Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof | |
---|---|
Entrance building | |
Operations | |
Category | 2 |
Type | Through station |
Platforms in use | 5 |
DS100 code | KW |
Station code | 6914 |
Construction and location | |
Opened | 1850 [1] |
Style of architecture | Neo-classical |
Architect | Hauptner and Ebeling |
Location | Wuppertal |
State | North Rhine-Westphalia |
Country | Germany |
Route information | |
List of railway stations in North Rhine-Westphalia |
Wuppertal Central Station (German: Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof) is a railway station for the city of Wuppertal, which is just south of the Ruhr Area, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is on the line between Düsseldorf/Cologne and Dortmund. The 1848 reception building is one of the oldest of its kind. The station was originally Elberfeld station and has been renamed several times since. Since 1992, it has been called Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof.[1]
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On 3 September 1841, a few years after the opening of the first railway in Germany, the Dusseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company (German: Düsseldorf-Elberfelder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, DEE) began operation of the Düsseldorf–Elberfeld line from its Düsseldorf station to its Elberfeld station (now Wuppertal-Steinbeck station).[2] It was the first steam-worked railway line in Western Germany and Prussia.
The Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, BME), opened its Elberfeld–Dortmund railway from its Elberfeld station (known as Döppersberg station) via Hagen to Dortmund to Schwelm on 9 October 1847. It was extended to Hagen and Dortmund on 20 December 1848.[2] The BME took over the DEE in 1857.
The first provisional station building became inadequate within a few years. It was decided to build a new building, designed by Hauptner and Ebeling and opened in 1850[1] on a new section of line connecting the BME and DEE lines, which was completed on 9 March 1849.[2] Around 1900, a protruding porch was built in front of the ground floor, which conflicted with the architectural design. Nevertheless, this concept was maintained after its reconstruction after World War II. This will only change with the completion of the current renovation of the station/Döppersberg area.
The station has been renamed several times. It was first called Elberfeld, but a few years later it was renamed Elberfeld-Döppersberg and before the First World War it was renamed Elberfeld Hauptbahnhof. In the early 1930s the station’s name was changed to Wuppertal-Elberfeld station as a consequence of the merger of the towns of Elberfeld and Barmen as the city of Wuppertal. Finally in 1992, it was renamed Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof.[1]
The station building is located next to platform track 1 and is connected by a tunnel to tracks 2–5. Above the entrance, near the old Reichsbahn railway division of Elberfeld, there are four pillars supporting the roof. The building is connected by the 200 metre long Döppersberg pedestrian tunnel directly with central Elberfeld and the Wuppertal Hbf (Döppersberg) Schwebebahn (monorail) station.
A McDonald's restaurant has been established in the premises of the former baggage check-in and in the tunnel under the entrance there a large newsagency/book shop and a bakery. The low building in front of the the historic station building houses a pharmacy. In front of the the entrance to the station there is a parking area, including a taxi stand, and nearby there is a Inter City Hotel.
The original building is one of the oldest big city railway stations in Germany. It is a three storey ashlar building bounded by tower-like corner projections. The main entrance in the middle of the building is a four-columned portico, with emphasised Corinthian capitals and has strong antique ornamentation. The ground floor originally had arched openings and it has six rectangular windows on each level and on each side of the portico. It was necessary in 1900 to build a ground-floor entrance porch to cater for the growing need for space for counters and waiting rooms.
The station is part of a ensemble of buildings built in neo-classical style, which is grouped around the railway station forecourt. On the western side of the square is the headquarters of the former Reichsbahn railway division of Elberfeld; on the eastern side there used to be the headquarters of the Chief General Manager, but thus was torn down after the Second World War.
The construction of the station was accompanied by extensive urban development in the Döppersberg area. The Döppersberg bridge (Döppersberger Brücke) was built to connect centre of old Elberfeld with the station over the Wupper.
Preparations for the reconstruction of the Hauptbahnhof and the surrounding area of Döppersberg began in July 2009. The modernisation of the station was formally launched on 30 June 2009. The new station will have a two-floor shopping level, the “Mall”, a square glass cube with space for offices, a large station forecourt, built in the the current Bahnhofstraße, and a bridge, which will include a café, over federal highway 7 (B 7), which will be lowered by about seven metres. The bus station that is now on the B 7 will replace the car park next to the station. The renovation will be completed in 2016.
The modernisation of the entrance building by Deutsche Bahn will start in 2014, at a total cost of € 12.4 million. It is expected that these upgrades will be completed in 2016 simultaneously with the reconstruction of the Döppersberg area.[3]
Although the station possesses only five tracks, less than the other stations of the city, nearly all services running through Wuppertal stop here, except for the S68 S-Bahn service terminating in Vohwinkel. The following services stop at the station:
The following services currently call at Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof:[4]
Series | Operator | Route | Material | Frequency | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ICE31 | DB | Dortmund Hbf - Hagen Hbf - Wuppertal Hbf - Solingen Hbf - Köln Hbf - Siegburg/Bonn - Frankfurt/Main Flughafen Fernbahnhof - Mannheim Hbf - Karlsruhe Hbf - Offenburg - Freiburg Hbf - Basel Bad Bf - Basel SBB | 3x per day | ||
IC55 | DB | Köln Hbf - Solingen Hbf - Wuppertal Hbf - Hagen Hbf - Dortmund Hbf - Hamm (Westf) - Gütersloh Hbf - Bielefeld Hbf - Herford - Bad Oeynhausen - Minden (Westf) - Hannover Hbf - Wolfsburg Hbf - Magdeburg Hbf - Köthen - Halle (Saale) Hbf - Leipzig/Halle Flughafen - Leipzig Hbf | Every 2 Hours | ||
RB47 Der Müngstener | DB | Wuppertal Hbf - Wuppertal-Unterbarmen - Wuppertal-Barmen - Wuppertal-Oberbarmen - Wuppertal-Ronsdorf - Remscheid-Lüttringhausen - Remscheid-Lennep - Remscheid Hbf - Remscheid-Güldenwerth - Solingen-Schaberg - Solingen Mitte - Solingen Grünewald - Solingen Hbf | DB Class 628 | Every 20 Minutes |
Preceding station | DB AG | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
toward München Hbf
|
ICE 31 |
toward Kiel Hbf
|
||
toward Basel SBB
|
ICE 43 |
toward Hannover Hbf
|
||
toward Wien Westbf
|
ICE 91 |
toward Wien Westbf
|
||
toward Passau Hbf
|
IC/EC 31 | |||
toward Köln Hbf
|
IC 55 |
toward Leipzig Hbf
|
The following regional services (Regional-Express and Regionalbahn) call at Wuppertal Hbf:
Preceding station | DB AG | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
toward Aachen Hbf
|
RE 4 Wupper-Express |
toward Dortmund Hbf
|
||
toward Krefeld Hbf
|
RE 7 Rhein-Münsterland-Express |
toward Rheine
|
||
Terminus | RB 47 Der Müngstener |
toward Solingen Hbf
|
||
toward Bonn-Mehlem
|
RB 48 Rhein-Wupper-Bahn |
Terminus | ||
Preceding station | eurobahn | Following station | ||
toward Venlo
|
RE 13 Maas-Wupper-Express |
toward Hamm
|
||
Preceding station | Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn | Following station | ||
toward Mönchengladbach Hbf
|
S8 |
toward Hagen Hbf
|
||
toward Haltern am See
|
S9 | Terminus |