- Structural Engineering
Scope
Wien Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in Vienna. It became fully operational in December 2015, linking major railway lines from the north, east, south and west, and replacing the old Wien Südbahnhof terminus. With 268,000 daily commuters it is Austria's busiest long-distance railway station.
During the 1990s, interest arose in the redevelopment of Vienna’s railway stations, particularly the Südbahnhof and Ostbahnhof termini, which were at right-angles to one another. The concept of a new integrated station that served north–south and east–west routes, including three TEN corridors, to replace both of the existing stations, was discussed.
The new station has been designed as a single structure with through platforms and is capable of handling more trains a day on much less space than its predecessors. Long-distance trains from Westbahn can thus be carried forward to Hungary and the Vienna Airport, trains from Südbahn to the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It has direct links to the centre of Vienna via the U-Bahn network, thus shortening travel times and increasing capacity markedly. A major benefit of the scheme has been the release of land within the city centre which had previously been occupied by the two former termini (Sonnwendviertel residential district of 5,000 innercity apartments etc.)
Approach
Planning was conducted by the consortium “Wiener Team” (general planner). An environmental assessment for the rail infrastructure begun 2007. The design incorporated around 100 km of new track, 300 switches and crossings and included measures to make it both energy-efficient and environmentally friendly (CO2-controlled ventilation, geothermal energy systems, windows and walls are furnished with soundproofing). During June 2007, construction work commenced, such as the remodelling of the existing S-Bahn station Südtiroler Platz. In 2008, the S-Bahn and the U-Bahn stations at Südtiroler Platz were connected to one another, while the Südbahnhof was demolished, a process which took until 2010 to complete. During the transition period, Wien Meidling railway station temporarily took on many of Südbahnhof’s services. In 2010, work began on building the rail infrastructure at the station. During the construction process, a wooden viewing platform, known as the “Bahnorama”, was erected – allegedly the highest walkable wooden tower in Europe at the time, measuring 66 metres from base to tip.
Outcome
All long-distance trains passing through Vienna enter the Central Station. Railjets connect it with all Austrian capital cities except Eisenstadt and with the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. Night trains ply to Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Switzerland and Ukraine. Due to the environmentally friendly design Central Station received the “Ecology prize” 2014 by the City of Vienna.
The total cost of building the new station is around €987 million, which is more than the cost estimations in the Masterplan 2006 (1 Mio. sq m gross floor area, 8 hectars of park etc.)
