Göttingen railway station

Göttingen railway station, known in German as Bahnhof Göttingen, is an InterCityExpress stop on Germany's domestic long-distance rail network and the only station of the city of Göttingen. Built in 1854 as the terminus of the Hannover Südbahn the station lies west of the medieval town centre. The station today has four platform islands each with two through tracks. In addition there is a through track for goods traffic between the station building and the platforms.

History

In the course of planning for the building of the Hannover Südbahn the municipal authorities of the city decided in 1851 to request the building of a station west of the city center. The building was designed by Adolf Funk, Conrad Wilhelm Hase and Julius Rasch; the construction was supervised by Emil Hackländer. The foundation stone was laid in 1853, the inauguration was on 31 July 1854. The station was modelled after Hannover station in natural stone and in the "Hannoverschen Rundbogenstil" architectural style. The Südbahn opened Alfeld- Göttingen in 1854. In 1856 it extended to Kassel, where it connected initially via the former Dransfelder incline. Starting from 1867 the Bebra-Göttingen section via Eichenberg was built, in 1876 it reached Bebra and Eichenberg was connected to Kassel. The station building in Göttingen was completed between 1856 and 1887 and converted several times. At the beginning of the 20th Century the station forecourt was re-arranged. In the summer palms were set up, which shaped the appearance of the station up to the Second World War. Another change of the station layout took place 1908 to 1910. The tracks were elevated and an underpass of the Groner Chaussee was built south the station. In addition, reception building was converted and extended.

In the Second World War the station was to a large extent destroyed by bomb attacks. The station and station hall were redeveloped in the post-war period in simplified form; the front was transformed. From 1963 Göttingen was connected to the electrified route network. In the 1960s the station forecourt was again converted to the requirements of motor traffic. Starting from 1991 Göttingen became an InterCityExpress station, on the "Schnellfahrstrecke Hannover–Würzburg" high-speed line. In the 1990s the station forecourt was rebuilt yet again, with a pergola and a covered bicycle park directly beside the station building. Nevertheless the station forecourt is still crowded with bicycles. Since 2000 a three-stage reorganization of the station has been underway. Extensive changes began at the end of 2006, among other things the entire entrance hall of the station was reconditioned and a fast food chain opened here. The 13.8 million euro project was completed at the end of March 2007 [ [http://www.bahnfahren.info/aktuell/5423/Bahnhof-Gottingen-nach-Umbau-feierlich-eroffnet.html " station Goettingen after change solemnly opens "] on " www.bahnfahren.info " ]

Long-distance connections

These InterCityExpress lines travel via Göttingen:
* Lines 11 and 12: Berlin–Braunschweig-Göttingen- Frankfurt(M)–Stuttgart/Basel
* Line 20: Hamburg-Hannover-Göttingen-Frankfurt(M)–Stuttgart/Basel
* Line 25: Hamburg/Bremen––Hannover-Göttingen-Würzburg–München

In addition to the above, classic loco-hauled IC Line 26 (Stralsund–) Hamburg–Hannover–Northeim–Göttingen-Gießen–Frankfurt–Karlsruhe stops here.

Regional connections

The following local services operate:
* Metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft to Hannover and Uelzen
* Cantus Verkehrsgesellschaft to Kassel and Bebra/Fulda
* Erfurter Bahn to Heiligenstadt and Gotha/Erfurt
* Regionalexpress services of DB Regio to Heiligenstadt-Erfurt-Chemnitz/Zwickau
* Regionalbahn services of DB Regio to Herzberg am Harz-Nordhausen via the Südharzstrecke, and
Bodenfelde-Ottbergen via the Oberweserbahn

Locomotive shed

On the opposite side of the station, this historical industrial monument now accommodates a large multiplex cinema and multipurpose hall for conferences and events with 5,400 m ² of meeting space and 3,000 m ² of lobby area. A locomotive overhaul centre was set up here in 1855. The continuation of the route from Hannoversch Munden over the Dransfelder Incline required stronger locomotives for the steep gradients: these were stored and repaired in the Göttingen works. The buildings of the locomotive depot date from 1917. After 1976 the works were closed, the area lay vacant for two decades and although listed in 1981 by the Niedersächsische Institut für Baudenkmalpflege at first no profitable re-use was adopted. In 1993 plans for re-use led to the multiplex cinema opening in the northern part of the plant in 1996, the meeting hall in the southern end opened in December 1998.

Gartetalbahn

Between 1897 and 1959 somewhat southeast of Göttingen Station was a station of 750 mm narrow-gauge railway, the Gartetalbahn to Rittmarshausen and Duderstadt.

Literature

* Jens-Uwe Brinkmann: "Auf Schienen durch die Zeit. Der Göttinger Bahnhof von der Hannoverschen Südbahn bis zum Ende des Dampfzeitalters." Göttingen 1998

* Günther Siedbürger: "Die Lokhalle und ihre Eisenbahner." Göttingen 1995, ISBN 3-926920-14-9

References

External links

* [http://www.lokhalle.info/besucher/historie.php Infos zur Geschichte der Lokhalle]

(this article was translated from the original German Wikipedia article)