Bahnhofplatz (, ) is a square in the

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland. It is located in front of the southern entrance of the main building of

Main Station 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 ...

( or ''HB'', completed in 1871) and at the northern end of

Bahnhofstrasse Bahnhofstrasse (, ), in the Swiss city of Zurich, is the city's main downtown street and one of the world's most expensive and exclusive shopping avenues. In 2011, a study named Bahnhofstrasse the most expensive street for retail property in Eur ...

, the city's shopping avenue. The focal point of the square is a fountain surmounted by a

statue of Alfred Escher The Statue of Alfred Escher is located in the Altstadt (Zurich), city centre of Zurich, Switzerland. It stands in Bahnhofplatz, Zürich, Bahnhofplatz, in front of the southern entrance of the main building of Zürich Hauptbahnhof, Central Statio ...

, a Swiss railway pioneer among others, which was inaugurated in 1889. Its water forms an additional fountain in the underground level below the square. Besides Bahnhofstrasse, other roads leading to Bahnhofplatz are Löwenstrasse, Lintheschergasse and Waisenhausstrasse. Two bridges flank the square: Postbrücke to the west (across the river

Sihl The Sihl is a Switzerland, Swiss river that rises near the Druesberg mountain in the canton of Schwyz, and eventually flows into the Limmat in the centre of the Zürich, city of Zürich, after crossing the Zürich–Winterthur railway at . It has ...

) and Bahnhofbrücke to the east (across the river

Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, continuing a further 35 km until it reaches the river A ...

). The square features a central

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

stop with two through tracks, ''Bahnhofplatz/HB'', and is flanked by two trolleybus stops with the same name. The lines form part of the extensive Zurich public-transport system. The square is also flanked by a

taxi stand A taxicab stand (also called taxi rank, cab stand, taxi stand, cab rank, or hack stand) is a queue area on a street or on private property where taxicabs line up to wait for passengers. Operation Stands are normally located at high-traffic l ...

and a few

bicycle parking Bicycle parking is part of the cycling infrastructure of a populated place allowing for the storage of bicycles when they are not being used. Parking facilities for bicycles include racks, lockers, parking stations, and covered areas. Bicycle ...

s. The square is connected with the underlying mall via

staircase A stairwell or stair room is a room in a building where a stair is located, and is used to connect walkways between floors so that one can move in height. Collectively, a set of stairs and a stairwell is referred to as a staircase or stairway ...

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a Electric motor, motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the st ...

s and

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

s. Also below the square is station.

Public transport

Bahnhofplatz/HB is one of three tram/bus stops adjacent to Zürich Hauptbahnhof, the others being Bahnhofquai/HB and Sihlquai/HB. Four other tram/bus stops are within walking distance to the railway station: Bahnhofstrasse/HB, Central, Löwenplatz and Sihlpost/HB. Three of the city's sixteen tram lines serve Bahnhofplatz/HB tram stop via the two tram tracks in the centre of the square. They are lines 3, 10 and 14. They are operated by VBZ, with line 10 being jointly operated with VBG. Line 3 runs between

Albisrieden Albisrieden is a quarter in the district 9 (Zürich), district 9 in Zürich. It was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Zürich in 1934. The quarter has a population of 17,226 distributed on an area of . Churche ...

and Klusplatz; line 10 between Löwenplatz (only boarding) and

Zurich Airport Zurich Airport is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest o ...

; and line 14 between Triemli and Seebach. Bahnhofplatz/HB is also served by trolleybus line 31, also operated by VBZ, the bus stops of which are located on the northern and southern sides of the square. ;Lines with selected stops: Line : Albisrieden – Albisriederplatz –

Stauffacher ''Stauffacher'' is an important nodal station of the Zurich tram network. It is located in the Aussersihl district of the city of Zurich, Switzerland, next to the St. Jakob church. It is situated along the , between and . The tram stop was name ...

– Bahnhofplatz/ HB – Central – Kunsthaus – Römerhof – Klusplatz Line : (Löwenplatz –) Bahnhofplatz/HB – Central –

ETH Eth ( , uppercase: ⟨Ð⟩, lowercase: ⟨ð⟩; also spelled edh or eð), known as in Old English, is a letter used in Old English, Middle English, Icelandic, Faroese (in which it is called ), and Elfdalian. It was also used in Sca ...

/ Universitätsspital –

Seilbahn Rigiblick The Funicular Rigiblick () is a funicular railway in the north-east of the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It links a lower station served by Zürich tram routes 9 and 10 and Zürich trolleybus route 33, with an upper station at Rigiblick ...

– Milchbuck – Sternen Oerlikon – Bhf. Oerlikon Ost –

Glattpark Glattpark is a large construction project in Switzerland that took shape in Opfikon, close to the border to Zürich. As part of the construction project a new neighbourhood was built by 2020; it is designed to provide room for 7,000 residents and ...

– Bhf. Glattbrugg –

(Zurich

) Line : Triemli – Stauffacher – Bahnhofplatz/HB – Schaffhauserplatz – Milchbuck – Sternen Oerlikon – Bhf. Oerlikon Ost – Seebach Line : Hermetschloo – Bhf. Altstetten – Hardplatz – Bahnhofplatz/HB – Central – Kunsthaus – Hegibachplatz – Klusplatz – Kienastenwies

Gallery

File:CH-NB_Photoglob-Wehrli_EAD-WEHR-32024-A.tiff, Aerial photograph, by

Eduard Spelterini Eduard Spelterini (2 June 1852 – 16 June 1931) was a Swiss pioneer of ballooning and of aerial photography. Early life Spelterini was born in Bazenheid in the Toggenburg area in Switzerland as Eduard Schweizer.Degen, p. 39. His father ...

in the 19th century, showing Bahnhofplatz in the centre File:Zentralbibliothek Zürich - Zürich Bahnhofplatz - 000006617 1.jpg, The square pictured in 1902, looking west File:Hauptbahnhof Zürich - Shopville 2018-09-05 14-08-38.jpg, Fountain in ShopVille below Bahnhofplatz

References

External links

ZVV timetable of Bahnhofplatz/HB
in {{DEFAULTSORT:Bahnhofplatz Bahnhofplatz, Zürich

Public transport

Gallery

See also

References

External links