Copenhagen Central Station

Copenhagen Central Station

Copenhagen Central Station or in Danish: Københavns Hovedbanegård. The station is abbreviated København H, colloquially usually referred to as Hovedbanegården or simply Hovedbanen, it is the main railway station in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the largest railway station in Denmark. With more than 100,000 travellers every day, it is the second busiest station in Denmark after Nørreport station. It is located in central Copenhagen, situated between the districts of Indre By and Vesterbro with entrances from Bernstorffsgade (opposite Tivoli Gardens), Banegårdspladsen, Reventlowsgade and access to platforms from Tietgensgade.

Copenhagen Central Station is the hub of the DSB railway network serving Denmark and international destinations. It offers International Train services to Sweden and Germany, InterCity and Express train services across Denmark, regular and frequent regional train services to and from Zealand and southern Sweden (also referred to as Øresund trains), commuter rail services of the Copenhagen S-train network across the Greater Copenhagen area, as well as lines M3 (City Circle Line) & M4 of the Copenhagen Metro network.

The first station in Copenhagen opened in 1847. The current station building opened in 1911 and is the work of architect Heinrich Wenck. The station has 7 platforms and 13 tracks. On the station concourse there are many small shops, restaurants, cafés, and fast food outlets.

Copenhagen Central Station Location

The central station is located in the centre of Copenhagen, on the south-eastern perimeter of the historic old town, between the city districts of Indre By and Vesterbro. The station complex is bounded by the streets Bernstorffsgade, Banegårdspladsen, Reventlowsgade and Tietgensgade, the latter of which crosses the station throat on Tietgensbroen (the Tietgen's Bridge). One of the main arteries of Copenhagen, Vesterbrogade, crosses the railway tracks a short distance to the north of the station.

The station is situated in a dense urban environment, To the east, it is immediately adjacent to the inner-city amusement park Tivoli Gardens. To the north, opposite the main portal on Banegårdspladsen, stands the Liberty Memorial in Vesterbrogade, erected in 1797 to commemorate the abolition of serfdom in Denmark. Banegårdspladsen is surrounded by the historic hotels Hotel Plaza, Hotel Astoria from 1935, and Hotel Royal from 1960, designed by Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen. To the west of the station starts Istedgade, which developed into an entertainment, and red light district after the station opened, but has undergone a partial gentrification process in later years.

The station building has entrances from Bernstorffsgade, Banegårdspladsen and Reventlowsgade, and the platforms have direct access via stairs from Tietgensbroen. The underground metro station can be accessed directly from the platforms by an underpass under the tracks but also has its own, separate entrance in Stampesgade outside the station complex.

Copenhagen Central Station History

Copenhagen's First Station

The first railway station in Copenhagen was constructed on behalf of Det sjællandske Jernbaneselskab (The Zealand Railway Company) to serve as the eastern terminal station of the new Copenhagen–Roskilde railway line from Copenhagen to Roskilde, the first railway line in the Kingdom of Denmark. The station was ceremonially opened by King Christian VIII amid great festivities on 26 June 1847 along with the railway line, which was prolonged from Roskilde to the port city of Korsør by the Great Belt in 1856. For the opening the Danish composer Hans Christian Lumbye composed the still popular Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop, a musical composition which faithfully recreates the sounds of a train chugging out of a station and grinding to a halt at the next stop. The Danish author Hans Christian Andersen was also very enthusiastic about the first railway and wrote that driving a train was like flying.

The station was located at the site of Dronningens Enghave (the Queen's Meadow Garden), a former royal pleasure garden located just outside the Vesterport (Western Gate) city gate of Copenhagen. The first station was located approximately at the site of the current station, but the tracks were perpendicular to their current direction, as the railway line then left the city along the current streets Halmtorvet and Sønder Boulevard. The station building was constructed of wood as it was built outside the city's fortifications within the demarcation line, a no-build zone outside the ramparts where brick buildings were not allowed for military reasons. In case of war, the army should be able to burn buildings in the firing range outside the ramparts.

This railway station and the still existing Roskilde station (which is built in brick) are both linked to a largely unknown architect named L.F. Meyer (or Meier). But it has also been suggested that the railway station in Copenhagen should be attributed to the architect Harald Conrad Stilling, as there are strong similarities between the railway station and Stilling's roller coaster in the amusement park Tivoli Gardens. Both buildings are characterized by Italian rural architecture, and Stilling was one of the most well-versed architects of this Italian style, just as he had insight into wood construction from his assignments at Tivoli. For both station buildings, a motif with two towers without spires is a central part of the composition (the towers at Roskilde station were crowned by a balustrade until 1873, when they were covered by pyramid roofs).

