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Underground rail system opens in Leipzig
And an historical footnote: prior to WW2 the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof was the single busiest terminal in Germany. Mostly rebuilt after the war by the GDR, it was an impressively busy place when visited in the autumn of 1990.
Now this is what Penn Station could be!
Now this is what Penn Station could be!
Overhead conductor rail is an interesting choice. Anybody know the rationale?
Methinks Penn Station is that already. We do need the two additional Hudson River tunnels, but not for a ‘Train to Nowhere’, ten stories under the city, connecting with nothing. Gov. Christie got that right! I hope he escapes the politics of “Bridgegate”, and loses a few deca-pounders, too. 15 deca-pounders would be nice…
Mr. LARSON, Leipzig Hauptbahnhof was rebuilt once again after the demise of the GDR. OK, it still looks impressive today, perhaps even more than it did back in 1990, but it became rather a shopping mall (albeit still with commuter and intercity rail connections) than a terminal, mostly due to the decline of rail travel after 1990. They took away several tracks under the trainshed and replaced them with such different things as a monument for the Jews of Leipzig murdered by the Nazis and an exibition of historic locos, but notably indoor auto parking structures. In fact, when I visited Leipzig Hauptbahnhof recently, it reminded me of some of those once-proud U.S. “Union Stations” completely or partly converted into hotels, shopping malls and so on.
$430 million per mile
Herr Schulze: Vielen danke was ihr sagen zuruck zu mir. Aber mine Deutsche ist schrekliche…so, es tut mir lied zu horen das bahnhof wird ein kaufhaus sein.
Ja!
Spent an afternoon snooping around Leipziger Hauptbahnhof in ‘87, while on a DDR-reise tracing family roots. No shopping mall back then of course, but the place sure had the authentic grime and smells of a big-city rail terminal. Neon ad signs pierced the gloom, flashing the logos of Robotron, Germed and communist East Germany’s other big state-owned enterprises. Smiling faces were few in the workers’ paradise. But you’d find them among the comrades on the DDR Reichsbahn; they seemed like a happy bunch. Leipzig’s enormous trainshed reminded me of Phila.'s RDG Terminal before its conversion into the Penna. Convention Center.
The only compelling advantage I can think of for the conductor rail vs. catenary is that it’s pretty hard to snag/pull down the rail, so there’s less chance of catenary failure in the tunnels. If they plan to use the tunnels at high speed, the extra stiffness of the rail might pay off in simplifying the overhead structure, but that seems unlikely on a line with a bunch of stations on it through the middle of a major city.
As always, I could be wrong.