Würzburg Central Station

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Würzburg central station
Facing southeast
Facing southeast
Data
Location in the network Crossing station
Platform tracks 11
abbreviation NWH
IBNR 8000260
Price range 2
opening June 1, 1854
Profile on Bahnhof.de Wuerzburg_Hbf
location
City / municipality Wurzburg
country Bavaria
Country Germany
Coordinates 49 ° 48 '5 "  N , 9 ° 56' 8"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 48 '5 "  N , 9 ° 56' 8"  E
Height ( SO ) 181  m
Railway lines
Railway stations in Bavaria
i11 i16 i18

The Würzburg Central Station ( Würzburg Hbf for short ) is a long-distance train station in the Lower Franconian administrative district capital Würzburg . It was built in 1863 in the north of the city center as a replacement for the former Ludwigsbahnhof in the city center, whose capacity was exhausted after the drastic increase in rail traffic. Even today, the Würzburg main train station is one of the most important train stations in Bavaria with 28,000 travelers per day, as it lies at the intersection of several heavily frequented railway axes. The routes in the north-south direction from Hamburg and Bremen to Munich and in the west-east direction from the metropolitan regions Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main to Nuremberg and Vienna are particularly important. Along with Aschaffenburg, Würzburg is the second ICE train station in Lower Franconia that is operated in regular intervals. The main station serves the city and the district of Würzburg as the most important hub of local public transport through its linking of rail, tram and bus traffic .

history

prehistory

Würzburg's connection to the Ludwigs-West-Bahn

The city of Würzburg - until 1814 the capital of the Grand Duchy of the same name under Ferdinand III.  - belonged to Bavaria for the second time in the middle of the 19th century , since after the Congress of Vienna the kingdom was granted territories in Franconia to compensate for the loss of Tyrol and the Palatinate on the right bank of the Rhine . Due to its peripheral location in Bavaria, however, Würzburg was not connected to the Ludwig-Süd-Nord-Bahn , which crossed the entire kingdom. At the urging of the Bavarian state parliament, the city was connected to the railway network only a few years later via the second state railway line, the Ludwigs-Westbahn . After construction work had started in 1852, the third stage of the 200-kilometer Ludwigs-West Railway was opened on June 1, 1854 with the opening of the approximately 40-kilometer-long Schweinfurt – Würzburg section . In the fourth and last stage, the route via Gemünden am Main and Aschaffenburg to the Bavarian border near Kahl am Main was extended and put into operation on October 1 of the same year.

The first train station from 1852: the Ludwigsbahnhof

Ludwigsbahnhof
View from the access tracks onto the platform hall

For this purpose the first Würzburg train station, the Ludwigsbahnhof named after King Ludwig I , was built and completed in 1856. At the request of the War Ministry , the station was built within the city fortifications, despite the higher land acquisition costs, exactly where the Mainfranken Theater is today. However, as a result of the already dense development, only one terminal station was possible. The area on which the station was to be located was about 400 meters long and between 50 and 100 meters wide and, in addition to the reception building and the platform hall, also had to include a locomotive shed and a shed for parking the wagons . It also included a workshop for maintaining the vehicles and a warehouse for goods. The second structural challenge was the unevenness of the terrain, which is why the tracks had to be laid on embankments up to five meters high and were therefore above the level of the surrounding streets.

The architect was the Royal Building Councilor Gottfried von Neureuther , whose neo-renaissance style shaped many station buildings of the Royal Bavarian State Railways and who described the Würzburg train station as one of the most difficult structures on the Ludwigs-West-Bahn. The reception building was a two-storey building with the front facing west towards Theaterstrasse, where a forecourt was designed as a representative entrance to the city. The ground floor of the building, which is clad with shell limestone and sandstone , was slightly higher due to the elevated position of the tracks, and included the waiting rooms and a restaurant . To the east, a 100-meter-long and 24-meter-wide platform hall was connected to the reception building. Under the 13-meter-high suspended roof there was one track each for passenger and freight trains and two bypass tracks, each of which led out of the hall through its own archway. The introduction of the tracks into the station system caused bigger problems, as only two tracks led through the fortress wall, which branched off in the direction of Schweinfurt and Gemünden immediately after crossing the moat. However, since the northern part of the station was intended for freight trains and the southern part of the station for passenger trains, crossing points had to be inserted on the bridge over the moat , which enabled an introduction to the correct part of the station. After the increase in freight transport in particular, this circumstance significantly restricted capacities.

Relocation and new construction

Background: New railway lines to Ansbach, Fürth and Heidelberg

A regional train in the eastern track apron

In the years that followed, rail traffic grew steadily. Although the lack of raw materials prevented a rapid economic upturn, the construction of new lines made Würzburg a railway junction. First of all, from 1861 a nearly 90-kilometer-long connection between Würzburg and Ansbach was built, from where the Ludwig-Süd-Nord-Bahn in Gunzenhausen was reached via a line built by the city of Ansbach itself . In this way, from 1864, Würzburg received a shorter connection to the large cities of Augsburg and Munich . A year later, a direct route between Rottendorf and Fürth was opened, which had been neglected when the Ludwigs-West-Bahn was built in favor of the route via Bamberg, which was preferred due to its simpler topography . At the same time, the Würzburg – Rottendorf section shared with the old route to Bamberg was expanded to include two tracks. In 1866, the Badische Odenwaldbahn, the last railway line to Würzburg for the time being, went into operation. It was mainly created at the request of Bavaria in order to connect the then Bavarian Rhine Palatinate to its own railway network and led from Würzburg via Osterburken and Mosbach to Heidelberg .

