History
The planning of a railway line in the Tyrolean region began in 1850. Three years later, Emperor Franz Joseph I approved the route from Innsbruck to Wörgl, and a year later its continuation to the border at Kufstein. Franz Czwerwenka, head of the civil construction department, designed the station, which included one of the most beautiful station buildings in the Austrian Empire.
With the opening of the line between Kufstein and Innsbruck, the station was put into operation. It was then still in the midst of meadows and fields. The station assumed greater importance with the commissioning of the Brenner railway (then part of the Südbahn) in 1867, and the Arlberg railway in 1883, for which the Innsbruck West railway station was created. By the 1880s, due to the heavy train traffic over the Brenner Pass, the station had become too small, so the station building and the train shed were rebuilt.
On 1 January 1924, the ÖBB took over the Austrian lines of the Südbahngesellschaft. In 1927, the station was therefore adapted to increased traffic, and rebuilt. The departure hall was frescoed by Rudolf Stolz, platforms were connected with pedestrian underpasses, and cheaper platform roofs replaced the train shed. At the same time, the Operations Directorate was housed in the "Clock Tower Building" (so called because of a small clock tower at the top), which was located in the north wing, and still exists today.
At the end of World War II, the station was completely destroyed by Allied bombing. An ÖBB architect later combined various designs of well known architects to create a plain, functional replacement station building in the style of the 1950s. In 1954, the Austrian artist Max Weiler was awarded the contract for the design of the large departure hall, which became controversial because of the abstract representation of Innsbruck's history and present displayed in its pair of murals.
During the 1980s, the station received minor alterations, but by then was no longer up to date. As part of its Bahnhofsoffensive launched in 1997, the ÖBB therefore decided to construct a replacement station building.
The new structure was designed by the architects Riegler Riewe. Its groundbreaking ceremony took place in 2001, and the official opening was on 19 May 2004. The rebuilding project included the renovation of the 1920s clock tower building, which now houses a police station, amongst other things. The total construction costs for the project amounted to €25 million.
Read more about this topic: Innsbruck Central Station
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