Köln Hauptbahnhof

• 9 mainline and regional railways
• 2 S-Bahn tracks
• 5 subway tracks

• Route to Krefeld
• Route to Aachen
• Route to Koblenz
• Route to Duisburg
• Route to Siegen Route to Rhein / Main
• Route to Wiesbaden

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Cologne Central Station is a hub in the German passenger transport railway network and one of the busiest stations in Germany. The station is located in the city center of Cologne at the foot of the Cologne Cathedral. At its eastern exit closes in a tight corner on the Hohenzollern Bridge. The station is designed as a through station and relatively small with its eleven tracks for a railway station.

Cologne Central Station is one of 280,000 passengers per day to the most frequented train stations in Germany. Only prevails at the main railway stations in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin a higher passenger volumes.

From the DB Station & Service AG, the station is listed as one of 21 stations of the highest railway station in Category 1.

• 2.1 Highway
• 2.2 transport

History

In 1850 there were in Cologne stations five different railway companies: Left of Rhine, these were the Bonn- Cölner Railway Company (BCE ), the Cologne - Crefelder Railway Company (CCE ) and the Rhenish Railway Company ( RhE ), right bank of the Bergisch- märkische Railway Company (BME ) and the Cologne -Minden Railway Company (CME ).

After 1854, the controversial situation of the new rail and road bridge had been set at the cathedral, followed by considerations such as the bridge to the existing freight and temporary passenger station on the Rhine ( "Rhine Station " at the Trankgasse ) could be connected. Plans, let down the cars with lifts, quickly gave way to the realization that for connecting the left and right bank of rail transport, a central station must be created. The city agreed in 1857 and controlled the area of the Botanical Garden of the former University at. The railway line was laid from the bridge over the coming forth rising from the Rhine Maximinenstraße road and then on the ground floor, crossing the Eigelstein - between Knight Street and Weidengasse - led by the medieval city wall.

Predecessor Central Station

The so-called " Central Station " was built in 1857 according to plans by Hermann Otto plum on behalf of RhE, which had merged in the same year with the BCE. Together with the Tumski Bridge, the station was opened in 1859. The Central Station was a combined head and through station: At four head tracks the trains of RhE transmitted from the west, while the features of the CME touched on the station of the Tumski Bridge two through tracks.

The Central Station came quickly reach its capacity limits, but the RhE had as operator only limited interest in developing the station, as this would mainly benefited from the competitive companies. Serious planning for an enlarged central station could therefore be taken only after the nationalization of the railways in 1880.

Central Station

For the new main station two design alternatives were pursued:

• Construction of a large central station north open area Venloerstraße and gradation of the Central Station to the extension of the station, or
• Replacement of the Central railway station. By a new building on the same site with elevation of the railway tracks along the lines of the Berlin metropolitan railway with the construction of two subordinate passenger stations ( Cologne Cologne West and South) at the city railway and a goods shunting path

While the government in Berlin called for the second option, it was split in Cologne. On January 9, 1883, the Cologne city council finally decided by a majority of the second variant of the scheduling plan by engineer E. Grüttefien, Berlin. Construction began in 1889. The tracks were raised by six meters, half of the free space under the tracks was filled with earth and built a new reception building according to the plans of the Aachen architect Georg Frentzen. The foundation stone was laid on May 7, 1892.

In 1894 the great tripartite platform hall was completed. By the time the largest wingspan of 64 meters, the central hall spanned the present tracks 2-7 and the two 13.50 meter wide aisles the tracks 1 and 8 in the 255 -meter-long hall a two-story waiting room building, from which the traveler was comfortable all could reach tracks of the central hall. In center of the hall ended before the waiting room building on four head tracks the trains from the west and east. In addition, there were on both sides two crossing tracks.

