Dresden-Neustadt station () is the second largest railway station in the German city of Dresden after Dresden Hauptbahnhof and is also a stop for long-distance traffic. It is the junction for rail traffic on the northern side of the Elbe. It was built in 1901, replacing the Leipziger Bahnhof (Leipzig line station), which was opened in Leipziger Vorstadt in 1839, and the Schlesischen Bahnhof (Silesian line station), which was opened in 1847. The station building in the district of Innere Neustadt (inner new city) was built in the monumental style that was typical of the time, underlining its importance as a stop for long-distance services.
It is linked via the Dresden railway junction and the Dresden Hauptbahnhof (main station) to the Děčín–Dresden railway and to the tracks of the Leipzig–Dresden railway and the Görlitz–Dresden railway, which carry traffic towards Leipzig, Berlin and Upper Lusatia.
Location
Neustadt station is located in the Innere Neustadt, south-west of the Äußere Neustadt (outer new city) and north of the Elbe, which is crossed 600 metres away by the inner-city railway bridge, the Marienbrücke (Maria Bridge, named after Maria Anna of Bavaria). The station is not in danger of being flooded by the nearby river.
Its spacious forecourt is called the Schlesische Platz (Silesian place), referring to the Schlesischen Bahnhof, the terminus of the Görlitz–Dresden railway opened by the Sächsisch-Schlesische Eisenbahngesellschaft (Saxon-Silesian Railway Company), which was located here. Federal highway B170 (Hansastraße) runs next to it, as does the B6 (Antonstraße), which links to the major tram hub in Albertplatz, 400 metres away.
The typical German station district with a concentration of hotels, restaurants, a post office, banks and shops has not developed around it. To the east there is an open development with numerous villa-style buildings, while to the west there are factories and dense housing estates in the Leipziger Vorstadt.
Construction
The two-part station consists of the train shed, which is at an elevation of 6.35 metres, and the entrance building, which is at street level and faces Schlesische Platz. Inside two pedestrian tunnels link the entrance building at its centre with the platforms and connect with Hansastraße at their far ends.
Train shed
The train shed is 146 metres long, 70.5 metres wide and 19.3 metres high. It houses four platforms, each with two platform tracks (numbered 1 to 8). The middle four tracks are spanned by a 35.24 metre-wide arched hall. On both sides of the arch hall there are sloping roofs, each covering one platform with two tracks. Two crossing tracks for freight run past to the northwest outside the train shed.
Entrance building
The entrance building was largely built of sandstone under the direction of Otto Peters and Osmar Dürichen and is dominated by the lobby. Its large arched windows and columns are flanked by two imposing entrances. The two side wings, however, are rather simple. The facade of the entrance building on Schlesischen Platz, which has a total length of 177 metres, is a strictly symmetrical structure, with the exception of the balcony-like extension at the right end, which was originally the entrance to the royal apartments. 2,040 cubic metres of sandstone was needed for its construction.
The central foyer dominates the interior of the building. It is 52 metres wide, 30 metres long and 17 metres high. A three-part, slightly curved ceiling covers the lobby. Skylights and a glass pyramid-shaped canopy with a maximum height of 30 metres provide daylight in the lobby. The coats of arms of the Kingdom of Saxony and the city of Dresden and paintings adorn the brightly coloured walls and ceilings.
Originally, the ticket office was between the two portals and the baggage handling facilities were opposite them. Today food stalls offering snacks are located on the street side and a travel centre lies opposite them and a pharmacy is next to it. In addition, businesses supplying travel needs of all kinds operate in the hall.
The south-west wings originally housed waiting rooms for first and second class and one for women, as well as a dining room. Today it contains a discount food store and a fast food restaurant. Premises for rail operations have always been located in the north-eastern wing. It also contained the royal apartments, consisting of a reception room, a room for the royal entourage, a writing room, a dressing room and several adjoining rooms. These spaces are now used for restaurants.
A plaque is attached to the outer wall of the station building on Hansastraße commemorating Karl Theodor Kunz, the builder of the Leipzig–Dresden railway, the first long-distance railway in Germany. It was donated by the Sächsischen Ingenieurverein (Saxon Engineering Association) in 1869. (information brochure)
As part of an economic stimulus program announced in November 2008, the entrance building was rehabilitated by DB Station&Service AG to promote energy efficiency. In addition, a new waiting area was built.
Tracks
The through station, which is oriented in the southwest–northeast direction, is the terminus of three routes. The Děčín–Dresden-Neustadt railway approaches the station from the other side of the Elbe (chainage: 66.333 km) over the Marienbrücke. The Görlitz–Dresden (102.102 km) and Leipzig–Dresden (115.936 km) railways approach from the northeast. The direct line of the tracks forms the connection from the Marienbrücke towards Görlitz. The line from Leipzig connects through a curve from the northwest around 650 metres to the northeast of the station in Bischofsplatz. This connection is the only grade-separated junction in the station area.
