Aachen Central Station

Aachen Hauptbahnhof

Aachen Hbf

Station forecourt and main entrance
Operations
Category	2
Type	Hbf
Platforms in use	7
DS100 code	KA
Station code	0001
Construction and location
Opened	1905
Style of architecture	Art Nouveau
Architect	Friedrich Mettegang
Location	Aachen
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Country	Germany
Home page	www.bahnhof.de
Route information
Aachen–Cologne (HSL - KBS 480) Aachen–Liège (High-speed line - HSL 3) Aachen–Liège (KBS 480a/L 37) Aachen–Mönchengladbach (KBS 485)
List of railway stations in North Rhine-Westphalia

Aachen Central Station (German: Aachen Hauptbahnhof ) is the train 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.

1 History
2 Electrification
3 Renovations
4 Train services
5 Operational usage
6 External links

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

The following services currently call at Aachen Hbf:

Series	Operator	Route	Material	Frequency	Notes
ICE 80	Thalys	Paris Nord - Brussel Midi/Zuid - Liège-Guillemins - Aachen Central Station - Cologne - Düsseldorf - Duisburg - Essen	Thalys PBKA	5x per day	high speed service
ICE 79	DB	Brussel Midi/Zuid - Brussel Nord - Liège-Guillemins - Aachen Central Station - Cologne - Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt	ICE 3M - Class 406	4x per day	high speed service
RE 1 NRW-Express	DB Regio	Aachen Central Station - Düren - Cologne - Düsseldorf - Duisburg - Mülheim (Ruhr) - Essen - Bochum - Dortmund - Hamm - Paderborn	DB Class 146 + 6x Double-deck Coach	1x per hour
RE 4 Wupper-Express	DB Regio	Aachen Central Station - Mönchengladbach - Neuss - Düsseldorf - Wuppertal - Hagen - Dortmund	DB Class 111 + 5x Double-deck Coach	1x per hour
RE 9 Rhein-Sieg-Express	DB Regio	Aachen Central Station - Düren - Cologne - Siegburg/Bonn - Siegen	DB Class 111 + 5x Double-deck Coach	1x per hour
RB 20 Euregiobahn	DB Regio	Heerlen - Heerlen de Kissel - Landgraaf - Eygelshoven Markt - Herzogenrath - Kohlscheid - Aachen West - Aachen Schanz - Aachen Central Station - Aachen-Rothe Erde - Eilendorf - Stolberg (Rheinland) - Eschweiler-West - Eschweiler Talbahnhof - Eschweiler-Nothberg - Eschweiler-Weisweiler - Langerwehe - Düren	DB Class 643	1x per hour	Operates jointly with RB20 from Heerlen to Stolberg
RB 20 Euregiobahn	DB Regio	Heerlen - Heerlen de Kissel - Landgraaf - Eygelshoven Markt - Herzogenrath - Kohlscheid - Aachen West - Aachen Schanz - Aachen Central Station - Aachen-Rothe Erde - Eilendorf - Stolberg (Rheinland) - Stolberg-Schneidmühle - Stolberg-Mühlener Bahnhof - Stolberg-Rathaus - Stolberg-Altstadt	DB Class 643	1x per hour	Operates jointly with RB20 from Heerlen to Düren
RB 20 Euregiobahn	DB Regio	Alsdorf-Annapark - Alsdorf-Busch - Herzogenrath-August-Schmidt-Platz - Herzogenrath-Alt-Merkstein - Herzogenrath - Kohlscheid - Aachen West - Aachen Schanz - Aachen Central Station - Aachen-Rothe Erde - Eilendorf - Stolberg (Rheinland) - Eschweiler-West - Eschweiler Talbahnhof - Eschweiler-Nothberg - Eschweiler-Weisweiler - Langerwehe - Düren	DB Class 643	1x per hour	Operates jointly with RB20 from Alsdorf-Annapark to Stolberg
RB 20 Euregiobahn	DB Regio	Alsdorf-Annapark - Alsdorf-Busch - Herzogenrath-August-Schmidt-Platz - Herzogenrath-Alt-Merkstein - Herzogenrath - Kohlscheid - Aachen West - Aachen Schanz - Aachen Central Station - Aachen-Rothe Erde - Eilendorf - Stolberg (Rheinland) - Stolberg-Schneidmühle - Stolberg-Mühlener Bahnhof - Stolberg-Rathaus - Stolberg-Altstadt	DB Class 643	1x per hour	Operates jointly with RB20 from Alsdorf-Annapark to Düren
RE 29 euregioAIXpress	SNCB/NMBS	Liège-Guillemins - Angleur - Pepinster - Verviers Central - Welkenraedt - Hergenrath - Aachen Central Station	SNCB AM62
RB 33 Rhein-Niers-Bahn	DB Regio	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 Central Station	DB Class 425	1x per hour

Operational usage

Aachen Hauptbahnhof is served by the following lines:

Preceding station	Thalys	Following station
Liège-Guillemins toward Paris-Nord	Thalys	Köln Hbf toward Essen Hbf
Preceding station	DB AG	Following station
Liège-Guillemins toward Bruxelles-Midi	ICE 79	Köln Hbf toward 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-Annapark	RB 20 euregiobahn	Aachen-Rothe Erde toward Düren or Stolberg-Altstadt
Aachen Schanz toward Duisburg Hbf	RB 33 Rhein-Niers-Bahn	Terminus
Preceding station	NMBS/SNCB	Following station
Hergenrath (Belgium) toward Liège-Guillemins	RE 29 (IR q) euregioAIXpress	Terminus

External links

Technical aspects of Aachen station

Cologne-Aachen high-speed rail line (KBS 480)

Stations: Köln Hbf \| Horrem \| Düren \| Eschweiler Hbf \| Stolberg Hbf \| Aachen Hbf