Koblenz Hauptbahnhof

Koblenz Hauptbahnhof
Through station
File:Hauptbahnhof 01 Koblenz 2014.jpg Station building and station forecourt
Location	Koblenz, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany
Coordinates
Line(s)	West Rhine Railway Moselle line Lahn Valley Railway (East Rhine Railway – via Lahn Valley Railway)
Platforms	10
Construction
Architect	Fritz Klingholz
Architectural style	Baroque Revival
Other information
Station code	3299
DS100 code	KKO
Category	2
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1 May 1902
Traffic
Passengers	40,000

Koblenz Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in the city of Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is the focal point of rail transport in the Rhine-Moselle-Lahn area. It is a through station in southern Koblenz built below Fort Großfürst Konstantin and opened in 1902 in the Neustadt (new city), which was built after the demolition of the city walls in 1890. The station replaced two former stations on the Left Rhine railway, which were only 900 m apart, and the former Moselle line station. Koblenz-Stadtmitte station opened in April 2011 in the old centre of Koblenz. Koblenz Hauptbahnhof is on the West Rhine Railway and connects to the Moselle line, the East Rhine Railway and to the Lahn Valley Railway. It is used daily by about 40,000 travelers and visitors. In the station forecourt are a bus station and a pavilion.

Since 2002, the station has been part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage site.

History

Rhenish railway station

Map of railway lines in the Koblenz area

The Bonn-Cologne Railway Company opened its line between Cologne and Bonn in 1844, and extended it to Rolandseck in 1856. This company was taken over by the Rhenish Railway Company in 1857, which extended the line to Koblenz in 1858. On 11 November 1858, the first train, hauled by the locomotive Windsbraut ("whirlwind") ran over the newly built Moselle railway bridge on the Left Rhine line to a provisional station in the street of Fischelstraße. The construction of the bridge and the line was made possible by the first demolition of the Prussian city walls.

In 1859, the route was extended from Koblenz to Bingerbrück and the Rhenish station was expanded. In 1864 the Pfaffendorf Bridge was opened over the Rhine in Koblenz. It was initially built for trains only, connecting the Left and the Right Rhine lines. The last trains crossed the Pfaffendorf Bridge at the beginning of the First World War in August 1914.

Moselle station

In October 1878 the Güls railway bridge was inaugurated on the Moselle line and a year later this was followed by the completion of the Horchheim rail bridge over the Rhine. In 1879, Moselle line was put into operation and its station (Moselbahnhof) was opened below Fort Constantin, near the modern Hauptbahnhof. This line completed the expansion of the Koblenz rail network and was also a section of the strategic railway line between Berlin and Metz, the so-called Cannons Railway (Kanonenbahn).

Construction of the railway station

File:Rheinbahnhof Kaiser Wilhelm II Koblenz 1893.jpg

Arrival of Emperor Wilhelm II at the Rhenish station in 1893

The Prussian fortifications of Koblenz were abandoned and torn down completely from 1890. The built up area of the city spread outside the small area inside the old walls for the first time. South of the walls a new urban area rapidly grew up along with the southern suburbs. The maintenance of two stations proved to be very complicated, because through trains had to stop twice within 900 m and passengers coming from Trier and wanting to travel on the right Rhine line to the north had to take a horse-drawn cab or walk between the Moselle and the Rhenish station. Thus demands for a central station became louder and planning started on the construction of a new and larger passenger station.

The small Rhenish station in Fischelstraße was abandoned and a magnificent new station was built in the new southern suburbs near the Moselle station from 1899 to 1902 to a design by Fritz Klingholz. The Central Station (Centralbahnhof), as it was officially called at that time, was opened on 1 May 1902. The through station was built like a palace with central and side pavilions, although for functional reasons it was not completely symmetrical. The facades were made of tuff and yellow sandstone in a neo-baroque style. The station building has a length of 96 m. A hall was built over the platforms. The northern wing of the royal room (Fürstenzimmer) was richly decorated and had direct access via a flight of stairs to platform 1, on which the Emperor arrived in Koblenz in 1905.

After the Second World War

The station building and the railway tracks were damaged in air raids during the Second World War. Reconstruction began in 1946. The station lost the hall structure over its platforms and its tower building. The reconstructions were different from the original buildings, simply built and without ornamentation. Functional roofs were installed over the platforms. In 1957 the Rhine line was electrified. In 1967 a new railway station signal box was opened and in 1977 the lobby was renovated. The travel centre was opened in 1984. In 1998 renovation of the station began and it is still continuing.

