Euskirchen station
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Euskirchen
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|---|---|
| Junction station | |
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| Location |
Euskirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany |
| Coordinates | 50°39′28″N 6°47′28″E / 50.65778°N 6.79111°ECoordinates: 50°39′28″N 6°47′28″E / 50.65778°N 6.79111°E |
| Line(s) | |
| Platforms | 6 (7) |
| Other information | |
| Station code | n/a |
| DS100 code | HHML |
| Category | 4 |
| Website | www.bahnhof.de |
| History | |
| Opened | 1864 |
| Traffic | |
| Passengers | 16,000 |
Euskirchen station is an important transport hub with heavy commuter traffic in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is it situated on Cologne–Trier, Bonn–Euskirchen, Euskirchen–Bad Münstereifel and the Euskirchen–Düren lines. The station is located on Alleestraße (street) on the Pützberg (hill) and is the largest station in the district.
The first Euskirchen station was built in 1846 in a neoclassical style, far outside the then city centre on the Pützberg. The station was considered to be a "business card" for the city and was the starting point for any parades and pageants through the city. The forecourt was planned as a park and construction began on a green space around a central war memorial, which was completed on 24 May 1903. Thus lawns, hedges and trees were created in front of the station building. As traffic has increased dramatically, the plaza has been redesigned several times. The entire rail infrastructure continued to grow steadily and at that time housed a water tower, a freight shed, an engine shed, a turntable and five signal boxes. In May 1928 the war memorial was moved to Hindenburgplatz. In the 1930s, the trees and lawns slowly disappeared. At the end of 1944 the entire site, including the station building, was destroyed permanently during violent and systematic bombing by the Allies.
Lines were opened as follows:
On 1 August 1945, traffic was restored on a temporarily repaired line from Aachen to Düren, Euskirchen and Bonn. In 1956 a new station building was built on the site. Deutsche Bundesbahn built it in a functional style, as was customary in the postwar period. The Euskirchen painter and graphic designer Konrad Schaefer designed the facade windows. The plaza was redesigned. Thus the remaining trees were removed and the former character of the park was gone for good. The former gardens were replaced in 1956 by a paved surface with islands for bus stops.
Euskirchen station is a major railway junction, and its lines have had to cope with a high volume of commuter traffic with heavy overcrowding of trains. In order to handle traffic a new central railway station signal box was built for the equivalent of about € 2.9 million. This was put into operation on 12 December 1973, after three years of planning and construction. Since the 90s, large central bus station, which was built by the city, has been located directly on the station forecourt. This has two fully covered walkways, which are served on both sides and a less protected platform for school buses. There is also an information point for travellers, electronic information displays, and an integrated taxi parking area. The station building houses lockers, vending machines, a ticket office, a bookstore, a bakery and a McDonald's restaurant.
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Wikipedia