The new train station outside the city center

The terminus could no longer accommodate the traffic on the additional routes. An expansion of the facilities, which were tightly dimensioned right from the start, was no longer possible due to the dense development of the inner city. In order to create greater capacities for passenger traffic, it was initially planned to relocate the freight and shunting traffic to a separate location. Against the background of constantly growing rail traffic and given the operational advantages of a through station, the decision was made in 1862 to build a new station below the Schalksberg near the famous " Würzburger Stein " vineyard in the north of the city. In this previously sparsely built-up area, there was enough space available to create a large through station . The new construction of the station was accompanied by an extensive reorganization of the street structure. The development of the inner city, which so far mainly consisted of narrow and winding streets, has been greatly improved by widening the existing streets and breaking through the central Schönbornstrasse. On April 18, 1866, Bahnhofstrasse was opened as a direct connection between the outlying train station complex and the city center. Another connection was established through the Kaiserstrasse, which was newly laid out in 1870 and completed in 1874. In the immediate vicinity of the train station, a new city quarter was formed, and the ring park was laid out in the English style in place of the former city wall. Institutes of the Julius Maximilians University and imposing Wilhelminian style villas were built between the train station and the banks of the Main . Furthermore, a separate district for railway employees was created northeast of the station area.

The architect Friedrich Bürklein was commissioned with the construction of the reception building, who was responsible for the stations in Augsburg , Bamberg , Nördlingen , Nuremberg and Bad Kissingen after the new construction of the Munich Central Station . Construction began in 1863, the new station began operating in June 1864, and after an expansion that had been carried out in the meantime, the building was completed in 1869. The old station was closed in 1864 and sold to the city of Würzburg in August 1868 by the state railway administration.

The train station in 1919

The reception building was an imposing structure, which consisted of a two-story central hall, which was bordered by two raised side buildings. On the ground floor, the entire front of the central hall consisted of arcade-like archways that provided access to the interior of the station. In addition to a salon for the king, there were the usual facilities of a train station at the time, such as the waiting rooms for four classes , two restaurants, ticket and baggage counters and several administrative rooms . The rooms on the upper floor were intended as apartments for the staff. Due to the tracks, which were also laid on embankments, the platforms were again one level above street level. Therefore, in the middle of the reception building, a flight of stairs led into the station hall supported by 14 marble columns.

The track systems were laid out over an extremely large area, to the north of the platform area siding, locomotive and wagon hangars and maintenance workshops were built. To the east, the operating facilities of the Baden State Railways were also built , which operated on the Odenwald Railway in the direction of Heidelberg, as this was only about 20 kilometers in Bavaria.

Kaiserstraße was laid out from 1872 to 1874 to connect the new train station with the old town . The hall of the old train station, called "Ludwigshalle", was still used, among other things, as a festival hall, around 1882 for the 300th anniversary of the university.

Destruction in World War II, zero hour

Until shortly before the end of the Second World War , Würzburg lived under the illusion that it would be spared an air raid , as there was no industry worth mentioning in the city and, with three hospitals, it was also considered a military hospital . However, Würzburg was of great importance in rail transport, the logistical backbone of German armaments. On February 23, 1945, in a targeted air raid by the United States Army Air Forces, large parts of the station area were destroyed by around 200 bombs or their function was significantly impaired. On the evening of March 16, 1945, two weeks before the city's surrender, another 225 four-engine Avro Lancaster bombers of the Royal Air Force took off in England to destroy the city ("dehousing"). After Friedrich Bürklein's construction of the station, which had already been destroyed on February 23, the station building of the former Ludwigsbahnhof also fell victim to the bombing. The "Ludwigshalle" was used as a museum or as a makeshift school until 1945.

New reception building

Reception building

The ruins of the Ludwigsbahnhof were torn down by the mid-1960s and created what is now the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg Platz. Shortly after the end of the war, the reconstruction of the railway began. Since the station building had also been almost completely destroyed, the then Deutsche Bundesbahn and the executive architect, Bundesbahnoberrat Hans Kern, decided against a reconstruction of the structure and a new building. It was a building in the simple post-war architecture of the 1950s. The entire wide front was glazed, concrete pillars supported the slightly overhanging roof. The construction of the reception hall began in 1952 and was opened on October 2, 1954 to mark the completion of the electrification of the Fürth – Würzburg line. The building was completed in further construction phases by 1961. Inside, a large reception hall was created, which housed a ticket office and various shops, among other things. The north side wall of the hall was adorned with a mosaic on stone slabs by the Eichstatt artist Alois Wünsche-Mitterecker , which showed the original size sectional view of a class 44 steam locomotive . As parts of the wall cladding were repeatedly detached from the vibrations of incoming trains, the mosaic was removed again in 1958 and installed instead in the Nuremberg Transport Museum .

Division of Germany and more recent developments since the 1980s

Just five kilometers from Würzburg Central Station, on the Maintal bridge Veitshöchheim reach ICE-3 trains 200 km / h

Due to its central location in Germany, the Würzburg main station has always been an important junction in rail traffic, with the division of Germany its importance increased again. While the rail traffic between the north and south-east of the republic was previously divided into several routes, the routes through the Thuringian Forest , the Franconian Forest and the Vogtland were now impractical. All trains had to run west of the inner-German border , which meant a considerable additional burden for the routes approaching Munich via Würzburg and Nuremberg or via Mannheim and Stuttgart .

In the 1979/80 annual timetable, 300 passenger, 250 freight train journeys and 100 other train journeys were carried out at Würzburg Central Station on working days. Around 60 passenger and 50 freight trains were shunted.

The high frequency of traffic on the access routes meant that the old routes were relieved of high-speed trains by means of two new routes for high-speed traffic ( Mannheim-Stuttgart and Hanover-Würzburg ). In the course of the 1991 timetable year, the first ICE trains drove to Würzburg, but still under the name "Intercity". In May 1992, Würzburg became an ICE stop on the Hamburg – Würzburg – Munich ICE line .

Arcade planning from 2004

Winning design of the architectural competition for the redesign of the station area

In 2004 the city of Würzburg published plans for Essener Management für Immobilien AG (mfi) to build a 20,000 square meter shopping center including an event hall on the post office area west of the train station . The so-called “Würzburg Arcaden” should extend to today's bus station, which would have been moved to the location of the Quellenbach car park . The ambitious schedule provided for the project to be completed by the end of 2006, but a citizens' initiative warned of drastic interventions in the Ringpark and wanted to get a referendum. Before this could happen, however, the project was abandoned in October 2004 due to differences with the operator of the event hall.

