Halle (Saale) Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in the city of Halle (Saale) in southern part of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The station is situated east of the city centre and is a category 2 station.
The station is one of the most important transport hubs in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is a stop for long-distance and regional services. In addition, it is part of the Leipzig-Halle S-Bahn network and is served by the trams and buses that are part of the city's public transport.
Layout
Halle is an 'island station', i.e. it is located between the main sets of tracks. It has 13 platforms, of which 10 are covered by the station hall. The actual station building is located in the middle between tracks 6 and 7. In the station halls are small shops and restaurants/cafes.
Northeast of the tracks of the passenger station is the Halle freight yard.
History
In mid-1840 the Magdeburg-Leipzig Railway – initiated by city councillor, Matthäus Ludwig Wucherer, who supported the building of a railway from Magdeburg to Leipzig via Halle – built the first station in Halle, which was subsequently (1845 to 1847) rebuilt again to form a junction with the Thuringian Railway. The unusual feature of the route between Magdeburg and Leipzig was that it was the first cross-border railway link (from Prussia through Anhalt-Köthen to Saxony).
As further routes were added the station soon became too small, but could not be expanded because the various railway companies could not agree an overall concept. Not until 8 October 1890, after the nationalisation of one company and a five-year construction period could the new passenger station be opened.
Renovations of the station
The station concourse was spared major bomb damage during the Second World War, although the first and second class dining room sustained damage from a light bomb attack.
The S-Bahn was opened in 1967 and a new platform was added on the west side. It was built outside the western platform hall on a former locomotive track, receiving a platform canopy. It has barrier-free access from Ernst-Kamieth-Straße. Städteexpress ("city express") trains stopped in Halle from 1976 to 1993. In 1967/68, the station hall received an aluminium curtain wall in the style of the architecture of the time, which gave the entrance building from the station forecourt a typical socialist modernist appearance. This curtain wall was removed in 1984. The domed hall, the vestibule and the eastern dining room were renovated. During the adaption of Riebeckplatz in 1967 for the convenience of car users, the tram stops were moved far from the station under the elevated road bridges on what was then called Thälmannplatz. This made transfers between trains and trams difficult with long distances. It was not until 2005 that these were significantly improved with a new redesign of Riebeckplatz and the area surrounding the station.
In 2002, the station building was extensively renovated, rebuilt and equipped with areas for shops. Between 2005 and 2011, the southern approach was extensively rebuilt over a length of five kilometres to integrate the new Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle line then under construction.
Further upgrades for the Halle railway junction were planned at a cost of around €400 million. The ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the new Halle train formation facility, which cost €146 million, took place on 26 September 2012. A second stage of the development area included the northern connection of the Berlin–Halle/Leipzig line (project VDE 8.3) and the renewal of the track and catenary systems in the station area. Two new electronic interlockings replaced 20 old interlockings. The associated financing agreement for €252 million was signed at the end of October 2012, of which €223 million was to be borne by the federal government. Further financing agreements were still pending in June 2013.
The railway junction was renovated from September 2014 at a cost of more than €500 million. Among other things, the new and upgraded lines as well as the freight yard were integrated and all platforms of the station were demolished and rebuilt. The connection to the high-speed lines was intended to take place between 2015 and 2017 and the station itself was to be rebuilt in 2016 and 2017. The project, which was repeatedly postponed for financial reasons, was considered the largest infrastructure project by Deutsche Bahn in Saxony-Anhalt. The maximum speed allowed in the station area was increased from 40 to 160 km/h.