The First Station Building was Demolished in 1865.

Copenhagen's Second Station

In the 1860s, there were several plans to expand the railway network in Denmark, and in particular to connect a northbound line to North Zealand with the existing westbound line to Roskilde and the rest of Zealand. As a consequence, an expansion of the old station became necessary. A proposal to build a new station close to the old Nørreport (Northern Gate) city gate was abandoned due to opposition from the Rigsdag, Denmark's parliament. In the end, it was decided to replace the old station and build a new larger station near the location of the old one. The construction started in 1863 and the station opened on 14 October 1864. As planned, the new railway station was also to service the new northbound railway lines that opened the year before, the North Line to Hillerød and Elsinore and its branch line, the Klampenborg Line to Klampenborg.

The new railway station was located a little north of the location of the old one, on the other side of Vesterbrogade. The station building was located approximately where the Palads Cinema and Axelborg lie today, but it was part of a larger facility, as there was a freight station in the same area. Together with track areas, depots, and turntables, the station area filled virtually the entire area, which today lies between Axeltorv, Gyldenløvesgade and Vester Søgade. As traffic increased, several additional smaller station buildings gradually opened in the station area. A separate station called the Klampenborg station for the Klampenborg Line had opened already in 1863. In 1887, a significant expansion of the area took place as a new separate station called the Klampenborg station opened for the Klampenborg Line, and the name of the old Klampenborg station was changed to the North station. And in 1896 a separate station for trains to Holte on the North Line, the Holte station, was opened just to the north of the North station.

The station building was designed by the architect Johan Daniel Herholdt in the Rundbogenstil that now became popular in the architecture of the Germanic world. After the dismantling of fortifications of Copenhagen and the abandonment of the demarcation line in 1856, the building could be constructed in red brick. It consisted of two 25-span buildings connected by a wooden arch crowned by a large slate roof. Four tracks passed through the hall. The departure side was by the current Axeltorv, and on this side there were offices, luggage expedition and waiting rooms. The waiting rooms were divided into 1st, 2nd and 3rd class. Further on there was a royal waiting room and then toilets. As the volume of traffic increased, a special freight forwarding building was added.

In the long run, however, this second station also became too cramped, especially because it was a terminal station with only one track leading out of the city which had to cross the lakes of Copenhagen on a narrow dam along Gyldenløvesgade. On the other side of the lakes, the track split in two: to the west via Frederiksberg station to Roskilde and Frederikssund and to the north via Nørrebro station and Hellerup station to Hillerød, Helsingør and Klampenborg. The tracks are long gone, but large sections can still easily be seen in the street network. The large Nørrebro Park and the Superkilen public park in Nørrebro are located on the grounds of the former Nørrebro Station. Matters were made worse from the fact that the tracks had several level crossings on the way out of the city, which with the steadily increasing train traffic led to frequent blockages for the equally steadily increasing road traffic when the barriers were down.

Copenhagen Central Station Overview

Copenhagen Central Station Location:
Banegårdspladsen 7
1570 Copenhagen V
Copenhagen Municipality
Denmark
Copenhagen Central Station Coordinates: 55°40′22″N 12°33′52″E
Copenhagen Central Station Elevation: 3 m (9.8 ft) above sea level
Copenhagen Central Station Owned By: DSB
Copenhagen Central Station Operated By: DSB
Copenhagen Central Station Platforms: 7 (island platforms including Metro, 1 long-distance)
Copenhagen Central Station Tracks: 15 (9 InterCity/Regional/International, 4 S-train, 2 Metro)
Copenhagen Central Station Bus Routes: Bus interchange 11, 23, 26, 34, 37, 68, 2A, 7A, 5C, 250S, 93N, 97N
Copenhagen Central Station Platform Levels: 2
Copenhagen Central Station Architect: Heinrich Wenck
Copenhagen Central Station Station Code: Kh
Copenhagen Central Station Fare Zone: 1
Copenhagen Central Station Opened: 1 December 1911, 112 years ago
Copenhagen Central Station Rebuilt: 15 May 1934 (S-train)
Copenhagen Central Station Electrified: 1934 (S-train), 1986 (Mainline)
Copenhagen Central Station Coordinates: 55°40′22″N 12°33′52″E