Currently, the project Central Railway Station Vienna is the most important infrastructure measurements and mega construction site of the Austrian capital and stretches across almost 11,000 acres. On the site of the former Southern Railway Station (Südbahnhof), a completely new city district will be developed and not only an important junction of the Trans-European railroad network. The adjacent BahnhofCity will house shops, restaurants, hotels and offices. An 800 acre park, 5,000 flats as well as kindergartens and schools will be developed within the immediate vicinity.
The Southern Railway Station is being demolished since January 2010. Simultaneously, work has already begun at the Central Railway Station with up to 400 workers and up to 100 building machines in action. In December 2012, this transport depot will see its partial commissioning. The entire project is to complete by 2015 and then will serve as the central hub for 1,000 trains and 145,000 people per day.
An information centre has been established at the fringes of this construction site to inform all neighbours and those interested about this project of the century where ALPINE is also involved as a consortium partner. Bahnorama allows an insight into construction activities and an outlook on the completion of the new central railway station. In addition to this exhibition, various events are planned as well as a coffee bar. The opening will be on August 19, 2010.
The wooden look-out is, without a doubt, the highlight of the information centre. With 66.72 m it is Europe’s highest accessible wooden tower. It has been constructed in March already. The prefabricated modules of 15 metres each have been lifted and mounted by using a 400-ton crane with a 70-metre pivot arm. Not such an easy task in the densely built-up urban area.
The material used was domestic, untreated spruce wood. Wood is an environmentally friendly raw material and easy to assemble and disassemble. However, implementing the vision of a wooden tower in the real world was not always easy: “When we have initially asked stress analysts they just told us to forget about it and use steel”, Hans Schartner of RAHM Architects tells in an interview. “However, we eventually did find a stress analyst and a master carpenter in a single person: Ing. Hans Matzinger. He encouraged us that it was possible to develop a wooden construction that meets today’s safety standards. He brought a book on high seats for hunters to our initial meeting.” So, you are dead centre if you think of an urban high seat when viewing the look-out at the future central railway station. Anybody may “hunt” the city from that vantage point: Two panoramic elevators make an exciting outlook possible for the less than sporty too.
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