Bolzano/Bozen railway station (IATA: BZQ) (Italian: Stazione di Bolzano, German: Bozen Bahnhof) is the main station of Bolzano/Bozen, capital of the autonomous province of Alto Adige/Südtirol, in northeastern Italy.
The station was opened in 1859 by the Austrian Empire's Südbahn. It is located on the trans-Alpine Brenner Railway and a terminus of a branch line to Merano/Meran (County of Tirol's former capital), which continues to become Vinschgau Railway Merano/Meran-Malles/Mals.
Bolzano/Bozen railway station is situated at Piazza della Stazione / Bahnhofplatz, at the southeastern edge of the city centre and a short, 5-minute walk away.
History
The station was opened on 16 May 1859, upon the completion of the Trento-Bolzano/Bozen section of the Brenner Railway. It was known as Bozen-Gries Bahnhof. The passenger building was designed by the Bozner architect Sebastian Altmann.
County of Tyrol
In 1864, construction began on the final section of the Brenner Railway between Bolzano/Bozen and Innsbruck. This section was completed on 24 August 1867.
In 1871, rail services in the area were enhanced by the inauguration of the Puster Valley Railway (Pustertalbahn), which connected Bolzano/Bozen directly to Maribor/Marburg in today's Slovenia through San Candido/Innichen and Lienz. Train services today require three changes at Bressanone/Brixen, Lienz and Graz and are separately operated by Trenitalia, Südtirol Bahn, ÖBB and Slovenian Railways (SZ).
In 1881, a third railway line, Vinschgau Railway, joined the Bolzano/Bozen station through Merano/Meran, County of Tyrol's capital city. In order to cater for frequent holiday makers, it was extended in 1906 from Merano to Malles/Mals.
From 1927 to 1929, the station building was replaced by one in the style of Italy's fascist regime. It was designed by the architect Angiolo Mazzoni. The facade on the access road to the station was reworked into two half-columns and flanked by two statues, which were crafted by the Austrian artist Franz Ehrenhöfer, to represent electricity and steam. Ehrenhöfer also created masks on the cornices for the station complex, a fountain of St. Christopher and an allegory of River Adige (River Etsch) above the entrance to the clock tower,
Features
The passenger building hosts the main ticket office, Deutsche Bahn ticket office and a waiting room. Other facilities include a cafe-bar and a newsagent store. There are six platforms for passenger service and additional tracks for freight traffic.
Train services
Aerial view of the station.
The station has 5.5 million passenger movements per year and is therefore the busiest within the region in terms of passenger numbers.[1]
Baumgartner, Elisabeth (1989). Eisenbahnlandschaft Alt-Tirol - Verkehrsgeschichte zwischen Kufstein und Ala im Spannungsfeld von Tourismus, Politik und Kultur [Railway landscape Old Tyrol - Transport history between Kufstein and Ala in the fields of tourism, politics and culture] (in German). Innsbruck: Haymon. ISBN3-85218-065-1.
Mitterer, Wittfrida (2007). Scambi & simboli - paesaggio ferrovia Bolzano-Innsbruck. Memorie e volumi in rilievo [Exchanges & Symbols - Bolzano-Innsbruck rail landscape. Memories and volumes in relief] (in Italian). Bolzano: Athesia. ISBN978-88-8266-441-1.
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