Leipzig Hauptbahnhof

Geschichte

Leipzig Hauptbahnhof is the central railway terminus in Leipzig, Germany. At 83460sqm, it is the world's largest railway station measured by floor area. It has 19 overground platforms housed in six iron train sheds, a multi-level concourse with towering stone arches, and a 298m long facade. Two Leipzig City Tunnel underground platforms were inaugurated in December 2013.The station is operated by DB Station&Service, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, and is classified as a Category 1 station, one of twenty in Germany. It also functions as a large shopping centre. Train services are operated by Deutsche Bahn, S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland, Erfurter Bahn and Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn. As of 2008, Leipzig Hauptbahnhof handled an average of 120,000 passengers per day.HistoryAfter the opening of the Leipzig–Dresden railway line in 1839, followed by the Magdeburg-Leipzig railway one year later, the Leipzig–Hof railway in 1842, and the Leipzig–Großkorbetha railway in 1856, Leipzig had become the most important railway junction in the Kingdom of Saxony. Initially trains departed from separate termini, such as Bayerischer Bahnhof, located Southeast of the Leipzig city centre. While the city's population increased sharply, especially upon German unification in 1871, the spatial separation proved to be complicated and ineffective.