After the project failed at the first attempt, mfi AG brought a revised version to the table in July 2005. Contrary to the original plans, building on the bus station was no longer planned, instead the arcades were to be continued over the west wing of the main station and a transition to the reception building created. Deutsche Bahn intends to invest the proceeds from the sale of the west wing in the modernization of the reception building. Mfi AG promised to finance the redesign of the station forecourt, the relocation of the bus station to the eastern side of the station and the greening of the current location. Far-reaching changes were also planned in the area of ​​tram and tram traffic, for example the Hauger and Röntgenring were to be widened in sections to five lanes and the tram route to Grombühl was to be relocated from Haugerring to Haugerglacisstrasse.

On December 14, 2005, the city ​​council voted with a narrow majority for the construction of the Würzburg Arcaden, thus setting the course for the 250 million euro project. In mid-2006, an architects' competition for the redesign of the area around the station was finally launched, which was decided in favor of the Stuttgart office Auer + Weber + Assoziierte and the Hamburg landscape architects WES & Partner.

The citizens' initiative "Ring Park-in-danger" obtained a city in the referendum , which took place on 3 December of 2006. Despite the planned renaturation of the bus station area, it warned of further interventions in the Ringpark, an impending traffic collapse and the desertification of the city ​​center after the opening of the shopping center. With a turnout of over 40 percent, the citizens of Würzburg decided against the joint project of mfi, Bahn und Stadt with around 51 to 49 percent - a majority of 985 votes made the difference. After the vote, many citizens criticized the confusing and difficult-to-understand design of the voting slip. More than 12 percent of all votes cast were invalid.

At the beginning of 2016, the site was finally sold by the new mfi owner Unibail-Rodamco to the Würzburg Beethoven group, which is planning mixed use with apartments, hotels, offices and local amenities.

The train station today

Structural and infrastructural condition

Reception building

Entrance hall of the Würzburg main station (2018)

Since the reception building has only been changed slightly since its completion until today, the basic structure of the concept from that time is almost completely preserved. As part of the gradual renovation, the reception building was completely redesigned from 2012. An energetic refurbishment of the building and the renewal of the facade had already been carried out in 2010. Since the renovation, a fast food restaurant has been located on the east side of the entrance hall next to the travel center . The station mission has been moved to the west wing of the building and the east exit has been locked. Sales pavilions set up in the middle of the hall in summer 2006 were removed during the redesign. Since then, all shops have been on the edges of the entrance hall. The toilet facility, which had long been criticized as unsanitary, was also renewed. In addition, there are conference rooms on the upper floor in the western part of the building and business rooms in the eastern part.

During the renovation work, the S-shaped access to the platform underpass, which was previously at the northwest end of the hall, was temporarily relocated to the northeast end, where it now runs.

The “Bürgerstuben” restaurant was housed in the western part of the building until June 2007. Against the background of the planned modernization of the station as part of the arcade project, the operator SSP Germany, the successor to the railway's own catering company Mitropa , was terminated in October 2006. SSP did not respond to a withdrawal of the termination on the part of Deutsche Bahn after the Arcaden failed.

Platforms and track systems

Platform underpass

Even today, the station has extensive track systems on which, in addition to passenger traffic , many freight trains also pass through the Main Franconian city. The two southern tracks (201 and 202) are reserved exclusively for freight traffic. The house platform , which was used for a long time as an intercity parking lot, was renovated when the new platform underpass was built and has been used by trains again since then. Passenger traffic is carried out on six platforms:

  • Platform A: Platform 1 (local traffic); Length: 210 m
  • Platform B: tracks 2 and 3 (local traffic); Length: 435 m
  • Platform C: tracks 4 and 5 (long-distance and local traffic); Length: 444 m
  • Platform D: tracks 6 and 7 (long-distance and local traffic); Length: 417 m
  • Platform E: tracks 8 and 9 (local traffic); Length: 300 m
  • Platform F: tracks 10 and 11 (local traffic); Length: 329 m

All platforms are 76 cm high and thus have one of the two standard heights used in Germany. Step-free entry is still not possible in any of the trains that run here, as Deutsche Bahn does not have long-distance trains with boarding heights of 76 cm, and the regional trains that run here are mostly older and can only be reached via several steps in the boarding area. The new class 642 multiple units used by the DB subsidiary Westfrankenbahn partly on the route to Bad Mergentheim also offer no barrier-free access despite their low-floor design , as their entry is 55 cm high, so passengers have to go down one step. Three of the five platforms (B, C and D) are suitable for long-distance traffic in terms of their length and are divided into five platform sections. Platforms C and D are planned for the ICE trains, which are up to 410 meters long, and are covered over almost their full length. At the end of 2006, the formerly common train destination displays with fall leaves on the platforms and in the underpass were replaced by modern LCD screens .

The platforms can currently be reached through two tunnels that are at street level. The old tunnel currently still opens up platforms A, E and F and, like the platforms themselves, is not designed for the current number of passengers. The entrances are not directly barrier-free, only platform A has an elevator. However, platform E can be reached via a detour through a tunnel west of the station via a longer ramp. The subsequently built platform F can only be reached barrier-free via a transition from platform E over the track bed. The new tunnel opens up platforms B to D and is about twice as wide as the old underpass. This new underpass has been made barrier-free with elevators and a tactile guidance system, but currently only the stairs in the west have been completed.

In autumn 2015, the barrier-free expansion of the station began. First of all, the house platform (track 1) was reactivated and the intercity parking lot located there was relocated to the east. Subsequently, starting with platform B, all platforms began to be provided with new flooring and the roof and superstructures were renewed. During this work, new stairways and elevator shafts will be integrated that lead into the new, widened platform underpass. This work was completed on platforms B to D in April 2018. The remaining platforms E and F should be completed by mid-2019. The old underpass is then to be dismantled by 2021. On platforms B, C and D, the order of the platform sections was reversed as part of the renovation so that they correspond to the current requirements of the railway. The old order will be retained on the remaining platforms until they are renovated.

