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Content

Preface

In the summer of 2007, I published the paperback Cathedral of the Winged Wheel and Sugar Beet Station, which contained short stories, interesting facts, and anecdotes about 200 railway stations worldwide. With the passage of time, I collected more anecdotes and published an own volume for non-European stations (Der Lebkuchenbahnhof am Ende der Welt) at the end of 2008.

Later, more stories were added, and, therefore, in summer 2009, I published anecdotes about American stations in a third paperback (Grand Central Terminal and Pampa Station). In autumn 2009, the anecdotes about European stations (Winged Wheel Cathedral and Sugar Beet Station) were published in a fourth volume.

With this fifth volume on railway stations in the Alpine countries, the series - with a total of 1001 station stories—is now complete.

The newly added stations to the sixth edition of this volume are marked with a diamond. These are stations in Carinthia (Villach, Velden, Pörtschach) and East Tyrol (Lienz, Huben). The present book thus contains anecdotes and facts about (at least) 111 stations in Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and South Tyrol. The book will be updated approximately every two years. Hints for further interesting stories, anecdotes, and facts about railway stations are therefore always welcome.

I would like to thank Hubert Riedle (Bern), Jörg Berkes (Langen), and Andreas Schiefer (Vienna) for their comments and suggestions for corrections. A special thanks to Nick Snipes (Berlin) who reviewed the machine translation of the text.

1. Railway stations in Austria

1.1 Vienna

Generally, Austria's cities were less heavily bombed during the war than the German cities. Yet, several stations were destroyed, including those in Innsbruck, Graz, and Linz. Although the war damage was not severe at all Vienna stations, most of them were replaced by new buildings. And as in Berlin, the phantom pain from the loss of the historic stations was sublimated by the project of a new central station. As a result of the long isolation caused by the Iron Curtain, which ran a few kilometers east of Vienna, the Westbahnhof was, for a long time, the most important railway station in Vienna. This station, which opened in 1858, was gutted by a fire in 1945 and was torn down in 1949. Eventually, a new building was opened in 1952. In 1995, when Austria joined the EU, the station square became Europe Place, and fifteen flagpoles were erected in front of the station. However, there were later twenty-seven (twenty-eight) EU member states. The masts were also obsolete for another reason: because of a constructional error, hoisted flags would have wrapped themselves around the masts (which were too close together) due to air turbulence. With the reconstruction of the Westbahnhof, the masts have disappeared.

The Viennese actor and cabaret artist Helmut Qualtinger (1928-1986) managed to launch a newspaper hoax in summer 1951. The fake story announced the visit to Vienna of the famous Eskimo poet Kobuk. Several reporters waited for the author of The Burning Igloo on July 3, 1951, in the Vienna Westbahnhof. Instead of the Eskimo, Helmut Qualtinger, with fur coat and cap, got off the train. When a radio reporter asked him about his first impression of Vienna, he answered, “Haaß is” (“It is hot”).

On October 19, 2011, the first “Happiness Station” of the ice cream brand Eskimo opened at Vienna Westbahnhof. So now there is an “Eskimo at Westbahnhof” again.

The once magnificent old Vienna Südbahnhof was replaced after the war by a faceless new building. Helmut Qualtinger said, “that the Südbahnhof ensures that everyone arriving in Vienna experiences Vienna as it was in 1945.” The sculpture of the winged Markus lion (the symbol of Venice), which was saved from its predecessor, was located in the sober station concourse and was reminiscent of the time when the lagoon city was “still part of Austria.” Travellers and visitors met in the station “at the lion.” At the beginning of 2010, the station building of the Südbahnhof was demolished to make room for the new Vienna Central Station.

In the past, the Südbahnhof was considered rather difficult to reach within Vienna. The Austrian writer Karl Kraus (1874-1936) once said, “Egypt would not be so far away. But until you get to the Südbahnhof…”

The writer Heimito von Doderer once described the Franz-Josefs railway station as “the Bohemian railway station in Vienna.” From here, trains went to the Bohemian spa triangle, and Bohemian beer from Pilsen arrived here. A Prague architect also designed the station, which was built in the historic Ringstrasse style in 1872.

The Franz-Josefs railway station was only slightly destroyed during the Second World War and was the only one of the large Viennese stations to resume operations immediately after the war. However, due to a lack of investment and neglect, the station gradually went downhill in the following years. Eventually, the station became the victim of modernisation mania and profit interests. The railway was to be placed underground, and four high-rise buildings were to be erected over the station. Finally, these plans were trimmed down to a glass façade complex, only 28 metres high, called "Kristall" or “Giant of Alsergrund.” It houses a computer centre of a major bank, a business university, and university institutes. As commercial interests took precedence over passenger needs in the construction of the building, access to the station was difficult to find. For a long time, the saying “Only the initiated know how to find the entrance” was therefore valid. Today, the station name can even be read twice at the entrance.

