Select your language

Level X / Volume 5

Positions on Transport, Technology, Innovation

Really? Advent again?


Almost exactly one year has passed since we met for the editorial meeting for the first issue of Level X, It was to be published under the title “Light at the End of the Tunnel” right at the beginning of the year. 

Tunnel hoch
In view of the situation last January, that seemed a bit inappropriate, and so you finally received the first issue in March. Since then, eventful months have passed, we are already holding the fifth issue of our micro-magazine in our hands and we realise: this year went by incredibly fast. Christmas is just around the corner and the turn of the year is not far away. Reason enough for us to bring you entertaining stories about the last days of Südbahnhof, some spectacular railway stations and a few Christmas tips with a railway connection.

On the occasion of the first year of Level X, I look forward to your feedback, suggestions for new stories or critical comments.
Send us your message to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

As always, I hope you enjoy reading this issue, wish you a reflective Advent, merry Christmas in the company of your loved ones and a brilliant start into a successful year 2022.

Laurenz Trunner
and the EBE Solutions team

 

The Christmas crib in the ticket hall of the Südbahnhof, © Didi Sattmann/Wien Museum


The last hours at the southern terminal

12 December 2009:

the last day of operation of the southern station


On 12 December 2009, the last day of operation of the Südbahnhof, the atmosphere was exuberant. Hundreds of Viennese celebrated the farewell of a station that – although by now quite run-down – had become a place of arrival and longing for many. Whether students arriving in Vienna from the southern provinces, guest workers from the former Yugoslavia and Turkey or simply families returning from a holiday or day trip: They had all become all too familiar with the ticket hall with its terracotta floors, the ticking "eyes" of the art installation above the escalators and the Markus Lion in front of the ticket offices. And of course the life-size Christmas crib that was placed in the ticket hall every year. All that now had to give way. And so they celebrated a nostalgic farewell and applauded the last train leaving the building, which was built in 1956, in the direction of Mürzzuschlag at 11.59 pm.

After that, everything went quickly, because demolition began the very next day. Before that, however, museums and institutions secured relics of the station, because the Südbahnhof was not to be completely forgotten. The large lettering went to the Wien Museum, where it was later mounted above the entrance on the occasion of an exhibition. And there it caused confusion again and again: tourists came to the museum to buy train tickets.


VTS 3

VTS 2Farewell party on 12 December 2009 Photos: Didi Sattmann/Wien Museum

The lettering above the entrance to the Wien Museum Photo: Herta Hurnaus/Wien Museum


Spectacular railway stations

Places of new departure


Ever since the first railway stations opened (the oldest still in operation is Liverpool Road Station in Manchester, opened in 1830), they have served as prestigious flagships for the railway lines – and later for the cities.


At the time when the new main station was built in Vienna as part of the ÖBB’s station initiative, spectacular new buildings were also being built elsewhere in Europe.

Lwow Lemberg Gowny dworzec Bahnhof© Roman Boensch/ÖBB

Hauptbahnhof Vienna, 2014

The interior design of the main station was aimed at enhancing the subjective feeling of security. Continuous daylight openings from the platform to the underground car park create a pleasant atmosphere.

Lwow Lemberg Gowny dworzec Bahnhof© Sjaak Kempe/WikimediaCommons

Rotterdam Centraal Station, 2014

The old station building from 1957 was closed in 2007. It was the first major Dutch station of the post-war period to make way for a new station project. The new Centraal Station opened in 2014.

Lwow Lemberg Gowny dworzec Bahnhof© piqsels.com

Reggio Emilia AV Mediopadana, 2013

Also designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the station is characterised by its futuristic design. A 483-metre-long sequence of various steel portals resembles a dynamic wave.

Lwow Lemberg Gowny dworzec Bahnhof© Michiel Verbeek/WikimediaCommons

Liège-Guillemins, Lüttich, 2009

The station by architect Santiago Calatrava is dominated by a canopy 200 m long and 35 m high. It has no external façade in the conventional sense; the transition from inside to outside is seamless.

