Hamburg Hauptbahnhof
Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station of the city of Hamburg, Germany and is classed by Deutsche Bahn as a category 1 railway station. Opened in 1906 to replace 4 separate terminal stations, today Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is operated by DB Station&Service 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.
The station is a through station with island platforms and is one of Germany's major transportation hubs, connecting long-distance Intercity Express routes to the city's U-Bahn and S-Bahn rapid transit networks. It is centrally located in Hamburg in the Hamburg-Mitte 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 was opened on 5 May 1842, coincidentally the same day that the "great fire" ruined most of the historic city centre. The stations were as follows :- Berliner Bahnhof, on the site of today's Deichtorhallen, on the right bank of the Elbe river; terminus of the line to Berlin
- Lübecker Bahnhof, terminus of the line to Lübeck
- Klosterthor Bahnhof, eastern terminus of the Hamburg-Altona link line
- Venloer Bahnhof, since 1892 named "Hannoverscher Bahnhof", on the line across the river Elbe..
On 9 November 1941, during the Second World War, 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.
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 S-Bahn 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 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. According to the German newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt 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 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
- Hanover–Hamburg railway
- Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg railway
- Lower Elbe Railway
- Lübeck–Hamburg railway
- Hamburg-Altona link line
The station is served by the following services:
Long distance trains
Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is one of the largest stations in northern Germany and connects Denmark with central Europe. There are permanent InterCityExpress lines to Berlin, Frankfurt, continuing to Stuttgart and Munich, and Bremen, continuing to the Ruhr Area and Cologne. To the north ICE trains connect Hamburg with Aarhus and Copenhagen in Denmark and Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein. There are also several InterCity- and EuroCity- passenger train connections. The station is a hub for international travel, and most passengers to or from Scandinavia must change in Hamburg.| Line | Route | Interval | Operator |
| ICE 11 | Hamburg-Altona – Hamburg – Berlin – Leipzig – Erfurt – Frankfurt – Stuttgart – Munich | Individual services | DB Fernverkehr |
| ICE 11 | Hamburg – Hannover – Frankfurt – Stuttgart – Frankfurt – Munich | Individual services at night | DB Fernverkehr |
| ICE 18 | Hamburg-Altona – Hamburg – Berlin – Halle – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Ingolstadt/Augsburg – Munich | Every two hours | DB Fernverkehr |
| ICE 20 | Hamburg – Hannover – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Frankfurt – Mannheim – Karlsruhe – Freiburg – Basel - Zürich | Every two hours | DB Fernverkehr |
| ICE 22 | Hamburg – Hannover – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Frankfurt – Frankfurt Airport – Mannheim – Stuttgart | Every two hours | DB Fernverkehr |
| ICE 25 | Hamburg – Hannover – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Fulda – Würzburg – Nuremberg – Ingolstadt – Munich | Hourly | DB Fernverkehr |
| ICE 26 | Stralsund – Rostock – Schwerin – Hamburg – Hannover – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Gießen – Frankfurt – Heidelberg – Karlsruhe | Every two hours | DB Fernverkehr |
| EC 27 | Hamburg – Berlin – Dresden – Prague – Brno — Budapest | Two train pairs | ÖBB/DB |
| ICE 28 | Hamburg – Berlin – Leipzig – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Munich | Hourly | DB Fernverkehr |
| EC 30 | Hamburg-Altona - Hamburg - Bremen - Osnabrück - Münster - Dortmund - Bochum - Essen - Duisburg - Düsseldorf -Cologne - Bonn - Koblenz - Mainz - Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Baden-Baden - Freiburg - Basel - Zürich - / | 4 train pairs | DB Fernverkehr/SBB |
| IC 30 | Hamburg-Altona - Hamburg – Bremen – Osnabrück – Münster – Dortmund – Duisburg – Düsseldorf – Cologne – Bonn – Koblenz – Mainz – Mannheim – Stuttgart | Every two hours | DB Fernverkehr |
| ICE 30 | Hamburg-Altona - Hamburg - Bremen - Diepholz - Osnabrück - Münster - Dortmund - Bochum - Essen - Duisburg - Düsseldorf - Cologne | One train | DB Fernverkehr |
| ICE 31 | Hamburg-Altona – Hamburg – Bremen – Osnabrück – Münster – Dortmund – Hagen – Wuppertal – Solingen – Cologne – Bonn – Koblenz – Mainz – Frankfurt | Individual services | DB Fernverkehr |
| IC 31 | Hamburg – Bremen – Osnabrück – Münster – Dortmund – Wuppertal – Cologne – Bonn – Koblenz – Mainz – Frankfurt | Every two hours | DB Fernverkehr |
| ICE 42 | Hamburg-Altona - Hamburg - Bremen - Münster - Dortmund - Cologne - /Köln Messe/Deutz - Stuttgart - Munich - | One train pair | DB Fernverkehr |
| IC/EC 75 | Hamburg – Lübeck – Puttgarden – Copenhagen | Individual services | DB Fernverkehr |
| IC 76 | Aarhus – Flensburg – Neumünster – Hamburg | Individual services | DB Fernverkehr |
| ICE 91 | Hamburg-Altona – Hamburg – Hannover – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Fulda – Würzburg – Nürnberg – Regensburg – Plattling – Passau – Linz – Vienna | One train pair | DB Fernverkehr |
| FLX 20 | Hamburg – Hamburg-Harburg – Osnabrück – Münster – Gelsenkirchen – Essen - Duisburg – Düsseldorf – Cologne | 1–3 train pairs | Bahntouristikexpress |
Regional trains
There are numerous RegionalExpress and RegionalBahn services to Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Bremen.| Line | Route |
| Hamburg Hbf – Schwerin – Rostock | |
| Hamburg Hbf – Lüneburg – Uelzen | |
| Bremen – Rotenburg – Buchholz – Hamburg Hbf | |
| Cuxhaven – Stade – Buxtehude – Hamburg Hbf | |
| Hamburg Hbf – Neumünster – Flensburg | |
| Hamburg Hbf – Bad Oldesloe – Lübeck – Travemünde | |
| Hamburg Hbf – Pinneberg – Neumünster – Kiel | |
| Hamburg Hbf – Ahrensburg – Lübeck | |
| Hamburg Hbf – Lüneburg – Uelzen | |
| Bremen – Rotenburg – Buchholz – Hamburg Hbf | |
| Hamburg Hbf – Pinneberg – Glückstadt – Itzehoe | |
| Hamburg Hbf – Ahrensburg – Bad Oldesloe | |
| Hamburg Hbf – Lüneburg – Berlin |
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 and the Hamburg U-Bahn.The S-Bahn platforms are located inside the station itself and in a separate tunnel, adjacent to the station building.
The U-Bahn is split in two stations: Hauptbahnhof Süd and serving the lines U1 and U3. This part of the station had been included in the 1900 planning for the new station and the southeastern branch line leading to Rothenburgsort, the tracks and stations of which have been destroyed in the Operation Gomorra on 28 July 1943 and never been rebuilt.
The station Hauptbahnhof Nord, opened on 29 September 1968, serves the line U2, but only using the two middle tunnels. The two outer tunnels were built in advance for a future line U4 and are currently used for a visual arts installation.