Airport shuttle
The airport rapid-transit rail link (S2) is your convenient link to the airport or back home. Dresden Airport is connected to the main Dresden-Neustadt and Dresden-Hauptbahnhof stations, and from Monday to Friday there is also a link to the towns of Heidenau and Pirna.
A total of 164 million euros have been invested in extending and converting Dresden Airport’s terminal. The new city railway line required 47 million euros of investment including electrification.
During construction, the concept of keeping everything within close reach was followed stringently. Thus, Dresden Airport’s terminal houses the departures and arrivals areas, the city railway station and all its service facilities, all in one complex. Pedestrians can get from the terminal to the multi-storey car park with its 1,559 spaces via a glass-enclosed walkway. A four-lane road connects directly to the nearby A4 motorway.
Dresden Airport’s terminal is not only a gateway for arrivals and departures; it is also an excellent place to spend your time and the perfect venue for concerts, conferences, private occasions and corporate events. Dresden’s largest travel market can be found at the terminal: its 27 travel agencies offer trips all over the world, and are even open on Sundays and public holidays.
The development of the S 2 line
The construction work for the new airport S-Bahn line began in mid-1998. From the start the S2 linked the new Terminal with Dresden city centre. Initially, modern, light-weight diesel trains operated half-hourly between the Airport and Dresden-Neustadt and Dresden Hauptbahnhof stations. Dresden Airport was the seventh airport in Germany to have a direct rail link.
After the electrification of the line between Dresden-Neustadt and Dresden Airport, the diesel trains were replaced with modern, electric double-decker trains when the timetable changed at the end of 2004. This coincided with the line being extended to Pirna, allowing the S-Bahn service to be doubled on weekdays between Heidenau/Pirna and Dresden-Neustadt. As there is an overlap with the S-Bahn line 1, there are trains roughly every 15 minutes. On weekdays between 5.00 am and 9.00 pm the S2 runs to Heidenau and during peak times (from 5.00 am to 9.00 am and 1.00 pm to 9.00 pm) through to Pirna. From December 2007 capacity on the S2 route will be increased by operating three rather than the current two carriages.