Aachen Hauptbahnhof

Aachen Hauptbahnhof (German for Aachen main station) is the most important railway station for the city of Aachen, in the far west of Germany near the Dutch and Belgian border. It is the largest of the four currently active Aachen stations, and is integrated into the long-distance network.

Aachen
Hbf
Station forecourt and main entrance
General information
Location	Bahnhofplatz 2a 52064 Aachen Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany
Coordinates	50°46′03″N 6°05′28″E
Line(s)	Aachen–Cologne (HSL/KBS 480) Aachen–Liège (HSL 3) Aachen–Liège (KBS 480a/L 37) Aachen–Mönchengladbach (KBS 485)
Platforms	7
Construction
Architect	Friedrich Mettegang
Architectural style	Art Nouveau
Other information
Station code	1
DS100 code	KA[1]
IBNR	8000001
Category	2[2]
Fare zone	AVV: Aachen City-XL-Zone[3] VRS: 3100 (AVV transitional tariff)[4]
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1905; 119 years ago (1905)
Services Preceding station Eurostar Following station Liège-Guillemins towards Paris-Nord Eurostar Köln Hbf towards Dortmund Hbf Preceding station DB Fernverkehr Following station Geilenkirchen One-way operation ICE 10 Terminus Herzogenrath towards Berlin Ostbahnhof ICE 14 Terminus Düren towards Berlin Ostbahnhof or Hamburg Hbf ICE 19 Düren towards Berlin Ostbahnhof Liège-Guillemins towards Brussels-South ICE 79 Köln Hbf towards Frankfurt (Main) Hbf Preceding station Following station Terminus FLX 30 Köln Hbf towards Leipzig Hbf Preceding station DB Regio NRW Following station Terminus RE 9 Aachen-Rothe Erde towards Siegen Hbf Aachen Schanz towards Heerlen or Alsdorf Poststraße RB 20 Aachen-Rothe Erde towards Langerwehe/Düren or Stolberg Altstadt Aachen Schanz towards Essen Hbf RB 33 Terminus Preceding station Arriva Following station Terminus RE 18 LIMAX Aachen West towards Maastricht Preceding station National Express Germany Following station Terminus RE 1 (NRW-Express) Aachen-Rothe Erde towards Hamm (Westf) Hbf RE 4 (Wupper-Express) Aachen Schanz towards Dortmund Hbf Preceding station NMBS/SNCB Following station Hergenrath (Belgium) towards Liège-Guillemins RE 29 euregioAIXpress Terminus
Location Aachen Hauptbahnhof Location in North Rhine-Westphalia Show map of North Rhine-Westphalia Aachen Hauptbahnhof Location in Germany Show map of Germany Aachen Hauptbahnhof Location in Europe Show map of Europe

History

A station at Aachen was first opened in 1841, when the Rheinische Eisenbahngesellschaft opened its line from Cologne. The line first was extended to Herbesthal (near the Belgian border) and on 15 October 1843 to Antwerp. The first station was built outside of the city walls, however the city soon grew and the station eventually became surrounded by new buildings. The Prussian state railways deemed that rather impractical and decided to build a new station situated on a hillside. Embankments and new bridges were built from 1901 onward, and on 21 December 1905 the station opened at its new location.

The station remained largely undisturbed until suffering from damage in 1944, when German troops were retreating. However, since the rail link was highly valued by the Allied forces, damage was cleared up rather quickly and in 1950 all war damage had been removed from the site. Since 2002 the Cologne–Aachen high-speed railway line allows connections to Cologne with speeds up to 250 km/h (160 mph).

Electrification

In 1966, Aachen Hauptbahnhof was electrified. Due to its proximity to Belgium, it was decided to implement the switching point from the Deutsche Bahn's 15 kV AC to the 3000 V DC used by the NMBS/SNCB in the station. Tracks 6 to 9 therefore have a switchable catenary and are used for international Thalys, ICE and Regional-Express services.

Renovations

The station hall was renovated from 2000 to 2006. In 2007 a new electronic signal box was built, enabling more streamlined operations and automatic switching of the correct voltages. The cost estimate for the revamp was around €40 million. The main changes were:

• Construction of 400m long platforms for international traffic, replacing the old 250m platforms that did not allow economic usage due to their limited length.
• Special through tracks (tracks 3 and 4) for freight trains to the Netherlands and Belgium (via Montzen) to Aachen West.
• Constructional changes to the system changeover point to Belgium; a new track layout, which allows the smooth changeover of electric locomotives and is capable of handling the increasing number of through carriages.
• Improvement of the layout to remove operating problems, especially in the sidings.

Train services

ICE 3M train en route from Brussels to Frankfurt in Aachen Hauptbahnhof.

Regional-Express trains in Aachen Hauptbahnhof.

