المهندس هاني عاذر ـ خريج هندسة عين شمس أوائل السبعينيات ـ وواحد ممن يتحمل مسئولية بناء محطة برلين للسكك الحديديه ، تري لو كان هنا ، ماذا كان يفعل في مواجهة الحراسه؟؟؟
The last piece in the jigsaw
Once an enormous building site, Berlin's centre is now almost finished as the final grand post-reunification building project nears completion - just in time for the World Cup. David Gordon Smith reports on the capital's controversial new main train station.
The Hauptbahnhof will be in the last piece in Berlin's urban jigsaw
Anyone who knew Berlin in the 1990s remembers it as very much a work in progress. Riding the light railway from Zoo Station in the west to Alexanderplatz in the east, passengers looked out onto a bleak landscape of wasteland and building sites, the skyline dominated by a dense forest of cranes.
Since then, the panorama has improved as architectural set-pieces of Potsdamer Platz's skyscrapers, the hyper-modern Chancellery and the rebuilt Reichstag have been completed.
Now the last piece of the urban jigsaw is almost in place, as the gigantic new Hauptbahnhof (main train station), Berlin's last great post-reunification construction project, nears completion.
With its twin glass towers and 321-metre-long glass tunnel covering the east-west tracks, the building is another spectacular example of the bold architecture which has come to characterise Berlin's government district.
Since then, the panorama has improved as architectural set-pieces of Potsdamer Platz's skyscrapers, the hyper-modern Chancellery and the rebuilt Reichstag have been completed.
Now the last piece of the urban jigsaw is almost in place, as the gigantic new Hauptbahnhof (main train station), Berlin's last great post-reunification construction project, nears completion.
With its twin glass towers and 321-metre-long glass tunnel covering the east-west tracks, the building is another spectacular example of the bold architecture which has come to characterise Berlin's government district.
The Hauptbahnhof is due to open on May 28, just in time for the FIFA World Cup's June 9 kick-off.
The Hauptbahnhof, also known by its former name of Lehrter Bahnhof (Lehrter Station), is due to open on May 28, just in time for the FIFA World Cup's June 9 kick-off. This transport cathedral, as its architect Meinhard von Gerkan has dubbed it, will be Europe's largest-ever rail hub.
Every day 300,000 passengers and visitors are expected to pass through, with the daily timetable including 160 long-distance trains, 310 regional trains, and 800 metropolitan trains. For the first time in Berlin's history, rail passengers from all four directions will be able to arrive at the same station.
The original Lehrter Station, dubbed a "palace among stations" because of its French neo-Renaissance architecture, opened in 1871 and linked Berlin with Lehrte near the town of Hanover. Even then, the station was famous for its fast inter-city trains. Lehrter Station was severely damaged during World War II and its ruins were finally demolished in 1958.
An adjoining light rail station, Lehrter Stadtbahnof, which forms part of the new project, was one of the great borders of the Cold War.
It was the final stop in former West Berlin when the city was divided; the next station was Friedrichstrasse in East Berlin, a famous Cold War crossing point.
What the new station will look like when it is finished
Appropriately for Berlin's new capitalist incarnation, the "cathedral" will also be a temple of consumerism, with a 15,000- square-metre shopping centre over three levels.
Germany's strict opening hours laws do not apply to train stations, meaning that shops will be able to stay open late and also open on Sundays - something of a novelty for German shoppers. Almost all the shop space has already been rented, says Michael Baufeld, spokesman for the project.
However, the station's two towers will not be ready until 2007. This is not the first delay in the project, which typically for a large-scale Berlin construction is late, over budget and controversial.
The station has taken 10 years to build instead of the three originally projected. It has cost some 700 million euros (845 million dollars) instead of the 500 million German marks (255 million euros, 310 million dollars) budgeted in the early 1990s.
The technical project leader Hany Azer can testify to what a struggle the project has been.
"It's 10 years of my life," says the Egyptian engineer, who suffered a heart attack during the project. "(Deutsche Bahn CEO) Hartmut Mehdorn was the only one who trusted me."
Appropriately for Berlin's new capitalist incarnation, the "cathedral" will also be a temple of consumerism.
The project has not been short of critics who ask whether Berlin really needs such a large main station, when the population has decreased since the fall of the wall to 3.4 million inhabitants, instead of expanding to 5 million as originally expected.
Long-distance trains will no longer stop at Zoo Station, formerly the focal point of West Berlin. Locals worry that this will impact on the surrounding area, which includes the famous Kurfuerstendamm shopping street.