As part of a restructuring of the entire rail transport (1909-1915), whose most visible sign of the new " south bridge " and the four-track " Hohenzollern Bridge ," were the waiting room building was removed in the hall and all the tracks converted to passage tracks. Here, a ninth track was also set up on the north side. It now also used the entire area under the tracks. Only the waiting rooms of the first and second class in the area Trankgasse and Johannisstraße have survived the Second World War and the subsequent conversions and are now used as a restaurant and event center age waiting room.

Reconstruction and new construction

After the Second World War a few years it was considered whether it would not on the site of the goods station Gereon the main train station - should be re- build - there is now the media park. Therefore, the reconstruction of the central station was very slow and the Cologne had to settle for a decade with temporaries.

First, the ruined nave of Western in 1953 replaced by a modern building with baggage handling and hotel. The only slightly damaged and temporarily patched old station building was demolished in 1955. On September 23, 1957, the new entrance hall of the architects Schmitt and Schneider was opened with its shell-shaped roof structure. On the north side of the main station was created by the evacuation of the originally heavily built-up area on the Maxi Mine Road, Domstraße Hofergasse, Hermann Street and the displacement of the Golden Lane with the Breslauer Platz, a second square.

As part of the suburban railway construction until 1991 the entire railway line, the railway station and the Hohenzollern Bridge was extended by two independent tracks. First, the central station to two tracks (10 and 11) was expanded in 1975 and 1989, the Hohenzollern bridge with the S- Bahn route on six tracks. The tracks and the additional platform are elevated with free-standing concrete mushrooms. An extension to two tracks to the north has already been considered structurally.

Until the late 1990s, the platform roofing was replaced before the porch and between the hall and entrance hall by a design by the architects of the neighboring Museum Ludwig ( Busmann Haberer with Prof. Polonyi ) and the Grade II listed hall itself has been renovated (1987).

After nearly three years of renovation, the modernized for 200 million marks the main railway station was officially opened on 29 March 2000; among them was also the first fully automated luggage storage facility in Europe. On the entry level was there - also emerged a shopping center - including the area under the S- Bahn tracks. The so-called " Colonaden " include 70 shops and restaurants with more than 11,500 square meters of retail space and approximately 700 employees.

The railway lines have gradients at 7.9 per thousand. This always leads to accidents caused by trains rolling away. From 2009 to mid-2013, 13 such incidents were registered. Rolling the trains came mostly during brake tests. The accident railway workers were slightly injured.

On the first floor, above the tourist center, there is a DB lounge for first-class travelers and frequent riders. This waiting area is right on track 1 and can also be accessed from this platform.

Planning

For a car to the peak of German railway, the federal government and state government of North Rhine- Westphalia on March 31, 2010 in Dusseldorf, it was decided that the station should be extended until 2019 by a suburban rail with two S- Bahn tracks at Breslauer Platz. According to estimates, the cost amounts to 60 million euros.

The platform to platform 1 is planned for the 2016 ICE traffic to London - St Pancras extended to a secure area and passenger and baggage check will allow it. As operationally difficult to apply the necessary crossing of the entire western platform apron by the direction of London departing trains.

Traffic

Cologne Central Station is one of the hubs of European long-distance traffic. Cologne has on both sides of the Rhine on long-distance routes. Therefore, the location on the left bank of the Rhine Main Station is located on the right bank of the Rhine Köln Messe / Deutz one unit and is connected to it by the Hohenzollern Bridge. In the Central Rail Station, long-distance trains from the Ruhr area, Southern Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium meet. Köln Messe / Deutz ( deep) binds to two other rechtsrheinische ICE lines. In the past, therefore, was a direct connection, such as persons treadmills over the Rhine thinking, these controversial ideas, however, was rejected until further notice as too expensive.

In railway junction Cologne are star-shaped eleven tracks together. More than 280,000 entering and exiting, as well as 1200 trains are counted daily.

