It consisted of station buildings, outbuildings and goods sheds, as well as an extension with ancillary facilities.

It was designed according to the construction principle of Max Möller with fish-bellied support ribs at spans of 124 m and 58 m.[7][8] In 1923, there was a rear-end collision between two trains travelling at night and 47 people were killed.

The entrance building was built for the Hanoverian Southern Railway to plans by Hubert Stier in 1886-89.

[14] The cladding with ochre-coloured ceramic tiles is complemented with pillars covered with various terracotta reliefs.

Due to its external monumentality, the building does not reflect the townscape, but instead stresses its importance as a railway junction.

It contains a Fürstenzimmer ("prince's room"), which was the location of a meeting between Otto von Bismarck and Tsar Alexander III of Russia in 1889.