The Schlesischen Bahnhof was built between 1844 and 1847 under the direction and to the design of the Dresden architect Julius Köhler and was opened with its ground-level tracks along with the whole Dresden-Neustadt–Görlitz line on 1  September 1847.
Designed as a combined road and railway bridge, the first Marienbrücke (the current road bridge) was already under construction, so the plans envisaged a through station, allowing a connection through the city to the planned station of the Saxon-Bohemian Railway Company.
For the present, the southern end of the station only had one turntable to turn the locomotives.
There were two laterally-arranged train sheds, with the departure hall facing Antonstraße and the arrivals hall on the opposite side.

The double-sided and symmetrically arranged station building consisted of two protruding wings and a recessed central section.
The neo-classical single-storey building included two 96 metres-long train sheds with arched arcades, one covering the arrival platforms and the other the departure platforms.
Two other tracks ran between the train sheds that were designed for the movement of rolling stock.
The two station buildings differed only with regard to a few functionally-related trifles.
The departure platforms could only be accessed through an entrance hall, which contained a ticket office, baggage acceptance facilities and restaurants.
In contrast, the arrival platforms were freely accessible and bigger to cope better with the surge of traffic when trains arrived.

From the outset, a connecting track joined the freight yard of the Silesian station with the approach tracks of the Leipzig station.
There it connected with a turntable.
Operationally, however, this connection was unsatisfactory because only individual carriages could be transferred.
A few years after the opening of the station, this connection was replaced by a connecting curve that did not involve a turntable and was located a few metres to the north.

The Marienbrücke, finished in 1852, enabled the connection of the railway tracks in the old town (Altstädt).
The tracks running from the Silesian and Leipzig stations joined in front of the bridgehead.
Apart from measures to modernise their operations, the grounds of the Silesian station then remained unchanged until the construction of the Dresden-Neustadt station.
The Schlesischen Bahnhof was built between 1844 and 1847 under the direction and to the design of the Dresden architect Julius Köhler and was opened with its ground-level tracks along with the whole Dresden-Neustadt–Görlitz line on 1  September 1847. Designed as a combined road and railway bridge, the first Marienbrücke (the current road bridge) was already under construction, so the plans envisaged a through station, allowing a connection through the city to the planned station of the Saxon-Bohemian Railway Company. For the present, the southern end of the station only had one turntable to turn the locomotives. There were two laterally-arranged train sheds, with the departure hall facing Antonstraße and the arrivals hall on the opposite side.
The double-sided and symmetrically arranged station building consisted of two protruding wings and a recessed central section. The neo-classical single-storey building included two 96 metres-long train sheds with arched arcades, one covering the arrival platforms and the other the departure platforms. Two other tracks ran between the train sheds that were designed for the movement of rolling stock. The two station buildings differed only with regard to a few functionally-related trifles. The departure platforms could only be accessed through an entrance hall, which contained a ticket office, baggage acceptance facilities and restaurants. In contrast, the arrival platforms were freely accessible and bigger to cope better with the surge of traffic when trains arrived.
From the outset, a connecting track joined the freight yard of the Silesian station with the approach tracks of the Leipzig station. There it connected with a turntable. Operationally, however, this connection was unsatisfactory because only individual carriages could be transferred. A few years after the opening of the station, this connection was replaced by a connecting curve that did not involve a turntable and was located a few metres to the north.
The Marienbrücke, finished in 1852, enabled the connection of the railway tracks in the old town (Altstädt). The tracks running from the Silesian and Leipzig stations joined in front of the bridgehead. Apart from measures to modernise their operations, the grounds of the Silesian station then remained unchanged until the construction of the Dresden-Neustadt station.
Dresden-Neustadt station