In 1959 a DrS signal box went into operation. The 4.7 million D-Mark complex replaced five old signal boxes and saved 28 posts. In 1969 the system was supplemented by a switching interlocking (SpDrS-600 technology). This system, which cost 1.2 million D-Marks, saved eight items.

In the 1970s, the introduction of the new Hanover – Würzburg line to the Würzburg main station was planned. The route was to be introduced in such a way that all platform tracks could be reached from the new line. In order to increase the number of trains entering and leaving at the same time, the new line was laid between the two tracks of the Würzburg - Aschaffenburg railway line. At the same time, it should be possible to take 750 m long freight trains to the station for overhaul when the platform tracks are full. From these and other requirements, a framework plan that can be implemented in stages was developed for the expansion of the Würzburg main station.

Extensive track work in the Westkopf (June 1987)

In order to meet the increasing performance requirements due to the new line under construction and the third track to Rottendorf, the west head was completely rebuilt and the east head partially rebuilt. In 1984 a new signal box was put into operation for this purpose. From 1989 to 1999 the station entrances were extensively rebuilt. By installing slimmer switches and improving the signaling technology , the performance of the node could be increased. The entry and exit speed in the east head was increased from 40 to 80 km / h and in the west head from 60 to 80 km / h, the exit to the high-speed section can be driven at 100 km / h. In addition, the traffic flows in the entry and exit areas were largely free of intersections, and freight traffic was concentrated on the south side of the station. These measures made it possible to increase the capacity of the track systems significantly and to make operations less prone to disruption. The travel time saved in long-distance traffic is around two minutes, and around seven minutes in connection with extensions to the Würzburg – Nuremberg railway line. The cost of the expansion amounted to around 115 million D-Marks (around 60 million euros). Between 1988 and 1991 the entry and exit speed at the Ostkopf had been increased from 40 to 60 km / h.

Station forecourt

Kiliansbrunnen

The station forecourt extends from the reception building to the Röntgen or Haugerring. It was bordered to the east and west by two rows of pavilions that housed various shops. The partially dilapidated pavilions were demolished in 2016 and the resulting open space was temporarily greened. A new construction of the pavilions is not expected before 2019.

In the middle of the square stands the Kiliansbrunnen on a pedestal , which was inaugurated by Prince Regent Luitpold on the occasion of the Kilianifest on July 8, 1895 and is the only relic of the former train station that still exists. The Kiliansbrunnen was a gift from Prince Regent Luitpold to the Würzburg people after they had built the Frankonia Fountain in honor of Luitpold in front of the residence .

A bronze statue of Saint Kilian stood over the basin of the fountain from 1895 to 1943. This was dismantled in 1943 in order to melt it down for armaments production . In 1949 this statue was bought back from a Hamburg scrap store, assembled (as part of the rebuilding of the city of Würzburg after the Second World War ) and returned to its intended use on July 8, 1949. The fountain, made of Italian Carrara marble , was last sandblasted in the 1970s . After that, the Maremor became porous. The fountain was supported for several years due to the risk of collapse, dismantled in April 2007 for the purpose of renovation , transported to the nearby Frankenhalle and restored there. As far as possible, the old parts were reused, irreparable parts were replaced with new parts based on historical models. The cost of around one million euros was borne by the city and the Free State of Bavaria. The fountain was re-inaugurated on July 24, 2009. The Franconian Apostle Kilian crowns the fountain and turns to the city in a blessing. Fishing and viticulture are shown in reliefs.

A turning loop of the Würzburg tram leads around Kiliansbrunnen , which serves two stops here.

Transport links

Railway lines

Western track apron of Würzburg Central Station, in the middle of the picture the ramp of the high-speed line

Several important rail axes intersect at the Würzburg main station. All lines are electrified and double-tracked, the heavily frequented passage from Würzburg to Rottendorf has three tracks. The high-speed route from the direction of Fulda is largely accessible at 250 km / h according to the timetable. The continuation towards Nuremberg can be driven in sections at up to 200 km / h. On the remaining routes, which are mainly used in regional traffic, the trains reach speeds of 120 to 160 km / h. The following is an overview of the course book sections that begin and end here:

Long-distance and regional connections

The Würzburg main station is connected to the railway network via the following lines (as of: 2018 timetable) :

Long-distance traffic:

Train type route Tact Vehicles in regular operation
ICE 25 Lübeck main station - Hamburg HBF - Hamburg-Harburg - Hanover HBF - Göttingen - Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe - Fulda - Würzburg HBF - Nuremberg HBF - Ingolstadt HBF - Munich HBF individual trains ICE 2 , ICE 1
Hamburg-Altona - Hamburg-Dammtor - Hourly
Bremen main station - Every two hours
ICE 31 Dortmund HBF - Hagen HBF - Wuppertal HBF - Solingen HBF - Cologne HBF - Bonn HBF - Koblenz HBF - Mainz HBF - Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Fernbahnhof - Frankfurt (Main) HBF - Hanau HBF - Würzburg HBF - Nuremberg HBF - Ingolstadt HBF - Munich HBF a pair of trains ICE T
ICE 41 Dortmund HBF - Bochum HBF - Essen HBF - Duisburg HBF - Düsseldorf HBF - Cologne Messe / Deutz - Frankfurt (Main) Airport long-distance train station - Frankfurt (Main) HBF - Aschaffenburg HBF - Würzburg main station - Nuremberg main station - Ingolstadt main station - Munich main station Hourly ICE 3
Frankfurt (Main) HBF - Mainz HBF - Wiesbaden HBF - Cologne Messe / Deutz - Düsseldorf HBF - Duisburg HBF - Essen HBF - Bochum HBF - Dortmund HBF - Hamm (Westf) - Soest - Lippstadt - Paderborn HBF - Altenbeken - Warburg (Westf) - Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe - Fulda - a pair of trains
ICE 91 Dortmund HBF - Hagen HBF - Wuppertal HBF - Solingen HBF - Cologne HBF - Bonn HBF - Koblenz HBF - Mainz HBF - Frankfurt (Main) Airport long-distance train station - Frankfurt (Main) HBF - Hanau HBF - Würzburg HBF - Nuremberg HBF - Regensburg HBF - Plattling - Passau HBF - Linz HBF - St. Pölten - Vienna HBF Every two hours ICE T
Bochum HBF - Essen HBF - Duisburg HBF - Düsseldorf HBF -
Hamburg-Altona - Hamburg-Dammtor - Hamburg HBF - Hamburg-Harburg - Hanover HBF - Göttingen - Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe - Fulda - a pair of trains
IC 26 Hamburg-Altona - Hamburg-Dammtor - Hamburg HBF - Hamburg-Harburg - Lüneburg - Uelzen - Celle - Hanover HBF - Göttingen - Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe - Fulda - Würzburg HBF - Steinach (near Rothenburg) - Ansbach - Treuchtlingen - Donauwörth - Augsburg HBF - Munich-Pasing - Munich East - Rosenheim - Bad Endorf - Prien a. Chiemsee - Übersee - Traunstein - Freilassing - Piding - Bad Reichenhall - Berchtesgaden HBF a pair of trains IC
Buchloe - Kaufbeuren - Kempten (Allgäu) main station - Immenstadt - Sonthofen - Oberstdorf
IC 31 Kiel main station - Neumünster - Hamburg HBF - Hamburg-Harburg - Bremen HBF - Osnabrück HBF - Münster (Westf) HBF - Dortmund HBF - Hagen HBF - Wuppertal HBF - Solingen HBF - Cologne HBF - Bonn HBF - Koblenz HBF - Mainz HBF - Frankfurt (Main) Airport long-distance train station - Frankfurt (Main) HBF - Hanau HBF - Würzburg HBF - Nuremberg HBF (- Regensburg HBF - Straubing - Plattling - Passau HBF ) a pair of trains IC
Hamburg Altona - two pairs of trains
EN Hamburg Altona - Hamburg Dammtor - Hamburg HBF - Hanover HBF - Göttingen - Würzburg HBF - Nuremberg HBF - Augsburg HBF - Munich HBF - Rosenheim - Kufstein - Wörgl HBF - Jenbach - Innsbruck HBF a pair of trains ÖBB Nightjet
EN Cologne HBF - Bonn HBF - Koblenz HBF - Mainz HBF - Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Fernbahnhof - Frankfurt (Main) Süd - Würzburg HBF - Nuremberg HBF - Regensburg HBF - Passau HBF - Wels HBF - Linz HBF - Amstetten - St. Pölten - Vienna HBF - Vienna HBF (car train system) a pair of trains ÖBB Nightjet
ASN Alpen-Sylt night express:
Westerland (Sylt)  - Husum  - Hamburg HBF  - Frankfurt (Main) Süd  - Würzburg HBF  - Nuremberg HBF  - Augsburg HBF  - Munich  - Salzburg HBF 		two pairs of trains a week


Regional traffic:

Train type route Tact vehicles

in the

Regular operation

RE Würzburg main station - Schweinfurt main station - Ebenhausen (Unterfr) Bad Kissingen - Hammelburg Every two hours BR 612
Münnerstadt - Bad Neustadt (Saale) - Mellrichstadt - Grimmenthal - Suhl - Zella-Mehlis - Plaue (Thür) - Arnstadt HBF - Neudietendorf - Erfurt HBF
RE Würzburg HBF - Schweinfurt HBF - Haßfurt - Bamberg (- Forchheim - Erlangen - Fürth (Bay) HBF - Nürnberg HBF ) (Two) hourly BR 442, BR 445
RE Würzburg main station - Rottendorf - Dettelbach - Buchbrunn-Mainstockheim - Kitzingen - Iphofen - Markt Bibart - Neustadt (Aisch) - Emskirchen - Siegelsdorf - Fürth (Bay) main station - Nuremberg main station Hourly BR 440
RE Würzburg HBF - Lauda - Osterburken - Möckmühl - Bad Friedrichshall HBF - Neckarsulm - Heilbronn HBF - Bietigheim-Bissingen - Ludwigsburg - Stuttgart HBF Hourly BR 146 + double deck car
RE Würzburg HBF - Karlstadt - Gemünden (Main) - Lohr - Aschaffenburg HBF - Hanau HBF - Offenbach (Main) HBF - Frankfurt (Main) Süd - Frankfurt (Main) HBF Hourly BR 445
RB ( Schlüchtern - Sterbfritz -) Jossa - Obersinn - Mittelinn - Burgsinn - Rieneck - Gemünden (Main) - Wernfeld -

Karlstadt - Himmelstadt - Retzbach-Zellingen - Thüngersheim - Veitshöchheim - Würzburg-Zell - Würzburg HBF - Rottendorf - Seligenstadt - Bergtheim - Essleben - Waigolshausen - Schweinfurt HBF - Schweinfurt Mitte - Schweinfurt city - Schonungen - Haßfurt - Zeil (Main) - Ebelsbach-Eltmann - Oberhaid - Bamberg

(Two) hourly BR 440n
RB Karlstadt - Himmelstadt - Retzbach-Zellingen - Thüngersheim - Veitshöchheim - Würzburg-Zell - Würzburg HBF - Würzburg South - Winterhausen - Goßmannsdorf - Ochsenfurt - Marktbreit - Uffenheim - Steinach (near Rothenburg) - Burgbernheim-Wildbad - Oberdachstetten - Ansbach - Triesdorf - Muhr a. See - Gunzenhausen - Treuchtlingen Hourly BR 425, BR 440
RB Würzburg HBF - Würzburg South - Reichenberg - Geroldshausen - Kirchheim (Unterfr) - Gaubüttelbrunn - Wittighausen - Zimmer - Grünsfeld - Gerlachsheim - Lauda Hourly BR 425
RB Würzburg main station - Rottendorf - Seligenstadt - Bergtheim - Essleben - Waigolshausen - Schweinfurt main station - Schweinfurt center - Schweinfurt city Hourly (HVZ) BR 425, BR 440
RB Würzburg HBF - Rottendorf - Dettelbach - Buchbrunn-Mainstockheim - Kitzingen Hourly (HVZ) BR 425, BR 426
RB Würzburg HBF - Würzburg South - Winterhausen - Goßmannsdorf - Ochsenfurt - Marktbreit Hourly (HVZ) BR 425


Long-distance lines

Due to its favorable location, long-distance trains from all over Germany and neighboring countries have always passed through Würzburg Central Station. Therefore it was also used by several lines of the Trans-Europ-Express (TEE), introduced in 1957 by several European railway companies as a comfort train . With an inner-German inland line and two lines to Vienna and Klagenfurt , however, only cities in the neighboring country of Austria were reached directly.

