Vienna’s main railway station

35 comments
  1. I was there only 10h ago. It’s one of those architectural concepts that only work from a bird’s eye perspective, because that’s what architects use to sell their ideas (as styrofoam models). When you’re on the train platforms, you don’t even notice the roof.

  2. Wow, I went in and out of this station for hundreds of times but never realized that the roof has this delicate structure.

  3. Ironically, the main railyway station (Hauptbahnhof) has a worse public transport connection than other stations. The Spittelau and Westbahnhof train stations all have two subways connecting to it, while Hauptbahnhof only has one.

  4. This is where train from Budapest arrives so I’ve been here countless times. It really is one of the best stations I’ve ever been to. Also those glass highrises look really cool when you exit the station, especially at sunsetthey sometimes have this burning orange tint to them, awesome sight.

  5. As a Viennese resident I can’t believe how much they fucked up this station.

    You actually can’t see the architecture from any point, the station was supposed to be somewhat free standing but those plans were changed and now it’s surrounded by high buildings completely blocking the view.

    The train station feels claustrophobic because of really low ceilings inside, it’s hard to navigate because of multiple levels at odd angles and not enough stairs and elevators. Getting information about departing trains is hard too (but maybe that’s not the main purpose of a train station).

    Also it could have been connected to the metro that was being built at the same time as the station. But the city of Vienna builds the metro and the Austrian government builds the station and they didn’t bother to exchange notes.

    If I was a bird, I would maybe enjoy this station. As a commuter it’s shit.

  6. Brace for the Viennese coming and telling you how awful one of the most livable cities in the world is.

  7. Fancy looking station and lovely buildings surrounding it. Just such a shame that they can’t help but put roads between the stations and the surrounding buildings… So sad!

    No really, [what purpose do any of the roads in this area serve?](https://ibb.co/SvR0P0m). It is such a shame as they could have created a really nice pedestrian focused area around the station.

  8. Beautiful and efficient city but IMHO it is the most boring city I have ever been. There is no buzz to the place. I’ve been with a group of friends and the gf and felt the same both times. Is that a common opinion or was it just not suited to me?

  9. With 268,000 daily commuters it is Austria’s busiest long-distance railway station. Aside from being voted “Austria’s most beautiful railway station” (six times in total; five years in a row), it was also second in Consumer Choice Center’s ranking of “Top 10 Railway Stations for Passenger Convenience in Europe”

  10. Expensive as hell parking. Three or four years ago I managed to park in that over-ground parking that one can see in the upper left-corner of the photo, 5 euros per day, it was a steal.

    I come back to Vienna after a couple of years for a quick afternoon visit on our way back to Bucharest and I also search for that cheap parking, only to find out that it was gone. So I do the next best thing and use the underground railway-station parking, “how expensive can it be?”, I confidently say to myself. Four or five hours later I find out that I’m 20 or 25 euros (can’t remember the exact sum) poorer because of that parking.

  11. A bit off topic, I notice it takes you 7 hours 30 minutes to go from Vienna to Berlin on the train, while it is only 1:15 flying.

  12. This would be impossible in Spain. We simply *have to* spend millions and millions of euros putting everything underground.

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