Ingolstadt Hauptbahnhof

Class 146 locomotive with the RE service to Nuremberg in Ingolstadt Hbf

With its establishment of the Intercity network on 26 September 1971, Ingolstadt Hauptbahnhof became part of the IC network.[9] Nevertheless, long-distance services in the winter timetable 1971/72 were still quite limited in Ingolstadt, since initially, only one Intercity train pair operated to Ingolstadt, the IC 123 (Nymphenburg) and the IC 126 (Herrenhausen). In the following years, however, IC services at Ingolstadt station increased. So in the winter 1991/92 timetable, there were services between Ingolstadt and Munich and between Ingolstadt and Frankfurt and the Ruhr every two hours.

In the early 1990s, Ingolstadt Hbf was also an InterRegio (IR) stop, as the then Deutsche Bundesbahn gradually replaced the aging long-distance express trains (D-Züge) with this new train type. With the beginning of the summer 1995 timetable (from 28 May 1995), Intercity-Express trains (on the Dortmund–Munich route) stopped at Ingolstadt for the first time in regular service.[10] The first service to stop in Ingolstadt was ICE 821 (Main-Kurier) on its way from Frankfurt to Munich on 29 May 1995. The trip from Ingolstadt to Munich then cost 32 Deutsche marks.[11]

On 15 December 2002, IR line 21 (Würzburg–Ansbach–Ingolstadt–Munich) was discontinued and replaced by IC line 66 (Frankfurt–Munich). At the small timetable change on 12 June 2005, five ICE train pairs from Ingolstadt to Munich was extended to Nuremberg and the Ruhr. At the same time, the Nuremberg–Munich IC line was abolished.[12]

The director general of the Royal Bavarian transport institute Ludwig Joseph von Brück had called for a direct rail connection between Munich and Nuremberg via Ingolstadt as early as 1863; this idea was taken up again by Deutsche Bundesbahn in the early 1980s.[13] The model of the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed railway was applied to the new Bavarian high speed line, ultimately leading to the modern concept of a line along the A9 Autobahn.[14]

On 15 July 1994, a large ground-breaking ceremony was held in the Nuremberg district of Fischbach for the beginning of construction of the 89 km long new line between Nuremberg and Ingolstadt, which was designed for speeds of up to 300 km/h.[15] The Ingolstadt–Munich line south of Petershausen station was upgraded for a top speed of 200 km/hour from 2002 to 2006.[16]

In the course of this construction, the node at Ingolstadt was remodelled with the redesign of the North Ingolstadt station and the upgrade of the existing two track railway between the North and Hauptbahnhof stations with a third track. Work began in May 2010, on the final section of the upgrade of the line, called Endausbau Nord (“upgrade north”), between Ingolstadt and Peterhausen, which is to be completed in 2014.[17]

When the Nuremberg–Ingolstadt high-speed railway was fully integrated into the ICE network on 10 December 2006, Ingolstadt received hourly direct services to Berlin and to Hamburg. Since then Ingolstadt Hbf has been served with almost hourly ICE trains. Intercity trains between Munich and Nuremberg now run regularly only via Augsburg.

On 2 March 1972, a through freight train (Dg 6563) ran through Ingolstadt Hbf at about 60 km/h and collided with a loaded tanker train (Üg 18263). This stood at the entrance of the station and had no rear lighting. Due to an axle counter fault on the signaling block, the dispatcher had to manually intervene and mistakenly directed the through freight train on to the track occupied by Üg 18263. As a result of the collision, the 20 wagons of the tanker train exploded in fire. The drivers of the colliding train and two residents of a nearby signalman's house were killed. The dispatcher who had caused the accident committed suicide a few hours after the accident. Due to the complicated salvage, the adjacent neighbourhood had to be evacuated.

On 11 April 2008, representatives of the state of Bavaria and Deutsche Bahn signed an agreement for the redevelopment of the station. The construction of the station would begin in September 2008 and be completed by the end of 2010, with works on the station building be completed in 2012. The federal and state governments and Deutsche Bahn intended to invest around €15 million. Among other things, a new platform underpass with escalators and lifts would be built. The platform height would be adjusted to the height of the trains and the platform canopies would be completely replaced.[21] After the modernisation of the station approximately 30,000 travellers are expected to use it daily (2008: 23,000).

