Niederau station
Railway station in Niederau, Germany From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Niederau station is a regional station on the Leipzig–Dresden railway in Niederau in the German state of Saxony. The railway station, which was opened on 15 May 1842, for a long time had the oldest operating station building in Germany,[3] but Deutsche Bahn stopped using it and sold it after 2000.
Niederau  | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Through station | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Entrance building | |||||||||||||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Bahnhofsplatz 1, Niederau, Saxony Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 51°10′35″N 13°33′38″E | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Line(s) | Leipzig–Dresden railway (km 95.69) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Station code | 4482[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| DS100 code | DNDR[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| IBNR | 8012482 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Category | 6[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www.bahnhof.de | ||||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 15 May 1842 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||||||||||
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After the opening of the Leipzig-Dresden Railway on 7 April 1839, Oberau station was the closest station to Meissen, but the inconvenient location of the station high above a cutting on the approach to Oberau Tunnel, made access difficult and so Meissen sought easier access to the line. These efforts were successful: the new Niederau station was completed on 1 April 1842 after half a year of construction and the station was opened on 15 May 1842. Simultaneously, a new direct access road was built from Meissen to Niederau, now called Niederauer or Meissner Strasse.[4]
For a while the traffic brought by carriage from Meissen made the station competitive for trains to Leipzig or Dresden with the Coswig–Meißen branch line, which opened on 1 December 1860 and allowed direct rail journeys from Meissen to Dresden. A line was completed from Borsdorf to Meissen in December 1868, creating a direct rail link between Meissen and Leipzig. Thus Niederau station lost its importance and traffic fell sharply.[5]
Freight operations in Niederau were abandoned on 1 July 1964.[6]
In 1988, one year before the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first German long-distance railway between Leipzig and Dresden, the station was completely restored.[7] At that time, the station building was the oldest on the network of Deutsche Reichsbahn[8]
In the early 2000s, Deutsche Bahn sold the railway station building.[9] It is now used as a residence.
The modular building of an electronic interlocking (ESTW-A) has been located on the eastern side of the line to the south of the former station building since 2000. This is operated from the electronic control centre (ESTW-Z) in Priestewitz.
Regional services
The station is served by Regional-Express service RE 50, running between Leipzig and Dresden and Regionalbahn service RB 31, running between Elsterwerda-Biehla and Dresden (as of December 2014).
| Line | Route | Frequency (min) | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|
| RE 50 Saxonia |
Dresden Hbf – Dresden-Neustadt – Radebeul Ost – Coswig (b Dresden) – Niederau – Priestewitz – Riesa – Oschatz – Wurzen – Leipzig Hbf | 60 | DB Regio Südost |
| RB 31 | Elsterwerda-Biehla – Elsterwerda – Großenhain Cottbus – Priestewitz – Niederau – Coswig (b Dresden) – Cossebaude – Dresden Hbf | 120 | DB Regio Nordost |
The peculiar two-part main station building is a result of its construction and usage history. The larger part, lying on the left as seen from the tracks, was built as a Restaurationsgebäude (restaurant building), while the building on the right was built as the station building. Later, they were both rebuilt in the Swiss chalet style. The building complex is a heritage-listed building.
Entrance building (originally restaurant building)
Baroness von Werther, the owner of Oberau Castle, built the building and operated it at first as an inn. The half-timbered building was given a wood sheathing in 1862 and it was plastered with the appearance of Cyclopean masonry 15 years later. Also in 1877, the premises of the officials' apartments were renovated and a station restaurant was built in the new rooms.[4] Subsequently the building was used both for residential and station purposes. To emphasize the latter function, it received a station clock and the station sign that broke up the previously empty space on the building's gable during a reorganisation in 1988.[7]
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