05-23-2015, 09:50 AM
(05-23-2015, 09:02 AM)plam Wrote:(05-23-2015, 01:23 AM)BrianT Wrote: Since Victoria is a major street, it should either be called Victoria or Victoria Central. King Central doesn't let anyone know where they are. Presumably, they already know that they are on King. If they want to keep 'King' in the name, they could call it King-Hauptbahnhof, reflecting our German heritage and the fact that it is a transit hub.
While Hauptbanhof does reflect Kitchener's German heritage it's too long and too hard to spell. Even in Germany they always abbreviate to X HB, and X is usually the city, not a street in the city.
The term would be lost on the vast majority of people, apart from some EU tourists who would then be appalled by what Canadians consider a major train station, a transit hub and a public transport system.
The abbreviation HB has a different meaning in most parts of germanic Europe. You might miss your train if you followed HB signs to get to the Munich train station
AFAIK HB is used primarily in Switzerland, e.g.
Hauptbahnhof (Hbf) literally means Main Train Station. The name is commonly used in larger cities to distinguish it between lesser train stations which are usually named according to their geographic orientation to the main/central station, e.g. Munich Ostbahnhof, Wien [Vienna] Westbahnhof, Paris Gare du Nord, etc. Maybe some day we'll need to make that sort of distinction, e.g. when Cambridge gets GO Train service, but I'm not holding my breath.