Altenkirchen (Westerw) station

Altenkirchen (Westerw)
Through station
Altenkirchen station before its modernisation (2008)
Location	Bahnhofstr. 1, Altenkirchen, Rhineland-Palatinate Germany
Coordinates	50°41′06″N 7°38′21″E / 50.685062°N 7.639038°E / 50.685062; 7.639038Coordinates: 50°41′06″N 7°38′21″E / 50.685062°N 7.639038°E / 50.685062; 7.639038
Line(s)	Limburg–Altenkirchen railway (km 65.1) (KBS 461) Engers–Au railway (km 61.1) (KBS 421, 423)
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	105
DS100 code	KAK
IBNR	8000351
Category	6
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1 April 1885
Services
Preceding station   Hessische Landesbahn   Following station Obererbach (Westerw) toward Siegen RB 90 Westerwald-Sieg-Bahn Ingelbach toward Limburg (Lahn)

Altenkirchen (Westerw) station is the station of the district town of Altenkirchen in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is at track-kilometre 65.1 on the Limburg–Altenkirchen railway (also known as the Oberwesterwaldbahn—Upper Westerwald Railway) and at track-km 61.1 on the Engers–Au railway, also known as the Holzbachtalbahn (Holzbach Valley Railway).

Altenkirchen (Westerwald) station was opened on 1 April 1885 with the Altenkirchen–Hachenburg section of the Upper Westerwald Railway. It became a junction station with the opening of the Siershahn–Altenkirchen railway in 1887. When the Altenkirchen–Au (Sieg) railway was opened in on 1 May of the same year, Altenkirchen station became a transport hub for the Vorderwesterwald (the "forward" Westerwald—meaning close to the Rhine).

After the Second World War, Uerdingen railbuses operated on the line from Engers via Siershahn and Altenkirchen to Au (Sieg). Steam locomotives ran regularly on the line until 1975.

Passenger operations on the Holzbach Valley Railway ceased on 2 June 1984. Freight is still being handled in Altenkirchen.

On 23 May 1993, the line between Au and Altenkirchen was converted to a simplified form of signalling and train control known as Zugleitbetrieb and at the same time local rail services operated over the whole line from Au via Altenkirchen to Limburg.

With the takeover of operations by Vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft on 12 December 2004, the class 628 diesel multiple units, which had operated since 1986, were replaced by modern LINT DMUs and the request stops between Altenkirchen and Au became regular stops again.

The Altenkirchen entrance building Is a stately building made of crushed stone. It was built around 1883/84. The station has the address of Bahnhofstraße 1. The reception building is protected as a cultural monument under the Rhineland Palatinate Monument Protection Act (Denkmalschutzgesetz).