Saarbrücken Central Station
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Saarbrücken Hauptbahnhof
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| Through station | |
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| Location | Am Hauptbahnhof 6-12, Saarbrücken, Saarland Germany |
| Coordinates | 49°14′29″N 6°59′26″E / 49.24139°N 6.99056°ECoordinates: 49°14′29″N 6°59′26″E / 49.24139°N 6.99056°E |
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| Other information | |
| Station code | 5451 |
| DS100 code | SSH |
| IBNR | 8000323 |
| Category | 2 |
| Website | www.bahnhof.de |
| History | |
| Opened | 16 November 1852 |
| Traffic | |
| Passengers | <50,000 (excluding the Stadtbahn) |
Saarbrücken Hauptbahnhof is the principal railway station in the German city of Saarbrücken and the largest station in the Saarland, a German state on the border with France. Around 10 million passengers use the station annually. The station is operated by DB Station&Service as a category 2 station, served by regional and long-distance trains.
Saarbrücken's main station was opened on 16 November 1852 as St Johann-Saarbrücken. The present city of Saarbrücken emerged later from the amalgamation of (old)Saarbrücken, St Johann, Malstatt and St. Arnual. The station was on the Saarbrücken railway, which ran from Bexbach via Neunkirchen (Saar) and Stieringen to the French Eastern Railway. The 56 metre long, 13.50 metre wide sandstone building was between the two tracks with access by an underpass, there being, unusually for that time, no track crossing.
As the railway facilities continued to grow, so the station building was also enlarged. In 1891/1893 a station entrance building with two striking towers was erected in front of the tunnel, and in 1908 there were plans to build a completely new station building. This was to begin in 1914, but the outbreak of the First World War put paid to the plans. In 1932, Saarbrücken handled 453 daily arrivals and departures, of which 51 were express trains, the second-largest number of trains on the Reichsbahn, after Leipzig. After the reannexation of the Saarland in 1935, plans for a new station restarted in earnest. This was to be completed by 1941, but again the war prevented them coming to fruition.
In the Second World War 80% of the railway facilities in Saarbrücken were destroyed. Of the entrance building only the two towers remained, and other buildings like the locomotive shed (Bahnbetriebswerk) were totally destroyed. In the station yard there was not a single through track left. Under US direction, today's track 19 was provisionally restored. Over this track the US troops ran their supply trains towards Neunkirchen-Bexbach-Homburg under their own management and running on sight.
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Wikipedia