Kassel Hauptbahnhof

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.

Kassel Hauptbahnhof
Hbf
Building of the station
Location	Bahnhhofsplatz Mitte, Kassel, Hesse Germany
Coordinates	51°19′5″N 9°29′24″E
Owned by	DB Netz
Operated by	DB Station&Service
Line(s)	Kassel–Eichenberg Kassel–Frankfurt Kassel–Waldkappel Kassel–Bebra Kassel–Warburg
Platforms	13
Other information
Station code	3124
DS100 code	FK
Category	2 [1]
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1856
Services
Preceding station   Cantus Verkehrsgesellschaft   Following station Terminus RB 5 Bebra–Fulda railway Frederick William Northern Railway Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe toward Fulda Terminus RB 8 Vellmar-Niedervellmar toward Göttingen Preceding station   DB Regio Mitte   Following station Terminus RE 30 Main-Weser Railway Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe toward Frankfurt (Main) Hbf Preceding station   Hessische Landesbahn   Following station Terminus [List of railway routes in Hesse Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe toward Frankfurt (Main) Hbf Preceding station   Kurhessenbahn   Following station Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe toward Bad Wildungen RB 39 Terminus Preceding station   RegioTram Gesellschaft   Following station Kassel-Kirchditmold toward Hofgeismar-Hümme Kassel RegioTram 1 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
Location
Kassel Hauptbahnhof Location within Hesse

History

Early history

Construction of the station building, projected by Gottlob Engelhard, started in a period between 1851 and 1856.[2] 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 railway, 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 [3] the station was thoroughly renovated and conceived (so far uniquely) as a Kulturbahnhof[4] (cultural station). Thus emerged – in addition to art galleries, an architecture center and restaurants – an exhibition space for comic arts, the Caricatura museum [5] and two repertory cinemas.

Train services

The following services currently call at the station:[6]

• Regional services RE 30 Kassel - Wabern - Treysa - Marburg - Gießen - Frankfurt
• Local services RB 5 Fuldatalbahn Kassel - Melsungen - Bebra - Fulda
• Local services RB 8 Göttingen - Eichenberg - Kassel
• Tram-train services RT 1 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

Structure and transport

Kassel Hauptbahnhof is a terminal station with 8 tracks[7] and other 3 in the tunnel station for the RegioTram [8] (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

• 
  Entrance to the station
• 
  Platforms for RegioTram
• 
  Himmelsstürmer (Man walking to the sky), realized for the Documenta in 1992 by Jonathan Borofsky, in the station square.
• 
  RegioTram tunnel at Hauptbahnhof. In background, the station building

See also

• Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe
• List of railway stations in Hesse

References

1. "Stationspreisliste 2021" [Station price list 2021] (PDF) (in German). DB Station&Service. 16 November 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
2. (in German) History of the Hauptbahnhof on kassel.de Archived 2010-01-19 at the Wayback Machine
3. (in German) Article about the decennial of Kulturbahnhof
4. (in German) Infos about Kulturbahnhof Kassel
5. (in German) Caricatura official site
6. Timetables for Kassel Hbf station (in German)
7. (in German) Station plan of Kassel Hauptbahnhof (PDF)
8. (in German) Official site of RegioTram

External links

• (in German) Kulturbahnhof Kassel official site