Railway stations with a high proportion of glass pose the strongest challenge to access-system engineers. On the one hand, they require solutions providing for the rapid and cost-effective removal of continuously produced and partially persistent dirt such as brake dust; on the other hand, any obstruction of railway traffic and the passenger circulation during maintenance operations must be excluded. Railway station areas also require the performance of a great many and most varied maintenance tasks, so that area-wide accessibility must be ensured.

Within the scope of our access-system engineering, we issued a recommendation for DB AG in favor of the implementation of automated glass cleansing systems along with methods aimed at preserving in the long range the transparency of the approx. 30,000 m² of glazing and thereby the representativeness of this “governmental station”.

To keep to a minimum any disturbance of ongoing station operation and user traffic due to maintenance measures, we began as of the preliminary project phase the intense coordination of the access-system requirements with those of the building services (MEP) and structural engineering.

For instance, access systems and the place of installation of technical facilities requiring maintenance were coordinated in such a way that problem-free accessibility is ensured even during station operation. The design of a “driverless transport system” on the station platforms allowed us to avoid the utilization of mobile platforms, the operation of which would have involved a risk of interference with hazard areas.