Cologne Central Station is considered, together with the Hohenzollern Bridge, as a central bottleneck in rail transport in the Cologne region. Long-distance transport burdened above all, the east of the station, the regional trains mainly the west side. The feeder lines from Hürth- Kalscheuren and from the direction of stone road are operated at full capacity. Range expansions are hardly possible. Changes to the track plan are not possible with the existing signaling. Even in the time horizon of the year 2030 and beyond, it should come to overloads.

• Links Niederrheinische route to Neuss
• High-speed railway to Aachen Route to Moenchengladbach

• Freight bypass rail Cologne
• Eifel circuit to Euskirchen / Trier

• Route to Dusseldorf Route to Bergisch Gladbach

• Agger train
• Airport loop
• High-speed line to Frankfurt / Wiesbaden
• Rights Rhine route to Linz (Rhein)

Long-distance traffic

Cologne Central Station is the hub of numerous intercity express and intercity lines, mostly reach the Cologne main station every hour or every two hours:

Through various high-speed lines, most cities in Germany as well as in the western neighboring countries within a few hours can be achieved. The Thalys express train travels from Cologne to Paris via Aachen, Liege and Brussels.

Also runs the ICE International on the Brussels - Liege -Aachen - Cologne and on to Frankfurt, the high-speed trains alternate hourly from.

With a combined 403 regular arrivals and departures per day in the long-distance transport of the Cologne main train station was the most important nodes in the network of the German Federal Railroad in the summer timetable 1989. With 383 regular long-distance in-and- runs he was in the summer timetable 1996 in the network of the Deutsche Bahn 's second most important node (according to the Hannover main station ).

Transport

Cologne main station is also next node of numerous regional express and regional rail lines, mostly reach the Cologne main train station in half or hourly, but partly also only every two hours:

Cologne Central Station is integrated into the S- Bahn network Rhein-Sieg. Monday to Friday daytime run there the S-trains at 20- minute intervals, usually every 30 minutes. Northwest of the S -Bahn Cologne Central point is the S- Bahn stop Cologne Hansa ring and west of the S- Bahn stop Köln Messe / Deutz. All lines that serve the main railway station, serving the two breakpoints.

Below the main railway station there are two stations of Cologne Stadtbahn. Metro Stations Dom / Hauptbahnhof and Breslauer Platz / Hauptbahnhof lie on the same tunnel route that passes under the main station in a 120 - degree turn. The to Haymarket Metro Station in operation north branch (line 5 ) of the under construction north- south subway line is connected between the two stations to the existing tunnel. The station Breslauer Platz / Hauptbahnhof to December 2011 was relocated to the main station and completely redesigned.

Currently run at the stop Dom / Hauptbahnhof following lines (daytime at ten- minute intervals, line 18 in the five -minute intervals ), at the Breslauer Platz / Hauptbahnhof only the lines 16 and 18:

The Breslauer Platz / Hauptbahnhof has been passed through due to construction on the North-South rail until the rail timetable change in December 2011 without stopping.

" Airport " Köln Hauptbahnhof

In the course of AIRail program of the Central Station bears the airport code (IATA Code ) QCL. Passengers can in and check out on a Lufthansa counter at the main station. Passengers ride a regular Intercity Express to Frankfurt Airport long-distance station and then change to an aircraft. By the end of 2007, the Gepäckauf and output was performed at the central station, since the luggage is only checked in Frankfurt.

Regular events

Since December 6, 1950, the railway station bookseller Gerhard Ludwig organized (born 27 June 1912 † 19 April 1994) in the so -called Third waiting room, the train station bookstore of the Cologne main train station, its become for instance the political-cultural "Cologne Wednesday talks". Prominent guests from all over the country regularly took part in discussions of politics, culture and sport in lectures or read from their latest publications. On July 4, 1956 Carlo Schmid writes a farewell message to the guestbook, the " Wednesday talks" be terminated due to conversion after 269 episodes. These talks were broadcast as tape recordings in 1990 by West German Radio (WDR). In the summer, found occasionally in collaboration with the Railway Museum Dieringhausen steam train rides "around Koelle " instead - departing from platform 1