Two elevated tracks run in the open to the northwest of the train shed, handling freight traffic to and from Görlitz. Freight trains to Leipzig turn north immediately after the Marienbrücke and run through the Dresden-Neustadt freight yard on the Dresden-Pieschen–Dresden-Neustadt railway. A separate double-track line existed until 2001 for freight trains running on the Görlitz–Leipzig route. In 2002, this was converted to a single-track connecting curve that branched from the northeastern part of the station toward Neustadt freight yard; this existed until 2005. The resulting triangle of tracks was almost opposite the entrance building. Between the connecting curve and the northern approach to the station are disused facilities of the former Dresden-Neustadt locomotive depot (Lokbahnhof).
Tracks were originally grouped by direction of operation. Tracks 1 to 4 were used by passenger trains leaving Dresden and tracks 5 to 8 were used by trains running into Dresden. The central platforms were reserved for long-distance services. Trains to and from Leipzig and Berlin ran on platform tracks 3 and 6 and trains to and from Görlitz ran on platform tracks 4 and 5. The suburban trains to Arnsdorf ran on platform track 1 and platform track 8 was used in the reverse direction. Platform tracks 2 and 7 were used by suburban traffic to and from Coswig and Meissen. Thus trains to and from the Görlitz line ran on platform tracks 1, 4, 5 and 8 and trains to and from the Leipzig line ran on the other platform tracks. On the northern approach next to track 1 there were storage facilities for suburban trains commencing or ending at the station.
There have been significant changes to the tracks since 2006 during renovations that continue. One aim of this work is to provide separate infrastructure for different routes.
Because some platforms were not available during the reconstruction, additional temporary platforms were built. Outside the train shed the inner of the two freight train tracks was used for platform 9, while the other track remained platform-free. From 2007 to September 2014, a further temporary outside platform called Dresden-Neustadt Außenbahnsteig (Gleis 10)—Dresden-Neustadt outside platform (track 10)—was located just a few metres away on the Dresden-Pieschen–Dresden-Neustadt line. Regional express trains on the Leipzig–Dresden route and S-Bahn trains temporarily stopped at platform 10, but only those running towards Dresden Hbf.
History
Dresden-Neustadt station replaced two earlier station located on the Neustadt side of the Elbe, the Leipziger Bahnhof (Leipzig station), and the Schlesischen Bahnhof (Silesian station). The latter is considered ita direct predecessor because Neustadt station was built at the same location.
Leipziger Bahnhof
Inaugurated in 1839 as the terminus of the Leipzig–Dresden railway, the Leipziger Bahnhof was the first station in Dresden. The rapid growth of traffic and connections to the newly built railway lines made major expansions and renovations and the construction of new buildings necessary in the first decades after its opening. In 1901, the newly built Dresden-Neustadt station took over passenger traffic from the Leipziger Bahnhof. Most of its tracks continued to be used for the Dresden-Neustadt freight yard and some are still used.
Schlesischen Bahnhof
The Schlesischen Bahnhof was built between 1844 and 1847 under the direction and to the design of the Dresden architect Julius Köhler and was opened with its ground-level tracks along with the whole Dresden-Neustadt–Görlitz line on 1 September 1847. Designed as a combined road and railway bridge, the first Marienbrücke (the current road bridge) was already under construction, so the plans envisaged a through station, allowing a connection through the city to the planned station of the Saxon-Bohemian Railway Company. For the present, the southern end of the station only had one turntable to turn the locomotives. There were two laterally-arranged train sheds, with the departure hall facing Antonstraße and the arrivals hall on the opposite side.
The double-sided and symmetrically arranged station building consisted of two protruding wings and a recessed central section. The neo-classical single-storey building included two 96 metres-long train sheds with arched arcades, one covering the arrival platforms and the other the departure platforms. Two other tracks ran between the train sheds that were designed for the movement of rolling stock. The two station buildings differed only with regard to a few functionally-related trifles. The departure platforms could only be accessed through an entrance hall, which contained a ticket office, baggage acceptance facilities and restaurants. In contrast, the arrival platforms were freely accessible and bigger to cope better with the surge of traffic when trains arrived.
From the outset, a connecting track joined the freight yard of the Silesian station with the approach tracks of the Leipzig station. There it connected with a turntable. Operationally, however, this connection was unsatisfactory because only individual carriages could be transferred. A few years after the opening of the station, this connection was replaced by a connecting curve that did not involve a turntable and was located a few metres to the north.
The Marienbrücke, finished in 1852, enabled the connection of the railway tracks in the old town (Altstädt). The tracks running from the Silesian and Leipzig stations joined in front of the bridgehead. Apart from measures to modernise their operations, the grounds of the Silesian station then remained unchanged until the construction of the Dresden-Neustadt station.
Planning