Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 'Innsbruck Main Station' or 'Innsbruck Central Station') is the main railway station in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, the capital city of the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

federal state A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the c ...

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

. Opened in 1853, the station is a major hub for western and central Austria. In 2019, it was the 8th-busiest station in the country, and the 2nd-busiest outside of

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

after only

Linz Hauptbahnhof Linz Hauptbahnhof or Linz Central Station is a railway station in Linz, the third largest city in Austria, and capital city of the States of Austria, federal state of Upper Austria. Opened in 1858, the station is the centrepiece of the Linz trans ...

, with 315 train movements and 38,500 passengers daily. The station is owned and operated by

ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways ( , formally or () and formerly the or ''BBÖ'' ), now commonly known as ÖBB (), is the national railway company of Austria, and the administrator of Liechtenstein's railways. The ÖBB group i ...

. It forms the junction of the

Arlberg Railway The Arlberg Railway (), which connects the Austrian cities Innsbruck and Bludenz, is Austria's only ''east-west'' mountain railway. It is one of the highest standard gauge railways in Europe and the second highest in Austria, after the Brenner ...

to Bregenz,

Brenner Railway The Brenner Railway (; ) is a major line connecting the Austrian and Italian railways from Innsbruck to Verona, climbing up the Wipptal ( German for "Wipp Valley"), passing over the Brenner Pass, descending down the Eisacktal ( German for " ...

to Italy, Mittenwald Railway to Germany's region of Ällgau,

Stubaitalbahn The Stubaitalbahn (Stubai Valley Railway) is an long narrow gauge interurban tram from Innsbruck to Fulpmes in Tyrol, Austria. In the city of Innsbruck, it uses the local tramway tracks Tramway track is used on tramways or light rail o ...

and the main east–west artery Lower Inn Valley Railway.

Location

Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof is located at Südtiroler Platz. It is at the southeastern side of the city centre and a 10-minute walk away.

History

The planning of a railway line in the region of Tyrol began in 1850 under the Austrian Empire. Three years later,

Emperor Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death in 1916. In the early part of his reig ...

approved the route from Innsbruck to

Wörgl Wörgl () is a city in the Austrian state of Tyrol, in the Kufstein district. It is from the international border with Bavaria, Germany. Population Transport Wörgl is a railway junction in the line between Innsbruck and Munich, as well as the ...

across the Inn Valley. In 1854, the line is extended to the border city,

Kufstein Kufstein (; ) is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the administrative seat of Kufstein District. With a population of about 20,000 it is the second largest Tyrolean town after the state capital Innsbruck. The greatest landmark is Kufstein For ...

, close to the Kingdom of Bavaria. Franz Czwerwenka, head of the civil construction department, designed the railway station as one of the most beautiful

station building A station building, also known as a head house, is the main building of a passenger railway station. It is typically used principally to provide services to passengers. A station building is a component of a station, which can include tracks, ...

s within the Austrian Empire. Innsbruck station opened along with the line to Kufstein. In 1867, the station then assumed greater importance upon the commissioning of the Brenner Railway (then part of the Southern Railway crossing the Alps at above sea into South Tyrol) and, in 1883, the Arlberg Railway (reaching the westernmost of modern-day Austria). Innsbruck West railway station was created for the Arlberg Railway. By the 1880s, due to the heavy train traffic over the

Brenner Pass The Brenner Pass ( , shortly ; ) is a mountain pass over the Alps which forms the Austria-Italy border, border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Alps, major passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has the lowes ...

, the original station had become too small to accommodate passengers and freight; therefore, the station building and

train shed A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...

were rebuilt on the same site.

Transfer to ÖBB

On 1 January 1924,

took over all railway lines of the

Austrian Southern Railway The Austrian Southern Railway () is a long double track railway, which linked the capital Vienna with Trieste, the former main seaport of Austria-Hungary, by railway for the first time. It now forms the Southern Railway in Austria and the Spi ...

