The basic functional design of the station with the combination of a large terminal hall at a low level and two flanking through halls at a high level is considered to be the work of Claus Koepcke, a ministry of finance official, and Otto Klette.
This functional framework was based on an architectural competition held in 1892 for the design of the new station.
Dresden architects Ernst Giese and Paul Weidner and Leipzig architect Arwed Roßbach each won a first prize.
The realised design incorporates elements of both drafts.
Construction began in the same year, led by Ernst Giese and Paul Weidner.
Railway operations continued at the Bohemian station while the south hall was opened to traffic on 18 June 1895.
Subsequently, the Bohemian station was demolished and the construction of the central and northern halls started on its site.
Until the completion of the entire building, the south hall served as the provisional station.

The new building, which had six terminal platform tracks in the central hall, six through high-level tracks and other terminal tracks in the eastern precinct, met all the requirements for greatly expanded passenger operations.
A roofed building with two elevated tracks was built for freight traffic between the south hall and Bismarckstraße (now Bayrischen Straße) to the south.
The entrance building covered an area of approximately 4,500 square metres.
The steel fabrication company, August Klönne supplied 17,000 tons of steel for the structure of the platform halls and the masonry consists of Elbe Sandstone.
The cost of construction amounted to 18 million marks; corresponding to the equivalent of about €320 million.

After more than five years of construction the whole building went into operation  on 16 April 1898.
At 2:08 AM the first train running as the 101 from Leipzig entered the newly opened Dresden Hauptbahnhof.

As a result of the restructuring of the Dresden railway infrastructure that was carried out simultaneously, the station received better links with the lines to Leipzig, Berlin and Görlitz, which had previously been poorly connected.
A new high-capacity, continuous four-track urban connecting line was opened through the new Wettiner Straße station (now Dresden Mitte station) for suburban traffic and the Maria Bridge to Dresden-Neustadt station in 1901.
It was connected by rail junctions to other stations, in particular to Dresden-Friedrichstadt station.

Although it was built in the heyday of luxury trains, it was almost unaffected by this phenomenon with only one branch of the Balkanzug (Balkan train) serving Dresden between 1916 and 1918.
The basic functional design of the station with the combination of a large terminal hall at a low level and two flanking through halls at a high level is considered to be the work of Claus Koepcke, a ministry of finance official, and Otto Klette. This functional framework was based on an architectural competition held in 1892 for the design of the new station. Dresden architects Ernst Giese and Paul Weidner and Leipzig architect Arwed Roßbach each won a first prize. The realised design incorporates elements of both drafts. Construction began in the same year, led by Ernst Giese and Paul Weidner. Railway operations continued at the Bohemian station while the south hall was opened to traffic on 18 June 1895. Subsequently, the Bohemian station was demolished and the construction of the central and northern halls started on its site. Until the completion of the entire building, the south hall served as the provisional station.
The new building, which had six terminal platform tracks in the central hall, six through high-level tracks and other terminal tracks in the eastern precinct, met all the requirements for greatly expanded passenger operations. A roofed building with two elevated tracks was built for freight traffic between the south hall and Bismarckstraße (now Bayrischen Straße) to the south. The entrance building covered an area of approximately 4,500 square metres. The steel fabrication company, August Klönne supplied 17,000 tons of steel for the structure of the platform halls and the masonry consists of Elbe Sandstone. The cost of construction amounted to 18 million marks; corresponding to the equivalent of about €320 million.
After more than five years of construction the whole building went into operation  on 16 April 1898. At 2:08 AM the first train running as the 101 from Leipzig entered the newly opened Dresden Hauptbahnhof.
As a result of the restructuring of the Dresden railway infrastructure that was carried out simultaneously, the station received better links with the lines to Leipzig, Berlin and Görlitz, which had previously been poorly connected. A new high-capacity, continuous four-track urban connecting line was opened through the new Wettiner Straße station (now Dresden Mitte station) for suburban traffic and the Maria Bridge to Dresden-Neustadt station in 1901. It was connected by rail junctions to other stations, in particular to Dresden-Friedrichstadt station.
Although it was built in the heyday of luxury trains, it was almost unaffected by this phenomenon with only one branch of the Balkanzug (Balkan train) serving Dresden between 1916 and 1918.
Dresden Hauptbahnhof