Bitterfeld station

Bitterfeld station is a station in the town of Bitterfeld in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. In 1857 the station was opened with the Trebnitz–Leipzig railway. Since the full commissioning of the line from Berlin to Halle, both lines have crossed in Bitterfeld. Subsequently, the line to Stumsdorf was also opened. Today, Bitterfeld is a long-distance station, which is served at two-hour intervals by ICEs from Berlin to Munich.

Bitterfeld
Junction station
Entrance building (2009)
Location	Bahnhofstr. 1, Bitterfeld, Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Saxony-Anhalt Germany
Coordinates	51°37′26″N 12°18′57″E
Owned by	Deutsche Bahn
Operated by	DB Netz DB Station&Service
Line(s)	Berlin–Halle km 131.6 Trebnitz–Leipzig km 48.5 Bitterfeld–Stumsdorf km 0.0
Platforms	6
Other information
Station code	680[1]
DS100 code	LBT[2]
IBNR	8010050
Category	3[1]
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	17 August 1857
Electrified	1911-1914[3] 1922-1946[4] 9 June 1958
Services
Preceding station   DB Fernverkehr   Following station Berlin Südkreuz towards Hamburg-Altona ICE 18 via Nürnberg - Erfurt - Halle (Saale) - Berlin Halle (Saale) towards Munich Preceding station   DB Regio Südost   Following station Wolfen toward Magdeburg Hbf RE 13 via Dessau Delitzsch unt Bf toward Leipzig Hbf Preceding station   S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland   Following station Greppin toward Dessau Hbf or Lutherstadt Wittenberg Hbf S 2 Petersroda toward Leipzig-Stötteritz Roitzsch toward Halle (Saale) Hbf S 8 Muldenstein toward Lutherstadt Wittenberg
Location
Bitterfeld Location in Saxony-Anhalt Bitterfeld Location in Germany Bitterfeld Location in Europe

Location

Bitterfeld station lies on the western edge of the residential part of Bitterfeld, which was an independent town until its merger into Bitterfeld-Wolfen in 2007. The centre of Bitterfeld is located about one kilometre further east. The adjacent streets are Bahnhofstraße and Schwarze Weg.

It is a junction station with lines running in four directions. The Berlin–Halle (running northeast/southwest) and Trebnitz–Leipzig (running north/south) lines cross in it. For more than three kilometres both lines run parallel. The nearest stations in all four directions are Greppin, Muldenstein, Petersroda and Roitzsch.

History

Intercity service (2010)

Looking to the north (2009)

High speed points (2008)

Bitterfeld station was opened on 17 August 1857. The entrance building was built between the railway tracks. A water tower was built in 1890. Six years later, bridges were built over the tracks. Two island platforms and signal boxes designated as "Mbd", "Swt" and "Not" were also built. The freight shed was expanded in 1907. The branch line to Stumsdorf was opened on 1 October 1910. The station was electrified and electric trains ran to Dessau for the first time on 18 January 1911. Electrification of the line to Delitzsch was completed on 5 December 1913. Further signal boxes, designated as "Rtl", "Rtll" and "Zd", were built for shunting operations in 1917. Numerous sidings were connected to Bitterfeld station. After the First World War, electrical operations to Leipzig resumed on 27 September 1921. A new roundhouse where locomotives were heated (Heizhaus) was completed at the north end of the station in 1930. Toward the end of the Second World War, freight operations came to a standstill from March 1945, since the bridge over the Mulde had been blown up. This was not reopened until 23 February 1949. The infrastructure for the electrification in the station had to be dismantled for reparations in 1946. The first electric trains to run through the station after the war ran to Roßlau on 15 March 1958.

The Bitterfeld railway node extended for three kilometres and had nearly 400 employees. 40 trains were formed and 30 were broken up each day. The entire station was divided into three supervisory areas: "freight yard north", "freight yard south" and "passenger station". Two shunting locomotives were constantly used for the connecting sidings.

On 27 November 1977, there was a boiler explosion in Bitterfeld, which killed nine people.

Up to 1999, extensive reconstruction work took place on the entrance building and in the station forecourt. With the changes following the end of Communism, the freight traffic in Bitterfeld decreased significantly, so that many goods tracks and signal boxes were closed by 2000. The entire remodeling and reconstruction of the station cost about DM 180 million. Platforms 1–6 along with their canopies, the track layout and the entrance building were renewed. In addition, it received a new bus station and a redesigned station forecourt. It has a diesel locomotive on exhibition, which is operated by a local model railway company.[5]

Infrastructure

Its network of tracks included a total of 87 tracks. In addition, there were sidings connecting to local companies, two humps and other loading roads.

There was also a semi-circular roundhouse with 16 tracks and a coal-loading facility with 980 metres of sidings.

Today, Bitterfeld station has a total of six platforms. Platforms one to four are 370 meters long and the other two are 140 metres long. Their heights are 76 and 55 centimetres, respectively.

The entrance building, which is to the east of the tracks, and the station forecourt are owned by Deutsche Bahn (2016).

Connections

Line	Route		Interval (min)	Operator
ICE 11	Berlin – Bitterfeld – Leipzig – Erfurt – Frankfurt – Stuttgart – Munich		Individual services	DB Fernverkehr
ICE 18	Hamburg – Berlin – Bitterfeld – Leipzig – Erfurt – Bamberg – Nuremberg – Munich		120	DB Fernverkehr
RE 13	Magdeburg – Biederitz – Zerbst – Roßlau – Dessau – Wolfen – Bitterfeld – Delitzsch – Leipzig		120	DB Regio Südost
S 2	Leipzig-Stötteritz – Leipzig – Delitzsch – Bitterfeld –	Wolfen – Dessau	030 (Leipzig–Bitterfeld Mon–Fri) 060 (Leipzig–Bitterfeld Sat–Sun) 120 (Bitterfeld–Dessau) 120 (Bitterfeld–Wittenberg)	DB Regio Südost
		Gräfenhainichen – Wittenberg (– Jüterbog)
S 8	Halle – Landsberg – Bitterfeld –	Wolfen – Dessau	030 (Halle–Bitterfeld Mon–Fri) 060 (Halle–Bitterfeld Sat–Sun) 120 (Bitterfeld–Dessau) 120 (Bitterfeld–Wittenberg)	DB Regio Südost
		Gräfenhainichen – Wittenberg (– Jüterbog)

At hourly intervals services on state bus route 434 run to Stumsdorf via Zörbig. This route was established after the cancellation of the passenger services on the Bitterfeld–Stumsdorf railway.

References

1. "Stationspreisliste 2021" [Station price list 2021] (PDF) (in German). DB Station&Service. 16 November 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
2. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas) (2009/2010 ed.). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
3. Since 1915 catenaries were dismantled to recover copper for war production.
4. From 1946 catenaries and overhead line masts were dismantled as Soviet war reparations.
5. "Heutige Entwicklung der Bahnstatione: Bahnhof Bitterfeld" (in German). Die Zörbiger Saftbahn. Retrieved 11 June 2017.

External links

• "Track plan of Bitterfeld station". sporenplan.nl. Retrieved 11 June 2017.