The project costs about 700 million euros (about 875 million U.S. dollars) and takes eight years to finish.

Located near the German chancellor's office building and the city center, the new train station boasts several innovations including extra quiet tracks and high-tech loudspeakers. Its 46-meter-high twin towers are about 10 meters higher than the parliament building or Reichstag and the chancellor's office.

More than 300,000 passengers a day will use the new station, with trains departing every 90 seconds. Eight other tube and rail stations in Berlin will open too, in a joint project costing up to 10 billion euros (about 12.5 billion dollars).

There are 80 shops on all five levels of the train building between east-west lines connecting Paris to Moscow, 12 meters above street level, and north-south lines linking Copenhagen to Athens, 15 meters under ground.

A special high-speed train from Leipzig is to inaugurate Friday's festivities, with Chancellor Angela Merkel also expected at the opening.