Gütersloh Hauptbahnhof

Gütersloh Hauptbahnhof
Through station
Entrance to the station hall
Location	Willy-Brandt-Platz 2, Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany
Coordinates	51°54′25″N 8°23′5″E / 51.90694°N 8.38472°E / 51.90694; 8.38472Coordinates: 51°54′25″N 8°23′5″E / 51.90694°N 8.38472°E / 51.90694; 8.38472
Line(s)	Hamm–Minden (KBS 400) Bielefeld–Münster line (KBS 406)
Platforms	4
Other information
Station code	2438
DS100 code	EGLO
Category	4
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1847

Gütersloh Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in Gütersloh in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is on the electrified, four-track main line from the Ruhr to Hanover, opened in 1847 as part of the trunk line of the former Cologne-Minden Railway Company. Services of the Warendorf Railway also run from Münster via Rheda-Wiedenbrück and the Hamm–Minden line to Gütersloh.

Gütersloh Hauptbahnhof (Hbf) is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 4 station. In the station building there is a tourist bureau, where tickets can be purchased. There is also has a restaurant/bistro, a bakery, a mini-supermarket and a station bookshop.

Gütersloh‘s original station building was built between 1845 and 1847 by the Cologne-Minden Railway Company at the end of today's Kökerstraße. Two side wings were added in 1876/77 and the Königliche Eisenbahndirektion Hannover (railway division of the Prussian state railways of Hanover) built another extension at the turn of the century. After the neo-classical entrance building was demolished for the quadruplication of the Hamm–Minden line, Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG) opened a new monumental station building at its present location on the street then called Queckwinkel on 21 December 1925. The extensive rebuilding of the extensive rail facilities, which replaced all the level crossings with underpasses, was completed in 1930 with the opening of the new freight yard beyond the freight tracks on Langer Weg. The ticket hall and the south wing (with the ticket office, express freight and baggage handling facilities) were damaged by air raids on 14 March 1945 and blown up by American troops in April 1945. For about six years it was necessary to buy tickets and to despatch baggage a temporarily constructed shed on the station forecourt. Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) incorporated the north wing, which was still-standing and included a station restaurant and waiting room, in the reconstruction. The new south wing was built on the foundations of the previous building as an extended building and reinaugurated on 3 October 1951. With the completion of the new entrance hall in a simpler form in 1953, today's station had taken form adjoining the eastern end of inner city.