Kassel Hauptbahnhof

Kassel Hauptbahnhof
Hbf
File:Kassel Hauptbahnhof total.JPG Building of the station
Location	Bahnhhofsplatz Mitte, Kassel, Hesse Germany
Coordinates
Line(s)	Kassel–Eichenberg Kassel–Frankfurt Kassel–Waldkappel Kassel–Bebra Kassel–Warburg
Platforms	13
Other information
Station code	3124
DS100 code	FK
Category	2
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1856

Kassel Hauptbahnhof is a Deutsche Bahn railway station in the city of Kassel, in the German state of Hesse. Situated in the central borough of Mitte, it is the city's second important railway station after the opening of Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe in 1991; and so it is the only Hauptbahnhof that is not the main station of its city.

History

Early history

Construction of the station building, projected by Gottlob Engelhard, started in a period between 1851 and 1856. The style of the original building, bombed during World War II, was romantic neoclassical. The reconstruction, started in 1952, was completed in 1960 by the architect Friedrich Bätjer with the style of 1950s maintaining some original elements.

Recent history

When the Deutsche Bundesbahn began constructing the Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line, Kassel originally was not supposed to have a station on the line at all. When it was decided to connect the city, Kassel posed a unique problem, Kassel was a terminal station. Options were discussed, among them the remodeling of Kassel's main station and the construction of an entirely new station. On 13 November 1981 construction of the high speed rail line started on Hesse territory, and it was decided to erect the new main station in the Kassel borough of Bad Wilhelmshöhe, opened on May 29, 1991.

In 1995 the station was thoroughly renovated and conceived (so far uniquely) as a Kulturbahnhof (cultural station). Thus emerged – in addition to art galleries, an architecture center and restaurants – an exhibition space for comic arts, the Caricatura museum and two repertory cinemas.

Train services

The following services currently call at the station:

• Regional services RE Kassel - Wabern - Treysa - Marburg - Gießen - Frankfurt
• Local services R 1 Göttingen - Eichenberg - Kassel
• Local services R 5 Fuldatalbahn Kassel - Melsungen - Bebra - Fulda
• Tram-train services RT 3 Hofgeismar-Hümme - Kassel - City Centre - Hollandische Straße
• Tram-train services RT 4 Wolfhagen - Zierenberg - Kassel - City Centre - Hollandische Straße
• Tram-train services RT 5 Melsungen - Kassel - City Centre - Auestadion
• Tram-train services RT 9 Treysa - Wabern - Kassel

Preceding station		Deutsche Bahn		Following station
Terminus		RE 30 Main-Weser Railway		Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe toward Frankfurt (Main) Hbf
Kassel-Kirchditmold toward Hofgeismar-Hümme		Kassel RegioTram 3		Scheidemannplatz toward Kassel Hollandische Straße
Kassel-Kirchditmold toward Wolfhagen		Kassel RegioTram 4		Scheidemannplatz toward Kassel Hollandische Straße
Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe toward Melsungen		Kassel RegioTram 5		Scheidemannplatz toward Kassel Auestadion
Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe toward Treysa		Kassel RegioTram 9		Terminus
Preceding station		Cantus Verkehrsgesellschaft		Following station
Vellmar-Niedervellmar toward Göttingen		RB		Terminus
Terminus		RB		Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe toward Fulda

Structure and transport

Kassel Hauptbahnhof is a terminal station with 8 tracks and other 3 in the tunnel station for the RegioTram (a sort of Stadtbahn). The station is served by several lines of the tramway net, RegioTram and buses.

Due to its central position in the city it is a busy station, terminal of several regional DB lines:

• Frederick William Northern Railway to Bebra and Frankfurt–Bebra line to Fulda,
• Halle–Kassel line to Eichenberg and Bebra–Göttingen line to Göttingen,
• Halle–Kassel line to Halle,
• Frederick William Northern Railway to Bebra and Thuringian Railway to Erfurt,
• Main-Weser line to Frankfurt,
• Kassel–Warburg railway to Warburg and Upper Ruhr Valley Railway to Hagen,
• Volkmarsen–Vellmar-Obervellmar line to Volkmarsen and Warburg–Sarnau line to Korbach and
• Edersee Railway to Bad Wildungen.

Gallery

• Kassel Hauptbahnhof.jpg

  Entrance to the station

• KS-Hbf-Regiotrambahnhof.jpg

  Platforms for RegioTram

• 

  Himmelsstürmer (Man walking to the sky), realized for the Documenta in 1992 by Jonathan Borofsky, in the station square.

• Kassel-Hbf-Rampe-Kurfuerstenstrasse.jpg

  RegioTram tunnel at Hauptbahnhof. In background, the station building

See also

• Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe
• List of railway stations in Hesse

External links

• (German) Kulturbahnhof Kassel official site