Aachen Hauptbahnhof

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.

Aachen Hauptbahnhof
Hbf
Station forecourt and main entrance
LocationBahnhofplatz 2a
52064 Aachen
Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia
Germany
Coordinates50°46′03″N 6°05′28″E
Line(s)
Platforms7
Construction
ArchitectFriedrich Mettegang
Architectural styleArt Nouveau
Other information
Station code1
DS100 codeKA[1]
IBNR8000001
Category2[2]
Fare zone
  • AVV: Aachen City-XL-Zone[3]
  • VRS: 3100 (AVV transitional tariff)[4]
Websitewww.bahnhof.de
History
Opened1905 (1905)
Services
Preceding station   Thalys   Following station
toward Paris-Nord
Thalys
toward Dortmund Hbf
Preceding station   DB Fernverkehr   Following station
Liège
ICE 79
Cologne
towards Frankfurt
Preceding station   FlixTrain   Following station
TerminusFLX 30
via Hannover - Berlin
Cologne
towards Leipzig
Preceding station   DB Regio NRW   Following station
TerminusRE 1
NRW-Express
toward Hamm Hbf
toward Dortmund Hbf
RE 4
Wupper-Express		Terminus
TerminusRE 9
Rhein-Sieg-Express
toward Siegen Hbf
toward Heerlen or Alsdorf Poststraße
RB 20
Euregiobahn
toward Langerwehe/Düren or Stolberg Altstadt
toward Essen Hbf
RB 33
Rhein-Niers-Bahn		Terminus
Preceding station   Arriva   Following station
TerminusRE 18
LIMAX
toward Maastricht
Preceding station   SNCB/NMBS   Following station
Hergenrath
(Belgium)
toward Liège-Guillemins
RE 29
euregioAIXpress		Terminus
Location
Aachen Hauptbahnhof
Location in North Rhine-Westphalia
Aachen Hauptbahnhof
Location in Germany
Aachen Hauptbahnhof
Location in Europe

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 15 October 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 21 December 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 Regional-Express 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 – Dortmund) 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 Every 2 hours 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
FLX 30 Flixtrain Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Cologne – Düsseldorf – Duisburg – Essen – Dortmund – Bielefeld – Hannover – Berlin-Spandau – Berlin Hbf – Berlin Südkreuz – Lutherstadt Wittenberg – Leipzig Siemens Vectron BR193 + railway coaches 8x per week
NJ 425 ÖBB Nightjet Brussels-South – Brussels-North – Liège-Guillemins – Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Cologne – Bonn-Beuel – Koblenz – Mainz – Frankfurt Airport – Frankfurt South – Nuremberg – Augsburg – Munich – Kufstein – Wörgl – Jenbach – Innsbruck Compartment coaches, Couchette cars, Sleeping cars 2x per week Night Train
NJ 50425 Regensburg – Passau – Wels – Linz – Amstetten – St. Pölten – Wien Meidling – Vienna
RE 1 NRW-Express DB Regio NRW Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Eschweiler – Düren – Horrem – Cologne – Düsseldorf – Duisburg Hbf – Mülheim (Ruhr) – Essen – Bochum – Dortmund – Hamm 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
RE 18 LIMAX Arriva Nederland Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Aachen West – Herzogenrath – Eygelshoven Markt – Landgraaf – Heerlen – Valkenburg – Meerssen – Maastricht Stadler FLIRT 3 1x per hour
RB 20 Euregiobahn DB Regio NRW Alsdorf-Annapark – Alsdorf-Busch – Herzogenrath-August-Schmidt-Platz – Herzogenrath-Alt-Merkstein – 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
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 Essen - Mülheim (Ruhr) - Mülheim-Styrum - Duisburg – Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd – Rheinhausen Ost – Rheinhausen – Krefeld-Hohenbudberg Chempark – 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:

gollark: I do most of my calculation in `units` or a python terminal window, and I have those conveniently bound to a keyboard shortcut.
gollark: I see.
gollark: They don't even have full-color screens?
gollark: They're definitely computers, as you can run Doom on them.
gollark: The Casio graphing ones which are popular here have some weird Renesas microcontrollers.

References
  1. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas) (2009/2010 ed.). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
  2. "Stationspreisliste 2020" [Station price list 2020] (PDF) (in German). DB Station&Service. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  3. "Liniennetzplan Region Aachen" (PDF). Aachener Verkehrsverbund. 9 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  4. "VRS-Gemeinschaftstarif" (PDF) (in German). Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg. 20 April 2020. p. 197. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
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