The (), abbreviated as Wien NWBH, is a goods station in transformation to a city development area in Brigittenau district of Vienna, Austria. Passenger transport ended in 1959. It serves as the southern terminus of the Austrian Northwestern Railway. The northwestern terminus of the line was Prague Těšnov station till 1972. Freight transport is in the phase of termination. By 2025, a new district will be built on the site. An interim use phase will begin in 2018.
Station premises
The Northwest Railway Station is hardly anchored in the general awareness although being the second-largest railway station of the formerly six Viennese terminus stations. The Northwest Railway lost its importance due to the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. Passenger traffic was already stopped in 1952 after a phase as a replacement station. Only the remaining post office was known in 1200, the former main post office of Brigittenau on the side of the Nordwestbahnstraße. The railway station has gone down in the history of Vienna rather as the scene of political events.
The railway station is only about four kilometres from the centre of Vienna and since 1900 part of the 20th district. The site borders on Taborstraße in the south, Nordwestbahnstraße in the west, Dresdnerstraße in the east and Stromstrasse in the north. The main entrance to the site is currently located in the Tabor- and Nordwestbahnstraße. The area is the last large urban development area of Vienna. The area is 44 hectares. In the middle, a green park of 10 hectares is to be created. Approximately 800,000 m2 of gross floor space is to be created here by 2030. The urban development model has been completed and initial property sales to developers are expected in 2020/21. The deindustrialization of the city opens up space for a new, more modern use of space in the inner city area.
The use as a railway station and transshipment point for goods is on the way out. The landowner Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) only awards short-term contracts. All contracts with tenants and subtenants will expire at the end of 2017 to begin demolition of the site for the construction of a new urban development area. In the north of the railway station on Nordwestbahnstraße still exists a large operating garage, which is used by various companies formerly from such as ÖBB-Postbus or the private bus company Gschwindl, as well as driving schools and the fire department.
Time before the railway
In the period before the regulation of the winding Danube, the territory was still unspoilt because of the recurring floods. In 1614, Emperor Matthias had built a small castle for hunting in the Wolfsau (older name of Brigittenau), a part of the former imperial hunting area, which at that time was still an untouched landscape. The area was not only unsafe because of the water, but also military. During the Second Vienna Turkish siege in 1683, the facilities in Augarten were destroyed.
The growth of the city of Vienna also made the tributaries of the river more important for shipping. The station grounds are located in the , a filled in arm of the Danube. At this branch of the Danube timber delivered via the river was unloaded. The flagpoles showed the landing stages to the ships and rafts. The site was a peripheral area of the Augarten belonging to the 2nd district. At that time, the Nordwestbahnstraße was still called Augartendamm. The branch of the Danube disappeared with the regulation of the Danube from 1868 onwards. Thus land was won for the station and industrial companies. In the middle of the 19th century due to the lower taxes and the lack of space, public amusement opportunities were established outside the city walls. The area was also popular for carrying out illegal dogfights of rich industrial sons. There were also large amusement centres. The most famous was the "Universum". The owner Ferdinand Bachmaier (1826-1903) demanded the enormous sum of 100,000 florins as compensation for the railway construction.
Construction of the railway station
The fact that such a large infrastructure project as the construction of the Northwest Railway was financed privately must be seen against the background of the public finances of Austria-Hungary. Due to the heavily strained state budget in the years around the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the boycott of tax increases by the Imperial Council, which was dominated by the nobility, the state sold existing railway lines to private investors and promoted the expansion and new construction with guaranteed interest for shares.