Hannover Hauptbahnhof
main railway station for the city of Hanover
Hannover Hauptbahnhof (German: Hanover central station) is the main railway station for the city of Hanover in Lower Saxony, Germany. The railway junction is one of the 21 stations listed as a railway Category 1 station by DB Station&Service. It is also the most important public transport hub of the region of Hanover and it is served regional and S-Bahn services. The station has six platforms with twelve platform tracks, and two through tracks without platforms. Every day it is used by 250,000 passengers and 622 trains stop at the platforms (as of October 2012). About 2,000 people work here.
History
The first station on the current site, a temporary building that served the line to Lehrte, was erected in 1843. Instead of building a monumental terminus, a through station was built along with the line, making it the first through station in a major German city.
The first central station (Central-Bahnhof) was built from 1845 to 1847. Its architect is not certain, but it is sure that the far-sighted city architect August Heinrich Andreae was involved in selecting its specific location and that the Hanoverian court architect Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves and Ferdinand Schwarz contributed to it.
“Hannover Hauptbahnhof” enters the record as main railway station for the city of Hanover. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hannover, Hauptbahnhof and main can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Hannover Hauptbahnhof” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hannover, Hauptbahnhof and main provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q703918. VIAF identifies the subject as 236569615. The Library of Congress control number is sh2004000658. Authority coordinates are 52.377, 9.742. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2012, 1843, 1845 and 1847.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hannover Hauptbahnhof”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Hannover Hauptbahnhof primary sources, Hannover Hauptbahnhof archive and Hannover research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Hannover Hauptbahnhof”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Hannover Hauptbahnhof” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.