The following services currently call at Aachen Hbf:

Series	Operator	Route		Material	Frequency	Notes
Eurostar	Eurostar	Paris Nord – Brussels-South – Liège-Guillemins – Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Cologne – (Düsseldorf – Duisburg – Essen – Dortmund)		Thalys PBKA	5x per day	high speed service
ICE 79	DB	Brussels-South – Brussels-North – Liège-Guillemins – Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Cologne – (Siegburg/Bonn – Montabaur – Limburg –) Frankfurt Airport – Frankfurt		ICE 3M – Class 406	Every 2 hours	high speed service
ICE 14	DB	Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Mönchengladbach – Krefeld – Duisburg – Essen – Bochum – Dortmund – Hamm – Gütersloh – Bielefeld – Herford – Hannover – Wolfsburg – Berlin-Spandau – Berlin Hbf – Berlin Ostbahnhof		ICE T	1x per day
FLX 30	Flixtrain	Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Cologne – Düsseldorf – Duisburg – Essen – Dortmund – Bielefeld – Hannover – Berlin-Spandau – Berlin Hbf – Berlin Südkreuz – Lutherstadt Wittenberg – Leipzig		Siemens Vectron BR193 + railway coaches	3x per week
NJ 425	ÖBB Nightjet	Brussels-South – Brussels-North – Liège-Guillemins – Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Cologne-Ehrenfeld – Bonn Hbf – Koblenz Hbf – Mainz Hbf – Mannheim Hbf only operational stop/Dividing train –	Frankfurt South – Erfurt Hbf – Halle (Saale) Hbf – Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin Hbf	Compartment coaches, Couchette cars, Sleeping cars	3x per week	Night Train
NJ 40425			Munich East – Rosenheim – Salzburg Hbf – Linz Hbf – St. Pölten Hbf – Wien Meidling – Vienna
RE 1 NRW-Express	National Express	Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Eschweiler – Düren – Horrem – Cologne – Düsseldorf – Duisburg Hbf – Mülheim (Ruhr) – Essen – Bochum – Dortmund – Hamm		2x BR462 Siemens Desiro HC	1x per hour
RE 4 Wupper-Express	National Express	Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Herzogenrath – Rheydt – Mönchengladbach – Neuss – Düsseldorf – Wuppertal – Hagen – Witten – Dortmund		1-2x BR462 Siemens Desiro HC	1x per hour
RE 9 Rhein-Sieg-Express	DB Regio NRW	Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Eschweiler – Düren – Horrem – Cologne – Troisdorf – Siegburg/Bonn – Hennef – Au (Sieg) – Siegen		Talent 2, DB Class 146.0 + 5-6x Double-deck Coach	1x per hour
RE 18 LIMAX	Arriva Nederland	Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Aachen West – Herzogenrath – Eygelshoven Markt – Landgraaf – Heerlen – Valkenburg – Meerssen – Maastricht		Stadler FLIRT 3	2x per hour
RB 20 Euregiobahn	DB Regio NRW	Alsdorf-Annapark – Alsdorf-Busch – Herzogenrath-August-Schmidt-Platz – Herzogenrath-Alt-Merkstein – Herzogenrath – Kohlscheid – Aachen West – Aachen Schanz – Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Aachen-Rothe Erde – Eilendorf – Stolberg (Rheinland) –	Eschweiler-West – Eschweiler Talbahnhof – Eschweiler-Nothberg – Eschweiler-Weisweiler – Langerwehe – Düren	DB Class 643	2x per hour
			Stolberg-Schneidmühle – Stolberg-Mühlener Bahnhof – Stolberg-Rathaus – Stolberg-Altstadt		2x per hour
RE 29 S 41 euregioAIXpress	SNCB/NMBS	Liège-St.-Lambert – Liège-Guillemins – Angleur – Chaudfontaine – Pepinster – Verviers – Welkenraedt – Hergenrath – Aachen Hauptbahnhof		SNCB Class 18 + 4x I11 Coaches	1x per hour
RB 33 Rhein-Niers-Bahn	DB Regio NRW	Essen – Mülheim (Ruhr) – Mülheim-Styrum – Duisburg – Duisburg-Hochfeld Süd – Rheinhausen Ost – Rheinhausen – Krefeld-Hohenbudberg Chempark – Krefeld-Uerdingen – Krefeld-Linn – Krefeld-Oppum – Krefeld – Forsthaus – Anrath – Viersen – Mönchengladbach – Rheydt – Wickrath – Herrath – Erkelenz – Hückelhoven-Baal – Brachelen –	Lindern – Geilenkirchen – Übach-Palenberg – Herzogenrath – Kohlscheid – Aachen West – Aachen Schanz – Aachen Hauptbahnhof	2x BR1440 Alstom Coradia Continental	1x per hour
		Heinsberg –			1x per hour
S19 Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn	DB Regio NRW	Aachen Hauptbahnhof – Aachen-Rothe Erde – Stolberg (Rheinland) – Langerwehe – Düren – Horrem – Cologne – Cologne/Bonn Airport station – Troisdorf (–Hennef(Sieg))		DB Class 423	2x per night

Operational usage

Aachen Hauptbahnhof is served by the following lines:

• Cologne–Aachen (KBS 480)
• Aachen–Brussels
• Aachen–Mönchengladbach (KBS 485)
• Liège–Aachen line (KBS 480a/L 37)

References

1. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas) (2009/2010 ed.). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
2. "Stationspreisliste 2024" [Station price list 2024] (PDF) (in German). DB Station&Service. 24 April 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
3. "Liniennetzplan Region Aachen" (PDF). Aachener Verkehrsverbund. 9 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
4. "VRS-Gemeinschaftstarif" (PDF) (in German). Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg. 20 April 2020. p. 197. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.

External links

• Büker, Thorsten (28 August 2011). "Aachen Hbf (Germany – Belgium)". Railways through Europe – border stations. Thorsten Büker. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
• Büker, Thorsten (12 September 2004). "Cologne – Aachen – Brussels". Railways through Europe – border lines. Thorsten Büker. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
• "Current departure time in Aachen Hbf". Deutsche Bahn. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
• "Aachen Hauptbahnhof" (PDF; 430,87 KB). Location maps. Aachener Verkehrsverbund. 15 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.