Others ask if Berlin really needs another huge shopping centre, especially considering the city's sluggish economy and low German consumer demand.
Von Gerkan himself is less than satisfied with the project. He is currently suing Deutsche Bahn for copyright infringement after they replaced his planned cathedral-style roof in the lower floor with a cheaper flat roof in autumn 2005. This was the final straw after an earlier decision to shorten the station's east-west glass roof from 420 metres long to 321 metres.
The location of the new station is also far from ideal, many say. Although not far from prestigious buildings such as the new Chancellery, the station itself stands in the middle of an urban wasteland, with few buildings around and barely a shop or restaurant within walking distance.
The only tourist attraction nearby is the Hamburger Bahnhof, a modern art gallery housed, appropriately enough, within a former train station.
But Deutsche Bahn believes that if you build it, they will come. "The Hauptbahnhof won't be alone for long," says Baufeld.
17 January 2006
Every day 300,000 passengers and visitors are expected to pass through, with the daily timetable including 160 long-distance trains, 310 regional trains, and 800 metropolitan trains. For the first time in Berlin's history, rail passengers from all four directions will be able to arrive at the same station.
The original Lehrter Station, dubbed a "palace among stations" because of its French neo-Renaissance architecture, opened in 1871 and linked Berlin with Lehrte near the town of Hanover. Even then, the station was famous for its fast inter-city trains. Lehrter Station was severely damaged during World War II and its ruins were finally demolished in 1958.
An adjoining light rail station, Lehrter Stadtbahnof, which forms part of the new project, was one of the great borders of the Cold War.
It was the final stop in former West Berlin when the city was divided; the next station was Friedrichstrasse in East Berlin, a famous Cold War crossing point.
What the new station will look like when it is finished
Appropriately for Berlin's new capitalist incarnation, the "cathedral" will also be a temple of consumerism, with a 15,000- square-metre shopping centre over three levels.
Germany's strict opening hours laws do not apply to train stations, meaning that shops will be able to stay open late and also open on Sundays - something of a novelty for German shoppers. Almost all the shop space has already been rented, says Michael Baufeld, spokesman for the project.
However, the station's two towers will not be ready until 2007. This is not the first delay in the project, which typically for a large-scale Berlin construction is late, over budget and controversial.
The station has taken 10 years to build instead of the three originally projected. It has cost some 700 million euros (845 million dollars) instead of the 500 million German marks (255 million euros, 310 million dollars) budgeted in the early 1990s.
The technical project leader Hany Azer can testify to what a struggle the project has been.
"It's 10 years of my life," says the Egyptian engineer, who suffered a heart attack during the project. "(Deutsche Bahn CEO) Hartmut Mehdorn was the only one who trusted me."
Appropriately for Berlin's new capitalist incarnation, the "cathedral" will also be a temple of consumerism.
The project has not been short of critics who ask whether Berlin really needs such a large main station, when the population has decreased since the fall of the wall to 3.4 million inhabitants, instead of expanding to 5 million as originally expected.
Long-distance trains will no longer stop at Zoo Station, formerly the focal point of West Berlin. Locals worry that this will impact on the surrounding area, which includes the famous Kurfuerstendamm shopping street.
Others ask if Berlin really needs another huge shopping centre, especially considering the city's sluggish economy and low German consumer demand.
Von Gerkan himself is less than satisfied with the project. He is currently suing Deutsche Bahn for copyright infringement after they replaced his planned cathedral-style roof in the lower floor with a cheaper flat roof in autumn 2005. This was the final straw after an earlier decision to shorten the station's east-west glass roof from 420 metres long to 321 metres.
The location of the new station is also far from ideal, many say. Although not far from prestigious buildings such as the new Chancellery, the station itself stands in the middle of an urban wasteland, with few buildings around and barely a shop or restaurant within walking distance.
The only tourist attraction nearby is the Hamburger Bahnhof, a modern art gallery housed, appropriately enough, within a former train station.
But Deutsche Bahn believes that if you build it, they will come. "The Hauptbahnhof won't be alone for long," says Baufeld.
17 January 2006
Copyright DPA with Expatica 2006
Subject: Berlin, Hauptbahnhof, Lehrter Bahnhof, Deutsche Bahn, Meinhard von Gerkan
Subject: Berlin, Hauptbahnhof, Lehrter Bahnhof, Deutsche Bahn, Meinhard von Gerkan
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