Because the station provided a historical backdrop and the weak traffic did not interfere much with the filming, the old Franz-Josefs station became the backdrop for several film shots before its demolition. Its old signal box 1, a relic from the time of its construction, bore the inscription “Smolensk” in the 1959 film The Good Soldier Svejk. The signal box was surrounded by artificial sunflowers for the filming. In 1967, the film Mayerling starring Omar Sharif as Crown Prince Rudolf was shot in the station concourse. A rich decoration with flags of Great Britain and the Imperial and Royal Monarchy covered the deteriorating state of the station concourse.

The old Nordbahnhof, built in the year 1865, was once the most important station in Vienna. After seeing it, Archduke Ludwig shook his head and said: "Very nice, but far too big for Vienna.” For the imperial court, there was a luxurious waiting room decorated with valuable paintings. Trains to Brno, Krakow, and Lviv once departed from Nordbahnhof. Joseph Roth (1894-1939), who came from a Galician shtetl (small village), once said that “the aroma of the homeland still wafts through the North Station,” and that it “represents an open gate for the return journey.”

The old Northern Station of Vienna (Nordbahnhof, postcard)

Later Roth wrote that “I could sit at home for years and be satisfied. If only the stations weren't there.” The Nordbahnhof was the starting point of the Kaiser-Ferdinand-Nordbahn (KFNB), the first steam railway in Austria. In the beginning, because there were many accidents with fatal consequences, the Nordbahnhof was soon nicknamed “Murder Railway.” However, the saying “punctual like the North Railway” also existed Additionally, due to the moderate offerings in the dining cars, the abbreviation KFNB was interpreted by the population as “Kein Fleisch, nur Brot” (no meat, only bread).

The decline of the Nordbahnhof

With its Tuscan-Moorish style mix, the Nordbahnhof was the style model for various imperial and royal stations, such as the one in Czernowitz. During the Second World War, the North Station was damaged but could have been preserved. However, like other Viennese railway stations, it was left to decay. Finally, in 1965, it was blown up. Today, the nearby Praterstern station is considered the successor of the Nordbahnhof, but only a few long-distance trains leave from this station.

Vienna Mitte (Centre)

One station further south from Praterstern on the main S-Bahn line is the station Wien Mitte, which was originally called Wien Hauptzollamt and later Wien Landstraße. The Vienna Main Customs Office was built in 1859 on the site of a filled basin of the Wiener Neustadt Canal. Around 1975, there were plans to have long-distance trains stop at the station, so it was renamed from Wien Landstraße to Wien Mitte. Although long-distance trains still do not stop here, with the implementation of the underground connection in 1978, the station became an important transport hub. With 60,000 passengers, Wien Mitte is the third busiest station in Austria (if you add the subway). However, the station complex, which was built in 1962, has been suffering from the ravages of time over the past decades. The station was increasingly considered a “blot on Vienna's reputation.” In 1999, a new construction of the station area was planned, including the high-rise project Wien Mitte, with office towers almost 100 m high. This project was abandoned in the meantime. The old railway station complex, which Mayor Häupl called Ratzenstadl (rat hole), has meanwhile been demolished. In its place, a new building complex with offices, shops, and a hotel was built.

Vienna Meidling

Surprisingly, Vienna Meidling is today the second busiest railway station in Austria. From December 2009 to 2015, it was even in the first place, since it took over the functions of the Südbahnhof, which was undergoing reconstruction. Meidling even still had a station building dating from 1841, but this was demolished in recent years. During the Austrian Civil War of 1934, the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) occupied the station. The police were only able to recapture the station with the help of the Austrian Armed Forces, which used an armoured train.

The Aspang railway station

The Aspang railway station was considered one of the places of fate for Vienna and Austria. In 1881, it was built on a filled up Vienna harbour basin. From 1939, the station was the starting point for the deportation of the Jewish citizens of Vienna. On 8 May 1995, the 40th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, a memorial stone with the following inscription was unveiled at the Platz der Opfer der Deportation (Place of Deportation of Victims):

IN THE YEARS 1939-1942, TENS OF THOUSANDS OF AUSTRIAN JEWS WERE TAKEN FROM THE FORMER ASPANG STATION, TRANSPORTED TO EXTERMINATION CAMPS, AND NEVER RETURNED.

In 1971, the station was shut down, and in 1977, it was demolished. Since then, an undeveloped area has been located at the former site. However, the Eurogate project is to be implemented here in the future.

Hütteldorf and Otto Wagner

Otto Wagner (1841-1918) was the most important art nouveau architect of Vienna and was also important as a station builder. For example, the station Wien-Hütteldorf, built in 1898, was designed by Otto Wagner. Like other Wagner transport buildings, it is characterised by well-proportioned, harmoniously coordinated details and timeless aesthetics. Earlier, the station was called Hütteldorf-Hacking, which is still visible on the façade of the building. Additionally, Wagner had built two villas in Hütteldorf, where he also lived temporarily.

Heiligenstadt and Otto Wagner

Otto Wagner also influenced the architecture of the stations of the tangential suburban line Hüttelstadt-Heiligenstadt. However, several stations were demolished or rebuilt in a different style in the post-war period. The Ottakring, Hernals, and Gersthof stations are still preserved in the Otto Wagner architectural style. In Heiligenstadt, the endpoint of the suburban line, elements of Wagner architecture are still preserved.

Vienna Floridsdorf