Dresden Hauptbahnhof to the limits on Dresden station. For operational purposes, Dresden Hauptbahnhof (Hbf) is part is part of the Dresden “operating agency” ("Betriebsstelle"; DDRE) which consists of the following station parts: All lines to Dresden have entry signals, as do the opposite tracks. The operating agency of Dresden has a total of 15 entry signals. Two long-distance railway corridors intersect in Dresden. In addition to the important long-distance route to Leipzig, there is also the north–south corridor from Berlin via Dresden and Prague to Vienna. A third corridor from Nuremberg to Wrocław has lost its importance in Germany and Poland and
Dresden hub and manufacturing centre with 127 factories and major workshops and was designated by the German Military as a defensive strongpoint, with which to hinder the Soviet advance. Being the capital of the German state of Saxony, Dresden not only had garrisons but a whole "military borough", the "Albertstadt". This military complex, named after Saxon King Albert, was not specifically targeted in the bombing of Dresden, though it was within the expected area of destruction and was extensively damaged. During the final months of the Second World War, Dresden harboured some 600,000 refugees, with a total population of . Dresden