Train services

Panorama in 2003

Panorama in 2003

Koblenz station has a total of ten platform tracks on four platforms, seven of which are through-tracks (1 to 5, 8 and 9) and three are terminal tracks (104, 105 and 109).

Trains on the Left Rhine line from the north can use almost all tracks (1 to 5, 8 and 104), while Mosel line trains only use the three western tracks (5, 8 and 9). Trains on the Left Rhine line from the south can use only the eastern tracks (1 to 5 and 105), while Lahn Valley Railway and Right Rhine line trains can use all tracks (apart from the northern terminal platform, 104).

Long distance traffic

File:Platform at Koblenz, Germany, train station, 1971.jpg

Station platform, 1971

In long-distance traffic, Koblenz is served by Intercity-Express, Intercity and EuroCity trains. Thus, almost every major city in Germany can be reached directly from Koblenz. Regional services consist of Regional-Express and Regionalbahn trains to cities within 200 kilometres towards Saarbrücken, Cologne and the Ruhr, Emmerich / Wesel, Giessen and Mainz-Frankfurt am Main.

The vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft operates trains from Koblenz via the Lahn Valley Railway to Limburg. The trans regio company operates trains on the Left Rhine line from Cologne to Koblenz (MRB26), and from Koblenz to Mainz (MRB32).

Line	Route	Frequency
ICE 10	Berlin Ostbahnhof – Berlin Hbf – Berlin-Spandau – (Wolfsburg –) Hannover – Bielefeld – Hamm (Westf) – Hagen – Wuppertal – Cologne – Bonn – Koblenz	Individual services
ICE 31	(Kiel –) Hamburg – Bremen – Osnabrück – Münster (Westf) – Dortmund – Duisburg – Cologne – Bonn – Koblenz – Mainz – Frankfurt (Main) – Würzburg – Nuremberg – Munich	Individual services
ICE 91	Dortmund – Duisburg – Cologne  – Bonn – Koblenz – Mainz – Frankfurt (Main) – Würzburg – Nuremberg – Passau – Linz – Vienna Westbf	Individual services
IC/EC 30	Hamburg-Altona – (individual services: Westerland –) Hamburg Hbf – Bremen – Münster (Westf) – Dortmund – Duisburg – Köln – Bonn – Koblenz – Mainz – Mannheim – Heidelberg – Stuttgart (individual services: Mannheim – Karlsruhe – Freiburg (Brsg) – Basel SBB – Switzerland)	Every 2 hours
IC/EC 31	(Fehmarn-Burg oder Kiel –) Hamburg – Bremen – Münster (Westf) – Dortmund – Hagen – Wuppertal – Cologne  –Bonn  – Koblenz – Mainz – Frankfurt (Main) – Würzburg – Nuremberg (one train pair: Munich – Garmisch-Partenkirchen – Mittenwald / Munich – Freilassing – Berchtesgaden)  – Passau – Linz – Vienna (one train pair: Budapest)	Every 2 hours
IC/EC 32	(Fr/Su: Berlin – Hannover – Bielefeld – Hamm (Westf) –) Dortmund – Duisburg – Cologne – Bonn - Remagen – Andernach – Koblenz – Mainz – Mannheim – Heidelberg – Stuttgart (one train pair: Ulm – Augsburg – Munich – Salzburg – Klagenfurt, one train pair: Ulm – Lindau – Innsbruck)	Every 2 hours
IC 35	Norddeich Mole – Lingen – Rheine – Münster (Westf) – Duisburg – Cologne – Bonn – Remagen – Andernach – Koblenz  (– Koblenz – Mainz – Mannheim – Stuttgart)	Individual services
IC 55	Leipzig – Halle (Saale) – Magdeburg – Braunschweig – Hannover – Bielefeld – Hamm (Westf) – Dortmund – Duisburg oder Wuppertal – Cologne – Bonn – Remagen – Koblenz – Mainz – Mannheim – Heidelberg – Stuttgart – Ulm – Oberstdorf	One pair of services

Preceding station		Deutsche Bahn		Following station
Bonn Hbf towards Berlin Ost		ICE 10 select services only		Terminus
Bonn Hbf towards Kiel Hbf		ICE 31		Mainz Hbf towards Munich Hbf/Regensburg Hbf or Basel SBB
Bonn Hbf towards Dortmund Hbf		ICE 91		Mainz Hbf towards Wien Hbf
Bonn Hbf towards Ostseebad Binz or Greifswald		IC/EC 30		Mainz Hbf towards Stuttgart Hbf or Chur
Bonn Hbf towards Hamburg-Altona/Kiel Hbf/Puttgarden		IC/EC 31		Mainz Hbf towards Passau Hbf
Andernach towards Berlin Südkreuz		IC/EC 32		Bingen Hbf towards Innsbruck Hbf
Andernach towards Emden Außenhafen or Norddeich Mole		IC/EC 35		Mainz Hbf towards Konstanz or Stuttgart Hbf
Andernach towards Dresden Hbf		IC 55		Bingen Hbf towards Oberstdorf

Regional services

Here is an overview of all regional services, stopping in Koblenz. Apart from the VIAS-operated RheingauLinie none of the 11 lines continue through the station, all start or finish there.