. In 1927, the station was once again rebuilt to enhance its capacity. The departure hall was frescoed by Rudolf Stolz; the platforms were connected with a subway underneath and the train shed was replaced by platform roofs. At the same time, the Operations Directorate moved into the "Clock Tower Building" (so called due to a small clock tower at the top) in the station's north wing. Stubaitalbahn 83 Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof

By the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the station was completely destroyed by Allied bombings. An ÖBB architect later combined various designs of other well-known architects to create a plain, functional replacement station building in the style of the 1950s. In 1954, the Austrian artist

Max Weiler Maximilian Weiler (25 September 1900 – 1 September 1969) was a Swiss footballer who played as a defender. He played for SC Veltheim and Grasshopper Club Zürich, and also represented Switzerland at international level. He won 37 caps fo ...

was awarded the contract for the design of a large departure hall. His design, however, has attracted controversy, as he chose a pair of murals on display to represent Innsbruck's heritage. In 1997, the ÖBB launched ''Bahnhofsoffensive'', a scheme to reconstruct existing railway stations within Austria. Innsbruck Hauptbhanhof received a new design by the architects of Riegler Riewe. The groundbreaking ceremony took place in 2001 and the new station was officially open on 19 May 2004. ÖBB renovated the 1920s clock tower in the north wing for housing a police station.Innsbruck station rebuild completed ''

Today's Railways Europe ''Today's Railways Europe'' is an English-based monthly magazine covering rail transport in Europe. It was founded by Platform 5 in July 1994. Initially published bimonthly, from August 1997 it was published monthly. It also covered rail tran ...

'' issue 105 September 2004 page 45

Station building

The central component of the present station building is the main hall, which extends through to the basement, with access to the platforms through two tunnels (north tunnel and south tunnel). There is also access from the main hall to the underground parking station (and then, via another pedestrian tunnel, to the Hotel Europa and escalators to the bus and tram terminals), and, via an additional pedestrian tunnel, to the bus station and local shops. On its northern side, the station building adjoins an office building. The striking frescoes by Max Weiler, together with a few centimetres of underlying masonry, were removed from the 1950s station building in one piece and remounted in the new concourse. Almost simultaneously with the construction of the new station building, a public transport hub was created in the station forecourt, which is paved with a red-colored asphalt (and nicknamed "Red Square"). The new hub serves the Innsbruck tramway network, regional and urban bus lines, and the

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

Stubai Valley Railway. At the time it was created, a rail junction was built at the southern end of the square for a proposed new tram route towards the south, but construction of the new route itself was deferred.

Other facilities

The station has eight through tracks. Of these, platform 1 is accessible at ground level as "home platform", and platform 8 is accessible from the East (only) for loading cars onto

motorail A motorail train or accompanied car train (ACT) is a passenger train on which passengers can take their car or automobile along with them on their journey. Passengers are carried in normal passenger carriages or in sleeping carriages on longer ...

trains. Additionally, there are four

bay platform In the United Kingdom and in Australia, a bay platform is a dead-end railway platform at a railway station that has through lines. It is normal for bay platforms to be shorter than their associated through platforms. They must have a buffer stop ...

s (platforms 21–22, 31 and 41), for regional passenger traffic via the Mittenwald railway, the Arlberg railway and the Brenner railway. The Hauptbahnhof complex includes the Frachtenbahnhof Innsbruck, which, amongst other facilities, lost much of its importance when the Innsbruck goods train bypass (Inntaltunnel) was completed in 1994. It now stands to be partially transformed in the course of urban development into a residential area. The

shunting yard Shunting yard may refer to: * Classification yard * Shunting yard algorithm * British term for rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of Track (rail transport), tracks in a rail network for storing, ...

of the Innsbruck railway junction is located at

Hall in Tirol Hall in Tirol is a town in the Innsbruck-Land district of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Austria. Located at an altitude of 574 m, about 5 km (3 mi) east of the state's capital Innsbruck in the Inn (river), Inn valley, it has a population of 14,77 ...

Services

Significance

The station is important for commuter traffic to and from the Tyrolean provincial capital, and in providing a hub function for east–west traffic ((

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

) –

–

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

–

– Innsbruck (

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

) /

Bregenz Bregenz (; ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost states of Austria, state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switzerland in the wes ...

) and north–south traffic (

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

– Wörgl – Innsbruck –

Bolzano Bolzano ( ; ; or ) is the capital city of South Tyrol (officially the province of Bolzano), Northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third largest in historical Tyrol. The ...

–

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

– (

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

)). Since December 2007, the station has also been the focal point of

Tyrol S-Bahn The Tyrol S-Bahn, operated by ÖBB, provides regional rail services in metropolitan Innsbruck, Austria and its hinterlands in the States of Austria, state of Tyrol; and extended rail services into Italy and Germany. Current lines There are eig ...

lines , and , and a terminus of lines and . The railway line between

Baumkirchen Baumkirchen is a community in the district of Innsbruck Land. It lies in the Inn Valley north of the Inn River The Inn (; ; ) is a river in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. The long river is a right tributary of the Danube, being the third ...

