Stolberg (Rheinl) Hauptbahnhof

Stolberg (Rheinland) Hauptbahnhof
Junction station
Station building in 2006
Location	Stolberg (Rhineland), North Rhine-Westphalia Germany
Coordinates	50°47′41″N 6°13′10″E / 50.79472°N 6.21944°E / 50.79472; 6.21944Coordinates: 50°47′41″N 6°13′10″E / 50.79472°N 6.21944°E / 50.79472; 6.21944
Line(s)	Cologne–Aachen Mönchengladbach–Stolberg Stolberg–Walheim Stolberg–Herzogenrath Stolberg–Kohlscheid Stolberg–Münsterbusch
Platforms	4
Other information
Station code	6037
DS100 code	KST
Category	4
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1888

Stolberg (Rheinland) Hauptbahnhof is a railway station on the line between Cologne and Aachen. It is the largest station for passengers and freight in the town of Stolberg (Rhineland) in the urban region of Aachen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It houses the Vennbahn Museum and is built at a junction.

Stolberger Hauptbahnhof is at the junction of four lines. The high-speed line between Cologne and Aachen runs from the east, first through the freight yard and then through the passenger station and it continues to the west. The Mönchengladbach–Stolberg line, called locally the Eschweiler Valley Railway (German: Eschweiler Talbahn) also runs into the station from the east. The Stolberg–Herzogenrath line runs from the north, first crossing the line between Cologne and Aachen and running to the south of the main line to the west end of the station. The former Stolberg–Kohlscheid line also branched off this line at Quinx junction between Stolberg and Würselen-Merzbrück. The fourth line is the Stolberg–Eupen line, which leaves the station and runs to the south.

The then single-track railway line between Cologne and Aachen was opened by the Rhenish Railway Company (German: Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, RHE) to Stolberg in 1841 with Stolberg station built in Eilendorf about one kilometre from the northern border of the town of Stolberg and therefore poorly located for the Stolberg valley. In 1870 the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, BME) opened the first part of the Hochneukirch–Stolberg line (known as the Eschweiler Talbahn, “Eschweiler Valley Railway”)—from Mönchengladbach, reaching Stolberg in 1875, where Stolberg BME station was built a few hundred metres south of Stolberg RHE station. Another short line was opened mainly for freight to Münsterbusch to the southwest of Stolberg in 1887 with its station near the other Stolberg stations.