Lübeck Hauptbahnhof

Lübeck Hauptbahnhof
Hbf
Front entrance of the station building (2015)
Location	Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein Germany
Coordinates	53°52′02″N 10°40′09″E / 53.86722°N 10.66917°E / 53.86722; 10.66917Coordinates: 53°52′02″N 10°40′09″E / 53.86722°N 10.66917°E / 53.86722; 10.66917
Line(s)	Lübeck – Bad Oldesloe – Hamburg (KBS 104, 140) Lübeck – Kiel (KBS 145) Lübeck – Neustadt(Holst) – Puttgarden (KBS 140) Lübeck – Lübeck-Travemünde Strand (KBS 104) Lübeck – Bad Kleinen (KBS 175) Lübeck – Büchen – Lüneburg (KBS 145)
Construction
Architect	Fritz Klingholz
Other information
Station code	3807
DS100 code	AL
Category	2
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1 May 1908 (1908-05-01)
Electrified	2008
Traffic
Passengers	31,000

Lübeck Hauptbahnhof (German for Lübeck main station) is the main railway station serving the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is a through station at the western edge of the city centre. With approximately 31,000 travelers and visitors each day, Lübeck Hbf is the busiest of all the railway stations in Schleswig-Holstein. It is classified by the Deutsche Bahn as a Category 3 station.

The present station building was built in 1908 by the Lübeck-Büchener Eisenbahn (LBE). At that time, the LBE operated most of the railway connections around Lübeck, including the express trains. The station building was designed by Fritz Klingholz, and replaced the previous, outdated building.

Lübeck Hbf is a Reiterbahnhof, or station with a reception building laid out as a bridge "riding" over the tracks. Its reception building spans a total of 10 tracks with four platforms. A special feature is its wide wooden steps leading down to the platforms. The station was recently modernised and completely electrified, and is now fully connected with Germany's electric railway network.

The forerunner of today's Hauptbahnhof was built by the LBE in 1851, on the wall peninsula near the Holstentor. Initially, it had only one platform, but due to later expansion work ended up with four platforms. With increasing traffic, operations became problematic, as the trains crossed a main road directly after leaving the station, and the tracks needed to pass over several small streams. Upon the commissioning of the new Hauptbahnhof in 1908, the old station building finally lost its function.

After being put to various other uses (including the housing of the Harbour Railway administration), the old station building was demolished in 1934, as part of the transformation of the Holstentorplatz.

As it was evident by the turn of the twentieth century that the old station building was too small, a new location was sought.