(about east of Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof) and

Wörgl Hauptbahnhof Wörgl Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station of Wörgl, a city in the Kufstein district of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, about 20 km from the state border with Bavaria. It is a major hub for regional and international rail travel, ...

(known as the Lower Inn Valley railway) is one of the busiest railway lines in Austria (up to 430 trains a day) and is therefore currently being rebuilt as a four track line, as part of the TEN Berlin–Palermo axis. In Wörgl Hauptbahnhof, the railway line divides into a northern branch via

to Salzburg and Munich, and an eastern branch via

Zell am See Zell am See is the administrative capital of the Zell am See District in the Austrian state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. Located in the Kitzbühel Alps, the town is an important tourist destination due to its Ski resort, ski resorts and shorel ...

to Salzburg,

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

and Klagenfurt ( Gisela Railway).

Rail services

The following services call at this station (incomplete):

Domestic

* Intercity train (

Railjet Railjet is a high-speed rail service in Europe operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and Czech Railways (ČD). Branded as ''Railjet Express'' (RJX category) for the fastest services and as ''Railjet'' (RJ) for services with additional s ...

'RJ' / Intercity) Innsbruck-Salzburg: Innsbruck - Jenbach - Wörgl - Kufstein - Salzburg * Intercity train (

Railjet 'RJ' / Intercity) Zürich-Vienna: Zürich - Feldkirch - St. Anton am Arlberg - Landeck-Zams - Imst-Pitztal - Ötztal - Innsbruck - Jenbach - Wörgl - Kufstein - Salzburg - Linz - St. Pölten - Vienna * Intercity train (

Railjet 'RJ' / Intercity) Innsbruck-Bregenz: Innsbruck - Ötztal - Imst-Pitztal - Landeck-Zams - St. Anton am Arlberg - Feldkirch - Bregenz * Metre-gauge train (

) Innsbruck-Fulpmes: Innsbruck - Fulpmes

Domestic and Germany/South Tyrol

(D for Germany, I for Italy) * Intercity train (

Eurocity) Munich-Innsbruck: Munich (D) - Rosenheim (D) - Kufstein - Wörgl - Jenbach - Innsbruck * Intercity train ( DB

Intercity Express Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this category) is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It ...

'ICE') Munich-Innsbruck: Munich (D) - Garmish-Partenkirchen (D) - Mittenwald (D) - Seefeld-in-Tirol - Innsbruck * Regional train (

Regional-Express 'REX') Innsbruck-Mittenwald: Innsbruck - Seefeld-in-Tirol - Mittenwald (D) * Regional train (Südtirol Bahn Regional-Express 'REX') Innsbruck-Bozen: Innsbruck - Matrei-am-Brenner - Brenner/Brennero (I) - Franzensfeste/Fortezza (I) - Bozen/Bolzano (I)

Cross-border (Night train)

(CH for Switzerland, D for Germany, H for Hungary, F for France, I for Italy, PL for Poland, BR for Belarus, R for Russia, CZ for Czech Republic, SLO for Slovenia, HR for Croatia, SEB for Serbia) On 11 December, ÖBB will take over all night trains of Deutsch Bahn and rebrand EuroNight services as "

Nightjet Nightjet (stylised as nightjet) is a brand name given by the ÖBB, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) to its overnight passenger train services. ''Nightjet'' operates in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Switze ...

". * Night train (

EuroNight) Budapest-Zürich: Budapest (H) - Györ (H) - Vienna - St Pölten - Linz - Salzburg - Innsbruck - Feldkirch - Buchs SG (CH) - Sargans (CH) - Zürich (CH) *Night train (DB

CityNightLine CityNightLine AG (timetable and platform sign abbreviation: CNL) was a Swiss night train service. CNL had right of passage grants in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark. It served stations in Belgium, France, Italy and t ...

) Munich-Milan/Rome: Munich (D) - Rosenheim (D) - Kufstein - Wörgl - Jenbach - Innsbruck - Bozen/Bolzano (I) - Verona^ (I) - Perschiera del Garda (I) - Brescia (I) - Milan (I) * Night train (

EuroNight) Feldkirch-Zagreb: Feldkirch - St. Anton am Arlberg - Landeck-Zams - Innsbruck - Jenbach - Wörgl - Bad Hofgastein - Bad Gastein - Villach - Jesenice (SLO) - Ljubljana (SLO) - Zagreb (HR) ^ Train connects at Verona with ÖBB EuroNight Vienna-Rome From 11 December, a new service Düsseldorf-Innsbruck will be operated by ÖBB: * Night train (

