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Zwiesel station is the most important railway hub in the Bavarian Forest in southern Germany and is served by the Bavarian Forest railway (Bayerische Waldbahn).
The glass-making town of Zwiesel is the meeting point on the main line from Plattling to Bayerisch Eisenstein - taken into service on 15 November 1877 - with the two branch lines to Bodenmais (opened on 3 September 1928) and Grafenau (opened on 1 September 1890). This railway network is also known as the Zwieseler Spinne (Zwiesel spider). The station is the only one within the network that is still manned and is operated by the Regentalbahn under contract from DB Regio Bayern.
Until 1987 the Deutsche Bahn VT 601 trains known as the Alpen-See Express (Alpine Lake Express) even brought tourists to Zwiesel and into the Bavarian Forest. Through coaches on the InterCitytrains, IC Arber and IC Bayerwald, ran to Zwiesel until 2000.
Today railway operations, apart from occasional specials, are only run in regular timetabled service using the yellow-green Regio-Shuttles of the Regentalbahn under the operating name of Waldbahn. Trains from the long-distance stop at Plattling, from Bodenmais station and from the border station of Bayerisch Eisenstein (including trains that are run to and from the Czech station at Špičák) meet every hour just before the hour. On every odd-numbered hour, trains from Grafenau also meet at the station.
On the station forecourt there are several bus stops from where the town buses, regional buses of the RBO and Falkenstein buses depart.
No regular goods trains call here any more. However, the station’s proximity to the Schott glass factory and the availability of its goods sheds mean that it still sees a large amount of goods traffic.
Between September 2006 and July 2007 a new island platform was built. The interior of the station building was also renovated. And since spring 2008, the Deutsche Bahn has run a station cafe with integral ticket machines.