for a new generously dimensioned central station to replace the Wettiner Straße station. This would have had 17 through platform tracks and three terminal platforms and have been 400 metres-long and 186.5 metres-wide and oriented parallel with Könneritzstraße. An entrance building would have been built on the eastern side towards the centre of the old town. In successive drafts the dimensions were reduced somewhat by reducing the platform space for luggage, but the original draft was substantially maintained. A main objective of the planned restructuring of the railway node was to allow trains to run on the east–west route between Chemnitz and Görlitz without reversing in Dresden. Why these plans were not ultimately carried out, cannot be answered with certainty, however, financial problems, material shortages, labour shortages and general planning uncertainty during socio-political change are cited as possible reasons. The previous name of the station referred to the royal House of Wettin and therefore was not considered to be consistent with the socialist system. Therefore, the station was renamed Dresden-Mitte on 20 July 1946. Little changed in the following 40 years. No platform canopies remained, but the tracks and the buildings were designed for a covered station and rainwater seeped through the inadequately sealed floor and caused a gradual decline in its condition. Reconstruction after German reunification After the reunification of Germany, there were initially plans for the building of a glazed concourse on two levels with shops and offices designed by Ingenhoven Architects. This proposal failed because of a lack of funds. Minor renovations took place in 1997 and Deutsche Bahn rebuilt the station from scratch from November 2001 during the reconstruction of the Leipzig–Dresden railway. Trams have run since mid-2002 under the train tracks and now stop in front of the platform at the entrance in Jahnstraße (street). The new platforms 1 and 2 were completed in January 2003 and platforms 3 and 4 in October 2004. An additional pedestrian tunnel, which had not initially been planned, was also built at the northern end of the platform in order to improve the link with the northern Friedrichstadt. A DB Service Store was opened as the first internal space in March 2005. Further expansion was expected in 2014. The station forecourt (Bahnhofsvorplatz), which is located between the station and Weißeritzstraße, was rebuilt in 2011 for around €850,000. A 23-metre-long ribbon of granite boulders and replicas of bright red stones