

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, with

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

, as well as offering connections to

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

and

Southern Europe Southern Europe is the southern region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Alba ...

. There are permanent InterCityExpress lines to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Frankfurt (Main), continuing to Stuttgart and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, and Bremen, continuing to the

Ruhr Area The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. To the north ICE trains connect Hamburg with Aarhus and

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

and

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

. There are also several

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

- and EuroCity- passenger train connections. The station is a hub for international travel, and most passengers to or from Scandinavia must change in Hamburg.

Regional trains

There are numerous RegionalExpress and RegionalBahn services to

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

and Bremen.

Rapid transit

Beside the inter-urban rail services, the Hauptbahnhof is also the central intersection for two of the three rapid transport systems in the city: the Hamburg S-Bahn (suburban railway) and the

Hamburg U-Bahn The Hamburg U-Bahn is a rapid transit system serving the cities of Hamburg, Norderstedt and Ahrensburg in Germany. Although referred to by the term U-Bahn (the "U" commonly being understood as standing for "underground"), most of the system's t ...

(underground network). The S-Bahn platforms are located inside the station itself (platforms 3 and 4, going eastwards to Barmbek, Harburg and

Bergedorf Bergedorf () is the largest of the seven boroughs of Hamburg, Germany, named after Bergedorf quarter within this borough. In 2020 the population of the borough was 130,994. History The city of Bergedorf received town privileges in 1275, then ...

) and in a separate tunnel, adjacent to the station building (platforms 1 and 2, going westwards to Altona, Wedel and

Eidelstedt is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany, in the borough of Eimsbüttel. It is located on the northwestern boundaries of the borough and of the city. Geography Eidelstedt borders the quarters of Schnelsen, Niendorf, Stellingen, as well as Bahrenfel ...

). The U-Bahn is split in two stations: ''Hauptbahnhof Süd'' (south) and serving the lines U1 and U3. This part of the station had been included in the 1900 planning for the new station (the construction for the subway started in 1906, the "ring" was opened in four stages between February and June 1912. Until 28 September 1968, this station was simply called ''Hauptbahnhof'' without any suffix. There were two lines: the original ''Ring'' (opened in 1912) and the southeastern branch line (opened on 27 July 1915) leading to Rothenburgsort, the tracks and stations of which have been destroyed in the

Operation Gomorra The Allied bombing of Hamburg during World War II included numerous attacks on civilians and civic infrastructure. As a large city and industrial centre, Hamburg's shipyards, U-boat pens, and the Hamburg-Harburg area oil refineries were attack ...

on 28 July 1943 and never been rebuilt. The station ''Hauptbahnhof Nord'' (north), opened on 29 September 1968, serves the lines U2 and U4.

Neighbourhood

The station is located on the Wallring in Hamburg's city centre, between the districts Altstadt and St. Georg. Directly nearby are the

Deutsches Schauspielhaus The Deutsches Schauspielhaus is a theatre in the St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It was established in 1901 by the renowned stage actress Franziska Ellmenreich. Theatre managers Notable actors Marco Albrecht, Ingrid ...

theatre in the St. Georg quarter, one of Hamburg's a state theatres, the Kunsthalle, an art gallery, and the

Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (''Museum of Art and Design Hamburg'') is a museum of fine, applied and decorative arts in Hamburg, Germany. It is located centrally, near the Hauptbahnhof. History The museum was founded in 1874, fol ...

, a museum for applied arts. The

Hamburg Rathaus Hamburg City Hall (german: link=no, Hamburger Rathaus, ) is the seat of local government of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany. It is the seat of the government of Hamburg and as such, the seat of one of Germany's 16 state parlia ...

is down Mönckebergstraße, centre of a busy shopping district.

References

Notes

External links

* *
DB station information

Picture of the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof

shopping center Wandelhalle Hamburg Hauptbahnhof
{{Authority control

Hauptbahnhof Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

U1 (Hamburg U-Bahn) stations U2 (Hamburg U-Bahn) stations U3 (Hamburg U-Bahn) stations U4 (Hamburg U-Bahn) stations

Railway stations in Germany opened in 1906 Hamburg U-Bahn stations located underground

Transit centers in Germany