Austria's new largest train station the Wiener Hauptbahnhof (Vienna Main Station) has officially been opened Friday in a ceremony featuring Austrian President Heinz Fischer.
The station covers 109 hectares and cost almost 1.3 billion U.S. dollars to construct, Austrian Federal Railways Board of Management spokesperson Christian Kern describing the construction as a "landmark project."
A total of 1,100 trains are eventually expected to stop at the station each day, the Kronen Zeitung newspaper reported, though until December it will only host regional transport. The station also contains a shopping centre featuring 90 shops.
Kern said the completion of the decade-long project is a testament to all those involved, and said rather than aiming for a monumental structure as many large train station projects have, function was the goal for the planners.
President Fischer was accompanied by other prominent politicians as well as Austrian ski stars for the opening of the station that replaces the former Wiener Suedbahnhof (Vienna South Station).
Fischer made note of the cost and impressive size of the venue, and said it is "wonderful" that the project ran on time, with no delays and no scandals.
Mayor of Vienna Michael Haupl stressed the importance of the Hauptbahnhof as a major transport hub, while also fondly reminiscing on the old Suedbahnhof from which Austrians would take trains to holiday around Europe.