In the course of industrialisation, the need for rail transportation grew, and the Austrian railways passed from private hands into government control.
The Gloggnitzer Bahnhof was also re-built to a design by Wilhelm von Flattich in 1874 (too late for the Weltausstellung), when it was renamed Süd-Bahnhof.
According to Matthias Schönerer, who was involved in every major Austrian railway project at the time, rather than a single station, it would be most sensible to build two termini at an obtuse angle to each other.
The entrance and exit were through the front of the building, which faced the location of the modern Schweizergarten, the station being considerably closer to Südtiroler Platz then than it is now.
The concourse was the first in Austria, comprised four platforms, large bow windows and was covered by a sturdy 23-metre wide construction of wooden beams held together by iron bands.
Including the peripheral wings, the new station was about three times wider than the old one, and the hall was broadened to 35.7 metres (the second largest in Vienna), which was enough for five (later six) platforms.
In contrast to other Viennese stations, the Südbahnhof was relatively undamaged by the Second World War; a small number of bombs fell on it, and a great deal of glass was broken in the fighting in April 1945.
The modern Südbahnhof was built between 1955 and 1961 to plans by Heinrich Hrdlicka, in which the twin stations were united in a single building.
During the re-building, the Südbahnhof was extended towards the Schweizergarten, while the constituent parts of the old main hall were numbered and taken away to be used at a depot in Floridsdorf.