  • TEE 21/22 "Rheinpfeil" Dortmund - Frankfurt - Würzburg - (Nuremberg -) Munich
  • TEE 90/91 " Blue Gentian " Hamburg - Würzburg - Munich - Klagenfurt
  • TEE 26/27 "Prinz Eugen" Bremen - Würzburg - Nuremberg - Vienna

When the Deutsche Bundesbahn gradually introduced a new intercity network from 1968 onwards, which was more popular with passengers with two-class trains than the TEE, which only had first class, the connections were gradually discontinued.

An ICE 3 drives over the ramp west of the main train station onto the high-speed line Hanover – Würzburg

On May 27, 1988, the Fulda – Würzburg section was the first major section of the Hanover – Würzburg high-speed line. At 12:58 p.m. the InterCityExperimental arrived at Würzburg Central Station as the official opening train. On May 28th and 29th, the opening of the section was celebrated with a big station party, with numerous shuttle trips to Fulda being offered. As a scheduled passenger train on the new line, IC 686 Herrenchiemsee left Würzburg Central Station on May 29 at 9:17 a.m. The first train to arrive regularly via the NBS was IC 581 Veit Stoss at 10:42 a.m.

With the beginning of the summer timetable in 1991, the Intercity-Express, the newly created highest type of train of the Deutsche Bundesbahn, went into operation, but ran past Würzburg with the Hamburg – Munich line via Hanover, Frankfurt (Main), Mannheim and Stuttgart. After the delivery of further ICE trains, a second connection between Hamburg and Munich, which took an eastern route south of Fulda, was able to connect the northern Bavarian cities of Würzburg and Nuremberg from March 31, 1992. With the delivery of the new ICE 2 trains , a two-hour wing train to Bremen could be offered from 1997 . While almost all of the north-south long-distance traffic running through Würzburg had already been converted to ICE connections in 1992, the east-west line was still used by intercity trains for a long time. Only after the high-speed route Cologne – Rhein / Main went into operation in 2002 were the previous intercity connections from the Ruhr area to Nuremberg or Munich largely replaced by two-hour ICE trains. The 300 km / h fast ICE 3 trains have been in use here since then. After the integration of the high-speed line Nuremberg – Ingolstadt – Munich into the nationwide long-distance network in December 2006, this connection was condensed to an hourly cycle and the trains were extended to double units in individual timetable positions . When the timetable changed in December 2007, the IC / EC line from Dortmund to Vienna was converted to ICE trains with tilting technology, so that four of the five ICE train types used by Deutsche Bahn now stop in Würzburg.

Up until December 2006, all long-distance trains were oriented towards the 30-minute clock , which meant that long-distance and regional traffic could generally connect to one another. Since the beginning of the 2007 timetable year, the ICE line 41 was compressed to an hourly cycle, the trains on this line have touched the Würzburg main station around the hour. Due to the mutual connection options to the regional train line towards Schweinfurt and Gemünden (Main), which has also been shifted in its timetable, a second clock node was established, but the correspondence between the ICE lines 25 and 41 was lost. All other ICE and IC lines continue to reach and leave the station every half hour and have connections to all Regional Express lines and the regional trains to Treuchtlingen and Crailsheim. In the direction of Nuremberg there is thus a half-hourly long-distance service with gaps in intervals, as some trains on line 25 run via Augsburg instead of via Nuremberg. The ICE trains to Munich (line 25) and Vienna (line 31) always leave the Würzburg main station at the same hour with an interval of about five minutes.

In addition to the lines offered at regular intervals, there are a few other Intercity and Eurocity connections that do not run on all weekdays or only with one pair of trains per day, for example with the destinations Berchtesgaden , Garmisch-Partenkirchen , Oberstdorf , Rostock or Hanover . With EuroNight trains, for example, you can travel to Copenhagen , Vienna , Düsseldorf or Munich ; Night trains run via Berlin , Stralsund to Binz .

Regional transport lines

A Modus set and a class 612 diesel multiple unit in Würzburg Central Station

On the routes around Würzburg, the DB Regional Business Unit Regio Franken and the independent DB subsidiary Westfrankenbahn operate a dense range of transport services. With six regional express lines, Würzburg is connected directly to major cities such as Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Frankfurt (Main) and Erfurt, and four regional train lines ensure that the communities in the catchment area are better served. Deutsche Bahn used locomotive-hauled push-pull trains from former n-cars on most routes . Train locomotives were usually the series 111 , 112 , 143 and, since mid-2006, the new series 146.2 . The trains to Nuremberg via Bamberg were operated with double-deck coaches of the third class and BR 146.2. Alstom Coradia Continental trains have been in use since the timetable change in 2010 .

However, the number of trains is not sufficient, which is why trains from the 425 series will also be used from 2013 . The Regional Express to Bamberg has also been operated with trains of this series since the timetable change in 2013. The Regional Express to Nuremberg via Bamberg is driven with Bombardier Talent 2 .

