Plans for temporary building

ÖBB build temporary building at Bregenz train station

This is what the three-storey temporary building at the state capital's train station should look like.(Bild: ÖBB)

By the end of 2025 at the latest - but ideally by the start of the festival - a three-storey container or wooden building will be erected on the station forecourt. It will house a ticket counter, toilets and a bakery. 

The approximately two million euros that ÖBB will have to invest in renewing the escalators in Bregenz railroad station, which is ready for demolition, could still pay off in the end: The footbridge to the platforms, along which the escalators lead up and down, will remain in place for the people of Bregenz until the new station building is completed. And that is likely to take a few more years, as ÖBB press spokesman Christoph Gasser-Mair confirmed in response to an inquiry from "Krone": "From today's perspective - and only if everything goes well - construction of the new building will begin in 2030."

From today's perspective - and only if everything goes well - construction of the new building will begin in 2030.

Christoph Gasser-Mair, Pressesprecher der ÖBB

If things had gone according to ÖBB's plans, the excavators should have started work in 2021, but with the change of mayor, the plans for the new station have been thrown out the window again. As is well known and reported, Mayor Michael Ritsch had various options examined and a new master plan drawn up for the "Bregenz Mitte" project.

The result of all these plans includes a relocation of the provincial road - another point that is preventing the ÖBB managers from getting the new station on track quickly. "There are a few things to be done that are out of our hands. As far as the relocation of the provincial road is concerned, for example, land still needs to be rounded off."

The bus terminal and cab ranks will remain where they are for the time being.(Bild: ÖBB)

However, the plans for the alternative building on the station forecourt have now been finalized. "It will be a barrier-free container or wooden building with a ticket counter, bakery and toilets," explains Gasser-Mair.

The alternative building should be completed by the end of 2025 at the latest. "However, we will endeavor to have it ready for the opening of the festival," promised the press spokesperson. Festival guests and locals had recently complained loudly about the "train station shack" and the "eyesore". Gasser-Mair was not yet able to provide any information about the costs of the temporary building.