Central station

Central station is a common name for a railway station, for example Central railway station (London) and Melbourne Central. As well as being used for centrally located stations (such as the former Croydon Central station), "Central" often appears in names of stations that were once served by railway companies which used Central as part of their name—for example Leicester Central railway station was owned by the Great Central Railway, and Grand Central Station in New York City was part of the New York Central Railroad.

When translating foreign texts into English, "Central station" sometimes replaces the name of stations in the non-English speaking world where the literal meaning of the station's name is central station or main station. An example of the latter 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; whilst some websites and English publications of some national railway operators use "central station" or "central railway station" instead.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

Berlin Hauptbahnhof ( listen) ("Berlin main station", sometimes translated as Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, and until it opened as a main line station, it was a stop on the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway temporarily named Berlin Hauptbahnhof–Lehrter Bahnhof. The station is operated by DB Station&Service, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG, and is classified as a Category 1 station, one of 21 in Germany and four in Berlin, the others being Berlin Gesundbrunnen, Berlin Südkreuz and Berlin Ostbahnhof.

Lehrter Bahnhof (Lehrte Station) opened in 1871 as the terminus of the railway linking Berlin with Lehrte, near Hanover, which later became Germany's most important east-west main line. In 1882, with the completion of the Stadtbahn (City Railway, Berlin's four-track central elevated railway line, which carries both local and main line services), just north of the station, a smaller interchange station called Lehrter Stadtbahnhof was opened to provide connections with the new line. This station later became part of the Berlin S-Bahn. In 1884, after the closure of nearby Hamburger Bahnhof (Hamburg Station), Lehrter Bahnhof became the terminus for trains to and from Hamburg.

Wien Hauptbahnhof

Wien Hauptbahnhof (German for "Vienna Main station"; also referred to in English as "Vienna Hauptbahnhof") is the main railway station in Vienna, Austria, located in the Favoriten district.

Wien Hauptbahnhof has replaced the Wien Südbahnhof terminus with a through station linking four major railway lines converging on Vienna from the North, East, West and South. The new station offers significantly improved, principally international, connectivity. By moving the main access to Südtiroler Platz, the new station is better connected to the Vienna U-Bahn system, and is also accessible by Vienna S-Bahn, tram and bus lines. The Südtiroler Platz S-Bahn station was renamed Wien Hbf (platforms 1 and 2) in December 2012.

Timeframe

The city council agreed to build the station 15 December 2006. Construction began in June 2007, starting with preliminary works such as the remodelling of the S-Bahn station Südtiroler Platz. In 2008, the S-Bahn and the U-Bahn stations at Südtiroler Platz were connected with each other and Südbahnhof was demolished.