Hauptbahnhof

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 city centres themselves.Kellerman, Aharon. "Central railway stations" in ''Daily Spatial Mobilities: Physical and Virtual'', Oxford: Routledge, 2012. pp. 159-161. Bán, D. ''The railway station in the social science.'' The Journal of Transport History, 28, 289-93, 2007. As a result, "Central Station" is often, but not always, part of the proper name for a railway station that is the central or primary railway hub for a city.

Development

Emergence and growth

Central stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century during what has been termed the "Railway Age".Richards, Jeffrey and John M. MacKenzie, ''The Railway Station'', Oxford: OUP, 1986. Initially railway stations were built on the edge of city centres but, subsequently, with urban expansion, they became an integral part of the city centres themselves.

For example, the first centralized railway terminal in Germany was Hanover Hauptbahnhof, built in 1879. This set the precedent for other major German cities. Frankfurt followed in 1888 and Cologne in the 1890s. Classic German central railway station architecture "reached its zenith" with the completion of Hamburg Hauptbahnhof in 1906 and Leipzig Hauptbahnhof in 1915.Solomon, Brian. ''Railway Depots, Stations and Terminals'', Minneapolis: Voyageur, 2015. p. 152. .

In Europe, it was normal for the authorities to exercise greater control over railway development than in BritainHaywood, Russell. ''Railways, Urban Development and Town Planning in Britain: 1948-2008'', 2009. . and this meant that the central station was often the focal point of town planning. "Indeed, in most large continental cities the station was deliberately fronted by a square to set it off."Biddle, 1986, 37. During the 1880s "world leadership in large station design passed to Germany, where state funding helped secure the building of central stations on a lavish scale." By contrast, British entrepreneurialism led to a great diversity of ownership and rights and a lack of centralised coherence in the construction of major stations.

In time the urban expansion that put many of these stations at the heart of a city, also hemmed them in so that, although they became increasingly central to the town or city, they were further away from airports or, in some cases, other transport hubs such as bus stations leading to a lack of interoperability and interconnectivity between the different modes of transport.Bruinsma, Frank, Eric Pels, Hugo Priemus, Piet Rietveld and Bert van Wee. ''Railway Development: Impacts on Urban Dynamics''. Amsterdam: Physika-Verlag, 2008. p.4. .

A revival of fortunes for central stations arose during the 1980s, boosted by the advent of high speed rail and light rail services, that saw opportunities being seized for upgrading central stations and their facilities to create large intermodal transport hubs simultaneously serving many modes of transport, while providing a range of modern facilities for the traveller, creating a "city within a city."Middleton, William D., ''On Railways Far Away'', p. 69.

Present-day function

Transport nodes

Today, central stations, particularly in Europe, act as termini for a multitude of rail services - suburban, regional, domestic and international - provided by national carriers or private companies, on conventional rail networks, underground railways and tram systems. These services are often divided between several levels. In many cases, central railway stations are collocated with bus stations as well as taxi services.

Industrial and commercial centres

Central railway stations are not just major transportation nodes but may also be "a specific section of the city with a concentration of infrastructure but also with a diversified collection of buildings and open spaces"Bertolini, Luca and Tejo Spit, ''Cities on Rails'', Nyew York: Routledge, 1998. which makes them "one of the most complex social areas" of the city. This has drawn in railway business - freight and local industry using the marshalling yards - and commercial business - shops, cafes and entertainment facilities.

High speed rail

The reinvigoration of central stations since the 1980s has been, in part, due to the rise of high speed rail services. But countries have taken different approaches. France gave greater weight to 'peripheral stations', stations external to cities and new high speed lines. Germany and Italy went for the modification of existing lines and central stations. Spain opted for a hybrid approach with new high speed railway lines using existing central stations.Albalate, Daniel and Germà Bel, ''Evaluating High-Speed Rail: Interdisciplinary Perspectives'', London and NY: Routledge, 2017. p. 91. .

"Central Station" as a name

English-speaking countries

"Central Station" is a common proper name for a railway station that is the central or primary railway hub for a city, for example, Manchester Central, which is not to be confused with those stations in which "Central" appears in name not because they were "central" in the sense above but because they were once served by railway companies with "Central" as part of their name. For example, Leicester Central railway station was owned by the Great Central Railway, and Central Station (Chicago) was owned by the Illinois Central Railroad.

Non-English-speaking countries

When translating foreign station names, "Central Station" is commonly used if the literal meaning of the station's name is "central station", "principal station" or "main station". An example of the last is the Danish word ''hovedbanegård''. Travel and rail sources such as Rough Guides, Thomas Cook European Timetable and Deutsche Bahn's passenger information generally use the native name, but tourist, travel and railway operator websites as well as the English publications of some national railway operators often use "Central Station" or "central railway station" instead.

Non-English names for "Central Station" include:
* ''Централна гара'' (tsentralna gara) in Bulgarian
* ''střed'' in Czech
* ''Centraal Station'' (abbreviated formerly as ''CS'' and currently as ''Centraal'') in Dutch
* ''Gare centrale'' in French
* ''Hauptbahnhof'', historically also ''Centralbahnhof'' or ''Zentralbahnhof'', in German
* ''תחנה מרכזית'' (tahana merkazit) in Hebrew
* ''Stazione Centrale'' (abbreviated ''C.le'') in Italian
* ''sentralstasjon'' in Norwegian
* ''Estação Central'' in Portuguese
* ''Estación Central'' in Spanish
* ''centralstation'' (abbreviated ''central'' or ''C'') in Swedish

Non-English terms that literally mean "principal station" or "main station" are often translated into English as "Central":
* ''Glavni kolodvor'' (abbreviated ''Gl. kol.'') in Croatian
* ''hlavní nádraží'' (abbreviated ''hl. n.'') in Czech
* ''hovedbanegård'' (abbreviated ''H'') in Danish
* ''Hauptbahnhof'' (abbreviated ''Hbf'' in Germany and ''HB'' in Switzerland) in German
* ''Dworzec Główny'' (abbreviated ''Gł.'') in Polish
* ''hlavná stanica'' (abbreviated ''hl. st.'') in Slovak

Examples of central stations

The following are examples of stations from around the world where "Central Station" is part of their name in English or can be translated as such from their native language.

Europe

Austria

# Wien Hauptbahnhof
# Graz Hauptbahnhof
# Linz Hauptbahnhof
# Salzburg Hauptbahnhof
# Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof
# St. Pölten Hauptbahnhof
# Wels Hauptbahnhof

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