Hauptbahnhof Berlin.
© dpa
Europaplatz, the station forecourt of Berlin's main train station, is to be redesigned by the end of 2025.
The State of Berlin, the Mitte district and Deutsche Bahn have agreed on this, as the Senate Department for Urban Development announced on Monday. A jury of experts is to select an architectural concept by fall 2023. Funding for the redesign will come from the Berliner Plätzeprogramm.
The station forecourt Europaplatz was temporarily prepared for the opening of Berlin Central Station in 2006. In the meantime, a chaos of parked bicycles, cabs, scooters, rental bikes and e-scooters has developed on the area between the station building and Invalidenstraße. Now, the station forecourt is to be finally completed after the construction work for the S21 commuter train and the CA Immo high-rise building planned on the station forecourt is finished.
"In preparation for the redesign, the bicycle parking areas, the cab access road from the north and the parking facilities for rental bikes and scooters will be temporarily rearranged and tidied up by August 2023," the Senate Department for Urban Development announced. The access and approach for cabs will be mainly from the south, i.e. via the cab access road at Washingtonplatz. Improperly parked bicycles that are no longer roadworthy will be removed. Meanwhile, more bicycle parking facilities are to be created on the other side of Invalidenstraße. A newly established Jelbi location will be set up to bundle sharing services for scooters and rental bikes.