This is the longer side front of Chemnitz Central Station along Bahnhofstraße. You can see the shorter main front at the right edge of the building within the detail image section.
The history of Chemnitz HBF
Chemnitz has been connected to the railway network since the middle of the 19th century. The first railway station was built in 1852 with the Riesa – Chemnitz railway line. Chemnitz also lies on the Saxon main line Dresden-Werdau and on other lines to Adorf, Neukieritzsch, Hainichen, Limbach, Stollberg and Wechselburg. With the rapid growth of railway traffic in the 19th century, the first building quickly became too small and as early as 1872 the present main station was built in the style of historicism and neo-Renaissance. In 1907, a modern platform hall in neo-Renaissance style was added in an industrial steel and glass construction. After war damage and wear and tear, this was demolished in 1972 and replaced by a modern new platform hall by 1976, which can be seen here on the left edge of the picture (after renewed renovation in 2008).
The Chemnitzer Model
The 2008 redevelopment introduced the Chemnitz Model of public transport, which allows trams to travel directly from the centre of Chemnitz into the surrounding cities. For this purpose, the interface between the tram and rail networks was set up on tracks 1-4. For the tram to enter Chemnitz main station directly, a breakthrough in the platform building was necessary, which can be seen here on the left edge of the picture. The Chemnitz Modelss lines run to Stollberg/Erzgebirge, Thalheim, Annaberg-Buchholz, Hainichen, Mittweida, Burgstädt and Olbernhau, among others.