Nightjet) Hamburg/Düsseldorf-Innsbruck/Vienna: Düsseldorf (D) - Frankfurt (D) - Nuremberg/Nürnberg (D) (train connects with Hamburg-Nürnberg-Wien) - Munich/München (D) - Innsbruck

Cross-border

* Intercity train (

EuroCity) Munich-Verona/Venice: Munich (D) - Rosenheim (D) - Kufstein - Wörgl - Jenbach - Innsbruck - Brenner/Brennero (I) - Franzensfeste/Fortezza (I) - Brixen/Bressanone (I) - Bozen/Bolzano (I) - Trient/Trento (I) - Rofreit/Rovereto (I) - Verona (I) - (Padova (I)) - (Venice (I)) * Intercity train (

EuroCity) Munich-Verona/Bologna: Munich (D) - Rosenheim (D) - Kufstein - Wörgl - Jenbach - Innsbruck - Brenner/Brennero (I) - Franzensfeste/Fortezza (I) - Brixen/Bressanone (I) - Bozen/Bolzano (I) - Trient/Trento (I) - Rofreit/Rovereto (I) - Verona (I) - (Bologna (I)) * Intercity Train ( RZD EuroNight) Moscow-Nice: Moscow (Belorusskaja) (R) - Wjasma (R) - Smolensk (R) - Orscha Central (ВR) - Minsk (BR) - Brest Central (BR) - Terespol (PL) - Warsaw West (Wschodnia) (PL) - Warsaw Central (Centralna) (PL)- Katowice (PL) - Zebrzydowice (PL) - Bohumin (CZ) - Breclav (CZ) - Vienna/Wien - Linz-Donau - Innsbruck - Bozen/Bolzano (I) - Verona (I) - Milan (I) - Genova/Genoa (I) - San Remo (I) - Ventimiglia (I) - Menton (F) - Monaco Monte-Carlo (MN) - Nice (F

* Tourist train (

Venice-Simplon Orient Express The ''Venice Simplon-Orient-Express'' (VSOE) is a private luxury train service from London to Venice and other European cities. It is currently owned by Belmond. These VSOE services are not to be confused with a regularly scheduled train cal ...

) Venice-London: Venice (I) or Rome (I) - Verona (I) - Innsbruck - Munich (D) - Paris (F) - London (GB)

Tyrol S-Bahn The Tyrol S-Bahn, operated by ÖBB, provides regional rail services in metropolitan Innsbruck, Austria and its hinterlands in the States of Austria, state of Tyrol; and extended rail services into Italy and Germany. Current lines There are eig ...

*Line 1: Landeck-Zams - Imst-Pitztal - Ötztal - Telfs - Innsbruck - Hall-in-Tirol - Jenbach - Wörgl - Kufstein - (Rosenheim) *Line 2: Landeck-Zams - Imst-Pitztal - Ötztal - Telfs - Innsbruck - Hall-in-Tirol - Jenbach *Line 3: Hall-in-Tirol - Innsbruck - Steinach-am-Brenner *Line 4: Brenner - Gries-am-Brenner - Steinach-am-Brenner - Matrei-am-Brenner - Innsbruck - (Völs) *Line 5: Innsbruck - Seefeld-in-Tirol *Line 6: Scharnitz - Kufstein

Bus services

Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof is the hub of IVB, the bus and tram operator of Innsbruck. Most of the lines have a stop at ''Hauptbahnhof''. With the bus line ''F'', the station is connected to

Innsbruck Airport Innsbruck Airport , also known locally as ''Kranebitten Airport'', is the largest international airport in Tyrol in western Austria. It is located approximately from the centre of Innsbruck. The airport, which was opened in 1925, handles regio ...

. From the station forecourt there are departing not only city lines but also regional lines to different destinations in all directions.

References

External links

History and pictures of Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof
{{Authority control Railway stations in Tyrol (federal state) Buildings and structures in Innsbruck Transport in Innsbruck Railway stations in Austria opened in 1853 Railway stations in Austria opened in 2004

Location

History

Transfer to ÖBB

Station building

Other facilities

Services

Significance

Rail services

Domestic

Domestic and Germany/South Tyrol

Cross-border (Night train)

Cross-border

Tyrol S-Bahn The Tyrol S-Bahn, operated by ÖBB, provides regional rail services in metropolitan Innsbruck, Austria and its hinterlands in the States of Austria, state of Tyrol; and extended rail services into Italy and Germany. Current lines There are eig ...

Bus services

See also

References

External links