Lwow Lemberg Gowny dworzec Bahnhof© Fabrizio Pivari/WikimediaCommons

Neapel-Afragola, 2017

In 2003, Zaha Hadid was commissioned to design the station, which was scheduled to open in 2009. Due to various construction delays, it was only opened in 2017; Hadid had passed away the year before.

 

Book tips for Christmals


Whether as a gift for dear colleagues or to browse through yourself on long winter evenings: These railway-related books are ideal Christmas gifts.



Since most of our book tips are published in German, we have not translated the reviews.
krippe detail

Martin Weltner
Bahnhöfe der Welt

Spektakuläre Hauptbahnhöfe & erstaunliche Provinzstationen

Die Spannweite der gezeigten Bahnhöfe reicht von den »Kathedralen der industriellen Revolution« bis zu romantischen Nebenbahn-Stationen. Die großen Aufnahmen zeigen die meist spektakulären Bauten mit ihren vielen Details – oder die Schönheit der kleinen Stationen. Eine abwechslungsreiche Tour durch fünf Kontinente! Mit vielen Luftbildern.

GeraMond Verlag, 2020
Gebundene Ausgabe: 192 Seiten, Deutsch
ISBN 978-396453083
€ 41,20 Online ordern

krippe detail

Karl Zellhofer, Martin Zellhofer
Verschwundene Eisenbahnen im Weinviertel


Überall im Weinviertel finden sich heute noch Spuren des früher so bedeutsamen Verkehrsmittels: verfallende Bahnhöfe, überwachsene Gleisanlagen, Bahndämme ohne Schienen, bedeutungslose Brücken, Lagerhäuser ohne Gleisanschluss oder geschlossene Bahnhofswirtshäuser. Dieses Buch dokumentiert diese Reste, bevor sie ganz verschwinden, und lässt Menschen zu Wort kommen, die im Eisenbahnbetrieb tätig waren.


Edition Winkler-Hermaden, 2018
Gebundene Ausgabe: 120 Seiten, Deutsch
ISBN 978-3950447552
€ 19,90 Online ordern

krippe detail

Wolfgang Kos
Der Semmering

Eine exzentrische Landschaft

Als erste Gebirgsbahn stellt die 1854 eröffnete Strecke über den Semmering ein technisches und ästhetisches Monument von Weltrang dar. Ein entlegenes Gebiet wurde zur Bühne effektvoller Landschaftsinszenierungen, der Semmering zur Elitemarke des mitteleuropäischen Tourismus.

Der Kulturhistoriker Wolfgang Kos erzählt die konfliktreiche Geschichte einer exzentrischen Landschaft, eine spannende Reise durch die Jahrhunderte..


Residenz Verlag, 20210
Gebundene Ausgabe: 384 Seiten, Deutsch
ISBN 978-3701735075
€ 39,90 Online ordern


krippe detail


Tom Koch
Mid-Century Vienna

Auf den Spuren des Aufbruchs

Wer dem Flair des alten Südbahnhofes etwas abgewinnen kann, kommt bei diesen Buch auf seine /ihre Kosten: Der Grafiker von Level X, Tom Koch, begibt sich mit dem Fotografen Stephan Doleschal auf die Suche nach der Hinterlassenschaft der 1950er und 1960er Jahre und zeigt anhand von unbekannten oder wenig beachteten Orten: Die Zeit der Wirtschaftswunderjahre umgibt uns auch heute noch allerorts.

Falter Verlag, 2021
Gebundene Ausgabe: 240 Seiten, Deutsch/Englisch
ISBN 978-3854397014
€ 29,90 Online ordern

 
 

Office Vienna
Rautenweg 14
1220 Vienna, Austria
T +43 1 865 76 00
F +43 1 865 76 00 - 95