Aachen Hauptbahnhof

Aachen Hauptbahnhof
Hbf
Station forecourt and main entrance
Location	Bahnhofplatz 2a 52064 Aachen Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany
Coordinates
Line(s)	Aachen–Cologne (HSL/KBS 480) Aachen–Liège (HSL 3) Aachen–Liège (KBS 480a/L 37) Aachen–Mönchengladbach (KBS 485)
Platforms	7
Construction
Architect	Friedrich Mettegang
Architectural style	Art Nouveau
Other information
Station code	0001
DS100 code	KA
Category	2
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1905 (1905)

Aachen Hauptbahnhof (German for Aachen main station) is the most important railway station for the city of Aachen, in the far west of Germany near the Dutch and Belgian border. It is the largest of the four currently active Aachen stations, and is integrated into the long-distance network.

History

A station at Aachen was first opened in 1841, when the Rheinische Eisenbahngesellschaft opened its line from Cologne. The line first was extended to Herbesthal (near the Belgian border) and on October 15, 1843 to Antwerp. The first station was built outside of the city walls, however the city soon grew and the station eventually became surrounded by new buildings. The Prussian State Railways deemed that rather impractical and decided to build a new station situated on a hillside. Embankments and new bridges were built from 1901 onward, and on December 21, 1905 the station opened at its new location.

The station remained largely undisturbed until suffering from damage in 1944, when German troops were retreating. However, since the rail link was highly valued by the Allied forces, damage was cleared up rather quickly and in 1950 all war damage had been removed from the site. Since 2002 the Cologne–Aachen high-speed railway line allows connections to Cologne with speeds up to 250 km/h (160 mph).

Electrification

In 1966, Aachen Hauptbahnhof was electrified. Due to its proximity to Belgium, it was decided to implement the switching point from the Deutsche Bahn's 15 kV AC to the 3000 V DC used by the NMBS/SNCB in the station. Tracks 6 to 9 therefore have a switchable catenary and are used for international Thalys, ICE and RegionalExpress services.

Renovations

The station hall was renovated from 2000 to 2006. In 2007 a new electronic signal box was built, enabling more streamlined operations and automatic switching of the correct voltages. The cost estimate for the revamp was around € 40 million. The main changes were:

• Construction of 400m long platforms for international traffic, replacing the old 250m platforms that did not allow economic usage due to their limited length.
• Special through tracks (tracks 3 and 4) for freight trains to the Netherlands and Belgium (via Montzen) to Aachen West.
• Constructional changes to the system changeover point to Belgium; a new track layout, which allows the smooth changeover of electric locomotives and is capable of handling the increasing number of through carriages.
• Improvement of the layout to remove operating problems, especially in the sidings.

Train services

ICE 3M train en route from Brussels to Frankfurt in Aachen Hauptbahnhof.

Regional-Express trains in Aachen Hauptbahnhof.

The following services currently call at Aachen Hbf:

Series	Operator	Route			Material	Frequency	Notes
ICE 80	Thalys	Paris Nord – Brussels South – Liège-Guillemins – Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Cologne – (Düsseldorf – Duisburg – Essen)			Thalys PBKA	5x per day	high speed service
ICE 79	DB	Brussels South – Brussels North – Liège-Guillemins – Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Cologne – (Siegburg/Bonn – Montabaur – Limburg –) Frankfurt Airport – Frankfurt			ICE 3M - Class 406	4x per day	high speed service
IC 2222	DB	Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Mönchengladbach – Krefeld – Duisburg – Essen – Bochum – Dortmund – Hamm – Gütersloh – Bielefeld – Herford – Hannover – Wolfsburg – Berlin-Spandau – Berlin Hbf – Berlin Ostbahnhof			DB Class 120 and IC stock	1x per day
RE 1 NRW-Express	DB Regio NRW	Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Eschweiler – Düren – Horrem – Cologne – Düsseldorf – Duisburg Hbf – Mülheim (Ruhr) – Essen – Bochum – Dortmund – Hamm – (Paderborn)			DB Class 146 + 6x Double-deck Coach	1x per hour
RE 4 Wupper-Express	DB Regio NRW	Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Herzogenrath – Rheydt – Mönchengladbach – Neuss – Düsseldorf – Wuppertal – Hagen – Witten – Dortmund			DB Class 111 + 5x Double-deck Coach	1x per hour
RE 9 Rhein-Sieg-Express	DB Regio NRW	Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Eschweiler – Düren – Horrem – Cologne – Troisdorf – Siegburg/Bonn – Hennef – Au (Sieg) – Siegen			Talent 2, DB Class 111 + 5x Double-deck Coach	1x per hour
RB 20 Euregiobahn	DB Regio NRW	Heerlen – Heerlen de Kissel – Landgraaf – Eygelshoven Markt –	Herzogenrath – Kohlscheid – Aachen West – Aachen Schanz – Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Aachen-Rothe Erde – Eilendorf – Stolberg (Rheinland) –	Eschweiler-West – Eschweiler Talbahnhof – Eschweiler-Nothberg – Eschweiler-Weisweiler – Langerwehe – Düren	DB Class 643	2x per hour
		Alsdorf-Annapark – Alsdorf-Busch – Herzogenrath-August-Schmidt-Platz – Herzogenrath-Alt-Merkstein –		Stolberg-Schneidmühle – Stolberg-Mühlener Bahnhof – Stolberg-Rathaus – Stolberg-Altstadt		2x per hour
RE 29 euregioAIXpress	SNCB/NMBS	Spa-Géronstère – Pepinster – Verviers Central – Verviers-Palais – Dolhain-Gileppe – Welkenraedt – Hergenrath – Aachen Hauptbahnhof			SNCB AM62	1x per hour
RB 33 Rhein-Niers-Bahn	DB Regio NRW	Duisburg – Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd – Rheinhausen Ost – Rheinhausen – Hohenbudberg Bayerwerk – Krefeld-Uerdingen – Krefeld-Linn – Krefeld-Oppum – Krefeld – Forsthaus – Anrath – Viersen – Mönchengladbach – Rheydt – Wickrath – Herrath – Erkelenz – Hückelhoven-Baal – Brachelen –	Lindern – Geilenkirchen – Übach-Palenberg – Herzogenrath – Kohlscheid – Aachen West – Aachen Schanz – Aachen Hauptbahnhof		DB Class 425	1x per hour
		Heinsberg –				1x per hour
S 13 Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn	DB Regio NRW	Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Aachen-Rothe Erde – Stolberg (Rheinland) – Langerwehe – Düren – Horrem – Cologne – Cologne/Bonn Airport station – Troisdorf			DB Class 423	1x per night

Operational usage

Aachen Hauptbahnhof is served by the following lines:

• Cologne–Aachen (KBS 480)
• Aachen–Brussels
• Aachen–Mönchengladbach (KBS 485)
• Liege–Aachen line (KBS 480a/L 37)

Preceding station		Thalys		Following station
Liège-Guillemins toward Paris-Nord		Thalys		Köln Hbf toward Essen Hbf
Preceding station		Deutsche Bahn		Following station
Liège-Guillemins towards Bruxelles-Midi		ICE 79		Cologne Hbf towards Frankfurt (Main) Hbf
Terminus		RE 1 NRW-Express		Aachen-Rothe Erde toward Paderborn Hbf
Aachen Schanz toward Dortmund Hbf		RE 4 Wupper-Express		Terminus
Terminus		RE 9 Rhein-Sieg-Express		Aachen-Rothe Erde toward Siegen
Aachen Schanz toward Heerlen or Alsdorf Poststraße		RB 20 Euregiobahn		Aachen-Rothe Erde toward Langerwehe/Düren or Stolberg Altstadt
Aachen Schanz toward Duisburg Hbf		RB 33 Rhein-Niers-Bahn		Terminus
Preceding station		SNCB/NMBS		Following station
Hergenrath (Belgium) toward Liège-Guillemins		RE 29 (IR q) euregioAIXpress		Terminus