Line	Line name	Route	Frequency	Remarks
RE 1	Mosel-Saar-Express	Koblenz – Bullay – Wittlich – Trier – Saarburg – Saarbrücken	Every 2 hours	From Dec. 2014 hourly to Luxemburg/Kaiserslautern
RE 2	Mittelrhein-Main-Express	Koblenz – Boppard – Bingen – Mainz – Frankfurt Airport (regional) – Frankfurt	Every 2 hours	Services being retendered from Dec. 2014
RE 5	Rhein-Express	Koblenz – Andernach – Remagen – Bonn – Cologne – Köln Messe/Deutz – Düsseldorf – Duisburg – Emmerich	Hourly	From 2016 to be replaced by RRX (planning)
RE 8	Rhein-Erft-Express	Koblenz – Neuwied – Cologne/Bonn Airport – Köln Messe/Deutz – Cologne – Grevenbroich – Mönchengladbach	Hourly	From 2016 to be replaced by RRX (planning)
SE 10	RheingauLinie	Neuwied – Koblenz – Rüdesheim – Wiesbaden – Frankfurt	Hourly	From 2016 to be replaced by RRX (planning)
RB 23	Lahn-Eifel-Bahn	Mayen – Mendig – Andernach – Koblenz – Niederlahnstein – Bad Ems – Diez – Limburg (Lahn)	Hourly
RE 25	Lahntalexpress	Koblenz – Limburg – Weilburg – Wetzlar – Gießen	Every 2 hours	Services being retendered from Dec. 2014
RB 25	Lahntalbahn	Koblenz – Bad Ems – Diez – Limburg (Lahn)	Hourly	Services being retendered from Dec. 2014
MRB 26	Mittelrheinbahn	Koblenz – Andernach – Remagen – Bonn – Cologne – Köln Messe/Deutz	Hourly	Operated since Dec. 2008 by TransRegio with DESIRO ML
RB 27	Rhein-Erft-Bahn	Koblenz – Neuwied – Bonn-Beuel – Köln Messe/Deutz – Köln – revenbroich – Mönchengladbach	Hourly	Services being retendered from Dec. 2014
MRB 32	Mittelrheinbahn	Koblenz – Boppard – Oberwesel – Bingen – Ingelheim – Mainz	Hourly	Operated since Dec. 2008 by TransRegio with DESIRO ML
RB 81	Moselbahn	Koblenz – Cochem (Mosel) – Bullay – Wittlich – Trier	Hourly	Operated since Dec. 2009 by DB Regio

Preceding station		Deutsche Bahn		Following station
Terminus		RE 1 Mosel-Saar-Express		Kobern-Gondorf toward Saarbrücken Hbf
Terminus		RE 2/80 Mittelrhein-Main-Express		Boppard Hbf toward Frankfurt (Main) Hbf
Koblenz Stadtmitte toward Emmerich		RE 5 Rhein-Express		Terminus
Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein toward Mönchengladbach Hbf		RE 8 Rhein-Erft-Express
Terminus		RE 25 Lahntal-Express		Niederlahnstein toward Gießen Hbf
Koblenz Stadtmitte toward Mönchengladbach Hbf		RB 27 Rhein-Erft-Bahn		Terminus
Koblenz-Moselweiß toward Trier Hbf		RB 81 Moseltal-Bahn
Preceding station		VIAS		Following station
Koblenz Stadtmitte toward Neuwied		SE 10 RheingauLinie		Niederlahnstein toward Frankfurt (Main) Hbf
Preceding station		trans regio		Following station
Koblenz Stadtmitte toward Köln Messe/Deutz		MRB 26 MittelRheinBahn		Terminus
Terminus		MRB 32 MittelRheinBahn		Rhens toward Mainz Hbf
Preceding station		vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft		Following station
Terminus		RB 25 Lahntal-Bahn		Niederlahnstein toward Limburg (Lahn)