Customer opinion counts: Pro-Rail Alliance announces Train Station of the Year

Berlin. Around 2000 people from across Germany nominated their favourite train stations, the jury was busy with its inspections, and now the verdict has been reached: Leipzig and Halberstadt are the winners of this year's Train Station of the Year award. For the eighth consecutive year, the Pro-Rail Alliance has made the award for the most customer-friendly stations in Germany. The category for a station in a city was won by Leipzig's main station, the first time a terminal station has won the competition. The "amazing amount of space for passengers" finally persuaded the jury. The prize for a station in a town was awarded to Halberstadt station, which was successfully modernised in 2010, enabling it to climb out of "a basement league and onto the winner's podium," according to the jury. "Away from the political controversy surrounding the plans for Stuttgart's main station, there is a shift in what rail passengers in Germany expect of their stations," said Dirk Flege, managing director of the Pro-Rail Alliance. "What people favour above all are stations that do not just provide empty waiting spaces but offer something of an experience that is universally appealing to passengers and visitors."

Leipzig Main Station: A first class terminal station.

As a "cathedral of progress" was how Leipzig's main station was already regarded when it first opened in 1915. The station's continuation of this tradition after it was modernised in 1999 was exemplary, and was a real inspiration for the five member jury, which is made up the passenger group Pro Bahn, the German rail traveller association DBV, the transport club VCD, the automobile club ACE and the Pro-Rail Alliance. It is almost "a spiritual experience" for people entering the giant sandstone building's high-roofed hall. "The generous proportions are both striking and reassuring at the same time, a feeling that one otherwise only has in churches," said Karl-Peter Naumann from Pro-Bahn, praising the "high quality of the waiting experience" in the building. For passengers the station is "well laid-out and barrier free, and its glass-fronted rows of shops offer a top-quality shopping experience," enthused Naumann. Monika Ganseforth from the VCD stressed that passengers and shoppers never get in each other's way, even though the train station was "ever present" in the shopping areas. In the Old Prussian waiting area, Ganseforth discovered "Germany's loveliest station book shop". The fact that a very active railway mission was always open to assist passengers in difficulties rounds off the overall picture of this fantastic station, said Ganseforth.

Halberstadt Station - from lower division to top of the league

The jury already knew that Halberstadt had been through difficult times, and was all the more pleasantly surprised when it visited the station. "This magnificent Wilhelminian-style building survived the bombing of the Second World War and slumbered through the Cold War under a covering of corrugated iron," said Dieter Harms from the ACE. "Since its reopening in 2010, the station is as resplendent as Sleeping Beauty after she was awoken with a kiss," was Harms' elated verdict. The beautiful station in Germany's Harz region passed the station inspection with flying colours. "With its mighty brick exterior and the soft curves of its interior, the station offers travellers everything they need, from left-luggage lockers, clean platforms and plenty of seating to a wealth of passenger information," said Christian Schultz from the DBV. He was also particularly pleased with the successful technical details for travellers, such as covered bicycle racks, illuminated car parking and automatic doors at side entrances. "It is such loving details that turn a good station into an award-winning station," said Schultz.

Two thousand voters: Rail passengers would choose Stuttgart

For the process of choosing this year's winners, rail customers were asked for the first time to nominate their favourite stations. Among the top stations chosen by the 2000 people who voted, Stuttgart was nominated twice, with the top spot going Stuttgart's main station, which gained 760 votes, and to Stuttgart 21, the controversial reconstruction plans for the main station, which gained 27 votes and came in 11th in the voter-ranking. Leipzig (second place / 141 votes) and Halberstadt (27th with 7 votes) also had fervent supporters among the rail customers. "We were very impressed with the accounts of childhood memories, the way people identify with a station as a part of their home city, and the fact that a station is often associated with the excitement felt when waiting for a loved one on the station platform. All really very heart-felt. The main station in Stuttgart also received a number of authentic declarations of love, some of which we found very touching. However, in its current state, Stuttgart's main station cannot compete with Leipzig, both of which are terminal stations," said Pro-Rail Alliance managing director Flege.

Two winners from Eastern Germany. North-Rhine Westphalia falling behind

With Leipzig, it is the first time that a station in the state of Saxony has won the Train Station of the Year award. The state of Saxony-Anhalt is also a first-time winner with Halberstadt. Whereas Baden-Württemberg heads the league table of states, with awards for Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden, other states such as North-Rhine Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate and Saarland once again miss out. "The funding of train stations requires an integrated approach between a city's authorities, the state administration and the national operator Deutsche Bahn. The federal states in particular are under an obligation," said Flege, who emphasised that the jury once again made several large inspection tours of North-Rhine Westphalia. "Unfortunately, when it comes to train stations, Germany's most populous state is falling behind the other regions."

Out and about with the checklist

The Pro-Rail Alliance has made the awards for the ‘Train Station of the Year’ competition to Germany’s best station in a city and in a smaller town since 2004. Only stations that satisfy the needs of customers and citizens, according to a defined set of criteria, can receive the award. Objective demands such as customer information, cleanliness, and integration with the city and connections with other modes of transport are as important to clinching the vote as more subjective ‘feel-good’ factors. Dirty toilets, for example, are an obvious knockout factor. Others include: stations that are not staffed, are lacking in safety or are not barrier-free. These cannot win the award. The previous winners were: 2010: Darmstadt and Baden-Baden, 2009: Erfurt and Uelzen, 2008: Karlsruhe and Schwerin, 2007: Berlin Main Station and Landsberg am Lech, 2006: Hamburg Dammtor and Oberstdorf, 2005: Mannheim and Wismar, and 2004: Hannover and Lübben.