Schwäbisch Gmünd station

Schwäbisch Gmünd station was opened in 1861 and is located northwest of the city centre of Schwäbisch Gmünd in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is on the Rems Railway (German: Remsbahn) and is a stop for InterCity trains.

Schwäbisch Gmünd
Through station
Location	Schwäbisch Gmünd, Baden-Württemberg Germany
Coordinates	48°48′04″N 9°47′18″E
Elevation	319 m (1,047 ft)
Owned by	Deutsche Bahn
Operated by	DB Station&Service
Line(s)	Rems Railway (KBS 786) Hohenstaufen Railway
Platforms	4
Train operators	DB Fernverkehr Go-Ahead Baden-Württemberg
Connections	IC 61 IRE 1 RB 13
Construction
Architect	Georg Morlok
Architectural style	Neoclassical
Other information
Station code	5699[1]
DS100 code	TSG[2]
IBNR	8000329
Category	4[1]
History
Opened	25 July 1861
Services
Preceding station   DB Fernverkehr   Following station Stuttgart towards Karlsruhe IC 61 Aalen towards Nuremberg or Leipzig Preceding station   Go-Ahead Baden-Württemberg   Following station Schorndorf toward Karlsruhe Hbf IRE 1 via Stuttgart Aalen Hbf Terminus Mögglingen (Gmünd) toward Stuttgart Hbf RB 13 via Schwäbisch Gmünd - Aalen Wasseralfingen toward Crailsheim
Location
Schwäbisch Gmünd Location in Baden-Württemberg Show map of Baden-Württemberg Schwäbisch Gmünd Location in Germany Show map of Germany Schwäbisch Gmünd Location in Europe Show map of Europe

History

Options in 1858

Three options were discussed in 1858 for the route of the Rems Railway through the city and the location of the station:

• south of the city
• north of the city, but south of the Rems
• north of the Rems

The first options would have meant passing through parks or the built-up area and the future expansion of the city would have been affected. It was decided that the line would run north of the Rems, which meant that the station would be away from the city centre. It also required the relocation of the Rems river, which would protect the city against flooding.[3][4]

Responsibility for the design of the station building was assigned in Württemberg in the 1850s and 1860s to the chief engineer responsible for the construction of the rail track, which in the case of Rems Railway was Georg Morlok. The construction followed the neoclassical style of station architecture already in use in Württemberg. The small central bell-tower and the pilasters between the arches on the ground floor are typical of Morlok buildings of this era.[5]

Opening

Station in 1868

Station and town in 2006

The first official trial run on the Schorndorf–Gmünd section of the Rems line was held on 29 June 1861 in a festive atmosphere with great general interest. An official opening trip with guests of honour was held on 18 July 1861 and on 25 July scheduled services began between Stuttgart and Wasseralfingen.[6] The station tracks initially included 25 sets of points, a turntable and a water station with two water cranes.[3] A ticket from Gmünd to Stuttgart cost, in second class, 81 kreuzers and, in third class, 51 kreuzers.[7]

Reconstruction in 1907

The station was reconstructed between 16 September 1907 and 1910 to handle increasing traffic and the proposed branch line to Göppingen, the Hohenstaufen Railway. This involved the building of an island platform with an underpass leading to it. A level crossing east of the station was replaced by an underpass. Two stub tracks and a turntable were built for the Hohenstaufen Railway south of the main tracks on the western side of the station building, where there had previously been a goods shed. North of the main tracks, two locomotive sheds were demolished in order to build the new freight yard. The second track of Rems line was being extended from Deinbach block post to Gmünd and this was put into operation on 27 April 1910. After the redevelopment the station tracks had 116 sets of points and two turntables. It became one of the 24 “first class” stations in Württemberg. The Gmünd–Wäschenbeuren section of the Hohenstaufen line was opened on 1 August 1911.[3][8]

In 1923 an eastern industrial track was created, running from the freight yard to an industrial area north of the Rems Railway, which from 1937 included a subsidiary of Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen in Ziegelberg. In 1936, the western industrial track was built south of the main line.[9]

Second World War

As part of Second World War in late 1944 bomb attacks and gun fire from allied fighter-bombers repeatedly killed and injured people in the station and on the surrounding railway lines and disabled rail services by the destruction of railway track and vehicles. A bomb explosion on 19 April 1945 destroyed a railway bridge to the west of the station and broke the connection on the Rems Railway to Stuttgart.[9]

Post-war period

North of the passenger station the freight yard was served by approximately 14,900 freight wagons in 1959.[3] A few years ago it was shut down and the tracks are currently being demolished.

As part of the horticultural show of 2014 in Schwäbisch Gmünd, the station and the surrounding area have been redesigned.

Services

The station has two platforms, connected by an underpass. The underpass has been equipped with lifts in 2014.

Next to the entrance building is platform track 1, which is a through track, on the island platform are track 2 (a through track), track 3 (which is a terminating track from Stuttgart) and the seldom-used platform 4.

The station building built in 1861 is still used as such. Today the facilities for the public are a ticket office, a kiosk, a snack bar and a restaurant.

Operations

The station in 2011 with RE 19458 service from St. Salvator. In the background demolition is under way for the 2014 horticultural show.

Every two hours inter-city services operated by DB Fernverkehr on the Karlsruhe–Stuttgart–Nuremberg route stop at the station. Regional services operated by the DB Regio consist of a pair of Interregio-Express services each day between Aalen and Stuttgart, hourly Regional-Express services on the same route with extra services in peak periods and some Regionalbahn services between Schwäbisch Gmünd and Schorndorf.

• IC 61 Karlsruhe – Stuttgart – Schwäbisch Gmünd – Aalen – Nuremberg
• IRE 1 Stuttgart – Schorndorf – Schwäbisch Gmünd – Aalen
• RE Stuttgart – Waiblingen – Schorndorf – Schwäbisch Gmünd – Aalen
• RB Schorndorf – Schwäbisch Gmünd

Connections

West of the station building is the city's central bus station, in the forecourt there are a taxi rank, parking spaces and bicycle stands; further east is a park-and-ride car park.

Notes

1. "Stationspreisliste 2020" [Station price list 2020] (PDF) (in German). DB Station&Service. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
2. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas) (2009/2010 ed.). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
3. Felix Klaus. 100 Jahre Bahnhof Schwäbisch Gmünd (in German) (in: Einhorn, p. 143 ff.)
4. Helmut Mende. Eisenbahn und Stadtplanung (in German) (in: Einhorn, p. 154 ff.)
5. Roland Feitenhansl (2003). Der Bahnhof Heilbronn – seine Empfangsgebäude von 1848, 1874 und 1958 (in German). Hövelhof: DGEG Medien. p. 173. ISBN 3-937189-01-7.
6. Kurt Seidel. Die Remsbahn. Schienenwege in Ostwürttemberg (in German). Stuttgart: Theiss. pp. 44 ff. ISBN 3-8062-0483-7.
7. E. T. Ein großes Ereignis im Spiegel der Presse (in German) (in: Einhorn, p. 150 ff.)
8. Seidel: Die Remsbahn, p. 71 ff.
9. Seidel: Die Remsbahn, p. 112 ff.

References

• Einhorn, Illustrierte Zeitschrift zur Pflege des Heimatgedankens in Stadt und Kreis Schwäbisch Gmünd (in German). Schwäbisch Gmünd. June 1961 (Special issue on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Rems Railway)

External links

• "Track plan" (PDF) (in German). DB Netze. Retrieved 9 April 2011.