All Regional Express trains (except for the Mainfranken-Thuringia Express) and the regional trains to Treuchtlingen arrive at Würzburg Central Station just before half an hour and leave it a few minutes after half an hour. There is a mutual connection with two long-distance lines. The regional train trains in the direction of Gemünden (Main) connect to the ICE line 41 to Frankfurt and depart at minute 1. The trains in the direction of Schweinfurt offer a connection to the ICE line 41 to Munich and depart at minute 8. Since the regional express to Stuttgart has been running every hour from the afternoon, the regional trains in the direction of Bad Mergentheim also leave shortly after the hour. The regional trains to and from Kitzingen are coordinated with the ICE line 41 in the load direction . In the morning they act as a feeder and in the evening as a pick-up for the trains to and from Frankfurt.

On June 8, 2006, the Bavarian Railway Company tendered the operation of regional traffic in the electrical network around Würzburg across Europe. With the lines going from here to Schlüchtern , Bamberg, Nuremberg and Treuchtlingen, it includes all lines except the Frankenbahn to Stuttgart. The trains on the branch to Nuremberg are to be run as regional express, the others as regional trains. Part of the competition project was an increase in the annual number of train kilometers to 5.7 million, which in particular should close gaps in the evening hours and offer additional trains during rush hour. On February 9, 2007, the contract was awarded to the previous operator DB Regio, which has now secured its dominant position in Lower Franconia. Operations will start in stages from December 2009 to December 2010 and will end uniformly in December 2021.

Link with tram and bus traffic

In addition to its function as a railway junction, the Würzburg main station is also the central transfer station for tram and bus traffic. On the station forecourt, the Würzburg tram serves the stops Hauptbahnhof West and Hauptbahnhof Ost. This division of the departure platforms for the trains going to the city center (west) and Grombühl (east) was introduced in 1996 as a “provisional” until a new central stop was built, but this has not yet been implemented. Immediately to the west of the station forecourt is the bus station , where a large part of the inner-city and regional bus routes have their starting point.

Development since 2010

Modernization of the station and its surroundings

Barrier-free expansion and renovation as part of the State Garden Show 2018

The station has been gradually renovated since 2010. Originally, this work was supposed to be completed by the State Garden Show 2018, but this schedule could not be adhered to.

From 2010 the reception building was energetically renovated. Initially, almost the entire outer facade of the building was removed, as was the elongated canopy. A new, energy-saving facade was then installed and windows made of insulating glass were used. The new canopy was extended by 1.5 meters towards the forecourt, and the retail stores also received new windows. During this work, the old east entrance was also closed, and since then access to the station has only been through the large south portal. The striking, large clock on the outer facade from 1956 was also completely overhauled.

The redesign of the reception hall began in 2012. In order to provide more clarity, the sales booths in the middle of the waiting hall were first removed. All sales outlets were then renovated and the toilet facilities were also renewed. A puncture was made at the former travel center to provide temporary access to the station underpass. The travel center has since been located on the east side of the entrance hall. The station mission housed there was relocated to the west wing of the building. In addition, the conference and business rooms on the upper floor were renovated.

The platforms have been renovated since October 2015, with a new, larger underpass being built. First, the house platform (track 1) was reactivated to compensate for the tracks that were closed during the renovation. For this it was repaired and made barrier-free with an elevator. The intercity parking lot located there was relocated to the east. Then the restoration of the remaining platforms began. The floor covering, the superstructures and the roof are being renewed. In addition, the new west staircase and an elevator shaft for the new underpass will be built. In addition, the order of the platform sections is reversed so that they correspond to the current requirements of the railway. On April 9, 2018, the new underpass, which makes platforms B to D barrier-free, was opened in time for the 2018 State Garden Show. Platforms E and F will also be renovated by mid-2019 and connected to the new underpass. At the same time, the new east stairs will be built on the remaining platforms. Finally, the old underpass is to be dismantled by 2021. The gaps in the roof and pavement above and around the old entrances that arise during the expansion due to structural reasons can also be closed.

The barrier-free expansion of the station is expected to cost around 61 million euros.

Reorganization of the station area

The short-term car park on the east side of the station building, the area where the bus station and the new tram route towards Grombühl will be located in the future

In order to reorganize the area around the station, there are plans to build a central bus station and a central tram stop in front of the reception building. It would be possible to expand the ring park on the area of ​​the current bus station. However, it is still unclear where a possible central bus station or a long-distance bus station could be built. The area west of the train station is owned by the Würzburg Beethoven Group, the area to the east is currently still owned by subsidiaries of Deutsche Bahn, but the investor Gerold Bader also has plans to use this area. A possible use of previously fallow areas north of the tracks is also in the room.

In June 2016 the partially dilapidated eastern pavilions on the station forecourt were demolished, the western pavilions were demolished in December 2016. These areas were temporarily greened. A new construction of the pavilions will not take place until after the State Garden Show 2018. The station forecourt is to be made more attractive through a uniform design and the new construction of the sales pavilions. The road surface on the forecourt itself is also to be renewed. The construction of the new pavilions is questionable as of 2018, as both the city administration and citizens find the more open situation on the forecourt appealing.

Others

Railway accident on February 16, 2020

In the late evening of February 16, 2020, there was a flank journey in the apron of the main train station between a freight train with tank wagons, which was traveling as a train ride , and a Bombardier Twindexx regional train , which was shunting from the siding to the platform. The former drove the locomotive into the rear wagons of the regional train, several wagons derailed on both train units. There was a lot of material damage to the trains and parts of the rail infrastructure, nobody was injured. The investigation into the cause is still ongoing.

Trivia

Train destination sign of the record run

On May 1, 1988, a world record run of the ICE prototype InterCityExperimental started at Würzburg main station . The multiple unit reached a speed of 406.9 km / h on the specially designed section between Würzburg and Mottgers , thus holding the world record for wheel-rail vehicles .

