Ahlen (Westfalen) station

Ahlen (Westfalen) station—abbreviated to Ahlen (Westf)—serves the town of Ahlen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is situated on the electrified, four-track Hamm–Minden railway, which connects the Ruhr region to Hanover. It was originally part of the network of the former Cologne-Minden Railway Company and is now part of the Deutsche Bahn network.

Ahlen (Westfalen)
Through station
Ahlen station
Location	Bahnhofstr. 1b, Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany
Coordinates	51°45′42″N 7°53′42″E
Line(s)	Hamm–Minden (KBS 400)
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	23
DS100 code	EAHL[1]
IBNR	8000441
Category	4[2]
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	15 October 1847 (station)[3] 1848 (original entrance building) 1916 (new entrance building)[3]
Services
Preceding station   Deutsche Bahn   Following station Heessen toward Cologne/Bonn Airport RE 6 Rhein-Weser-Express Neubeckum toward Minden Hbf Preceding station   eurobahn   Following station Heessen toward Münster Hbf RB 69 Ems-Börde-Bahn Neubeckum toward Bielefeld Hbf

Platforms in Ahlen station

Bus on line C6 at Ahlen station

History

The station was opened on 15 Ahlen October 1847 during the construction of the trunk line of the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German: Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft). The first station building, built in 1848, was demolished during the First World War, because at this point the line, which had previously run at ground level, was placed on an embankment. The new station building, which is still in use, opened in 1916.[3]

Current significance

The station is a classed as a category 4 station.[2] It is connected by services every half-hour to Bielefeld, Hamm (Westf) and Gütersloh, which each provide further connections under North Rhine-Westphalia’s integrated timetable.[4]

Line	Name	Route	Frequency	Operator
RE 6	Rhein-Weser-Express	Minden – Bielefeld – Ahlen – Hamm (Westf) – Dortmund – Essen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf – Neuss – Cologne – Cologne/Bonn Airport	60 min	DB Regio NRW
RB 69	Ems-Börde-Bahn	Bielefeld – Ahlen – Hamm – Münster (Westf)	60 min	eurobahn
See also List of regional rail lines in North Rhine-Westphalia

The station has a travel centre, which since 2007 has been operated by a private travel agency.[5] There is also a bookstore with a kiosk operation and a bakery. For the purchase of tickets outside of business hours ticket machines are available at the travel centre for long-distance and local services.

The stairways to the platforms are equipped on one side with stairlifts for wheelchair access.

Links from the station

Next to the station is the town’s central bus station. From here city bus lines run to the urban area of Ahlen. Regional bus services run to neighbouring cities. The city buses are operated by Regionalverkehr Münsterland (Regional transport of Münsterland) and the city of Ahlen.[4]

Park and Ride

Behind the station building is a parking area with parking spaces for park-and-ride and “park-and-rail” (for longer journeys than commuting). At the central bus station there are bicycle stands.

Notes

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. "Ahlen (Westf) station operations". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
4. "Ahlen (Westf) station". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
5. Christian Wolf. Ahlen damals und heute – Stadtansichten im Wandel der Jahrzehnte (in German). Münster 2008: Aschendorff Verlag. ISBN 978-3-402-12762-9.CS1 maint: location (link)

References

• "City panorama from Ahlen station" (in German). stadtpanoramen.de. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
• "Station track plan" (PDF, 191.51 kB) (in German). Deutsche Bahn. Retrieved 18 August 2011.