In a comparison of 23 German train stations in 2005, Würzburg Central Station received the title “Germany's ugliest train station” from the tabloid Bild am Sonntag . The criticisms included in particular the poorly maintained toilets, the narrow and dark platform underpass and the lack of senior-friendly equipment.

literature

  • Erich Preuß (Ed.): Würzburg Hbf. In: The large archive of German railway stations. GeraMond
  • Suse jewelry: the train station and its place. Schöningh, Würzburg 2004, ISBN 3-87717-811-1 .
  • Ulrich Wagner: Würzburg. A lost cityscape. Wartberg, Gudensberg-Gleichen 1994, ISBN 3-86134-225-1 .
  • Hans-Peter Schäfer: Planning and construction of the main lines until 1879. Institute for Geography, Würzburg 1979, ISSN  0510-9833 (The emergence of the Main Franconian railway network, part 1).

Web links

Commons : Würzburg Hauptbahnhof  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Deutsche Bahn AG in Lower Franconia. Accessed June 3, 2020 (German).
  2. ↑ Ludwigsbahnhof inauguration July 1, 1854 View 1854
  3. ^ Sybille Grübel: Timeline of the history of the city from 1814-2006. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Volume 2, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , pp. 1225-1247; here: p. 1229.
  4. ↑ Ulrich Wagner: Dr. Georg von Zürn - First Mayor 1865–1884. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. Volume III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. 2007, pp. 166-172 and 1267 f .; here: p. 168 f.
  5. ^ Horst-Günter Wagner : The urban development of Würzburg 1814-2000. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Volume 2, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , p. 1299, note 26.
  6. ^ Bruno Rottenbach: Würzburg street names. Volume 1, Franconian Society Printing House, Würzburg 1967, p. 17 f.
  7. ^ Sybille Grübel: Timeline of the history of the city from 1814-2006. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Volume 2, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , pp. 1225-1247; here: p. 1229 f.
  8. ^ Harm-Hinrich Brandt : Würzburg municipal policy 1869-1918. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes; Volume III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Theiss, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 ), pp. 64-166 and 1254-1267; here: p. 134.
  9. ^ Sybille Grübel: Timeline of the history of the city from 1814-2006. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Volume 2, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , pp. 1225-1247; here: p. 1231.
  10. ^ Horst-Günter Wagner: The urban development of Würzburg 1814-2000. 2007, p. 404.
  11. ↑ USAAF February 23, 1945
  12. ↑ application reports the RAF for March 1945 (English) ( Memento of 29 March 2012 at the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ a b c Hans Dieter Baumgärtel: The new SpDrS-600 central signal box in Würzburg . In: Railway technical review . 29, No. 10, 1980, pp. 719-722.
  14. ^ Marcus Grahnert: ICE deployments from 1991
  15. ↑ Announcement text for the ideas and implementation competition "Arcaden Hauptbahnhof Bahnhofsvorplatz" ( Memento from October 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 5.16 MiB)
  16. ↑ Würzburgers buy the post area at the train station. In: mainpost.de. February 15, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2017 .
  17. ↑ The way to the train will be easier. In: mainpost.de. March 10, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2017 .
  18. ^ Helmut Maak : The draft of the new Hanover - Würzburg line, section of the Hessian / Bavarian border - Würzburg . In: Die Bundesbahn , year 53 (1977), issue 12, pp. 883-893, ISSN  0007-5876
  19. ^ Deutsche Bundesbahn, Federal Railway Directorate Nuremberg, project group Hanover – Würzburg South of the railway construction center (publisher): New line Hanover – Würzburg. The southern section Fulda – Würzburg , brochure (40 pages), April 1986, page 33
  20. ^ Rüdiger Block: ICE racetrack: the new lines . In: Eisenbahn-Kurier Special: High-speed traffic . No. 21, 1991, excluding ISSN, pp. 36-45.
  21. ↑ Carsten Lorenzen, Bernhard Lindenberger: upgraded line Würzburg – Iphofen – Nuremberg , in Eisenbahntechnische Rundschau , 48 (1999), p. 821 ff.
  22. ↑ Soon eight minutes faster through Franconia . In: Die Bahn informs , ZDB -ID 2003143-9 , issue 3/1992, pp. 16-17.
  23. ↑ Pavilions at the train station take longer. Retrieved July 18, 2017 .
  24. ↑ Hans-Peter Baum : Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria (1821-1912) and the city of Würzburg. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes; Volume III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Theiss, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 ), pp. 173-176; here: p. 175.
  25. ^ City of Würzburg (Ed.): Kiliansbrunnen. "A fountain as a gift". Brochure, approx. 2008.
  26. ↑ Source: Saint Kilian . In: Robert Meier: Feurich biscuit and sugar bear. 2005, pp. 68-69
  27. ↑ Our Kiliansbrunnen is back. Freundeskreises Geschichtswerkstatt Würzburg, accessed on September 19, 2010 .
  28. ↑ Erika Kerestely: Würzburg. City guide with a colored city map . Ed .: Stürtz City Guide. Verlagshaus Würzburg GmbH & Co KG, Würzburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8003-1929-9 , p. 75 .
  29. ↑ New section Fulda - Würzburg completed . In: Eisenbahn-Journal . Issue 06/1988, ISSN  0720-051X , pp. 4–10.
  30. ↑ Huber: "So far the largest competition project in the Bavarian local rail transport" ( Memento of the original from November 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.eisenbahn-webkatalog.de archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Press release of the Bavarian Ministry of Transport of February 9, 2007
  31. ↑ a b Würzburg main station building project. In: BauInfoPortal of Deutsche Bahn. Retrieved July 18, 2017 .
  32. ↑ Würzburg train station just before the garden show finally barrier-free. Frankfurter Neue Presse , April 9, 2018, accessed on April 10, 2018 .
  33. ↑ Redesign of the station - is it going to move soon? Retrieved July 18, 2017 .
  34. ^ Würzburg: The station pavilions are being demolished. June 7, 2016, accessed December 21, 2016 .
  35. ^ Würzburg: The second part of the station pavilion is being torn down. December 14, 2016, accessed December 21, 2016 .
  36. ↑ Regional train collides with freight train at Würzburg main station: high damage. February 21, 2020, accessed May 1, 2020 .
  37. ↑ Notes for train stations: Würzburg in last place in Main-Post from July 21, 2005
This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on February 13, 2008 in this version .