The new platform underpass was put into operation on 31 August 2012

In November 2009, it was also announced that Deutsche Bahn had sold a 2,300 square metre site to the north of the station building to an investor for the Steigenberger Hotels group who intended to build an InterCity Hotel there. Deutsche Bahn intended to finance the reconstruction of the station from the proceeds from the sale of the land.[22]

The construction work was aborted in October 2010[23] and it was announced in December 2010 that its continuation would go to Europe-wide tender. Work would start again on 1 June 2011 and be completed by the end of December 2012.[24] It was later announced[25] that the completion date had been postponed to 29 March 2013.

Then on 9 June 2011, Deutsche Bahn announced in a press release that a new construction company would take up the work on the station on 4 July 2011.[26] Shortly afterward work began on the installation of temporary bridges for the creation of the new underpass, which was commissioned on 31 August 2012.[27] The next stage of construction was the partial demolition and backfilling of the old platform underpass. In addition, in mid-August excavation began for the new Intercity Hotel. The hotel opened on 1 March 2014.[28]

Ingolstadt Hbf is a node for the regular interval timetable, with Regionalbahn (RB) services from Augsburg, Regensburg and Ulm/Donauwörth meeting there on the hour and trains of the München-Nürnberg-Express meeting there every two hours, thus provide timely interchanges in all directions. Also at the top of the hour, services on the overlapping Intercity-Express (ICE) lines 25 and 28 on the Munich-Nuremberg line stop hourly, so these also provide direct connections to regional services. The Munich–Ingolstadt–Treuchtlingen–Nuremberg Regional-Express, which runs every two hours, overlaps with the Munich–Ingolstadt–Treuchtlingen RB service, which also runs every two hours, jointly providing an hourly service. The services of these lines meet on the half hour when they are overtaken by the ICE trains running on line 41, which do not stop in Ingolstadt. In the peak hour many extra services run that do not have synchronised meetings in Ingolstadt, mostly on the Munich–Ingolstadt–Eichstätt route, which has strong commuting traffic. Ingolstadt station is used each day by an average of 15,000 passengers.[29]

The newly built Hauptbahnhof bus stop

In front of the station there is a modern bus station. Its roof construction was awarded the BDA (Bund Deutscher Architekten, Federation of German Architects) prize in the "urban space" category in 2006. Here transfers can be made to bus routes 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 31, 44, X11, 9221, 9226, N12, N14 and S6 of the INVG (Ingolstädter Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH, Ingolstädt municipal transport company) towards the city centre and the city's suburbs. On average, about 4,000 passengers use INVG buses each day to the station.[30] It also runs line 6008 RBO to Regensburg. A taxi stand is also integrated into the bus station.

Concourse of Ingolstadt station with travel centre and bakery (right), a small supermarket (left), bookstore (back left), flower shop (back right) and access to the platforms (centre)

The entrance building stands on the western side of the tracks. The DB travel centre is open from 06:00 to 19:00 from Monday to Friday, from 07:30 to 18:00 on Saturday and from 09:00 to 18:30 on Sunday.[31] Outside of these hours vending machines are available.

There is also some rooms in the station building for Deutsche Bahn, including the office for the management of the station. There is also offices of the Federal Police[32] as well as an office of the Bahnhofsmission charity,[33] which provides travellers and the homeless with assistance. For the needs of travellers, there is a bakery, a small supermarket, a bookstore and a florist. There is also a restaurant in the station with a beer garden and a Bierstüberl (“beer parlour").

The modernised travel centre

Adjacent to the southern end of the station building is an eight-storey parking station that can accommodate about 800 cars and 300 bicycles. On the ground floor of the parking garage there are a Sixt car rental business, a key-cutting business, cleaning business, an insurance office, a city of Ingolstadt tourist information office and toilets.

Southwest of the station building there is another parking garage that has space for 300 cars.

Ingolstadt Hauptbahnhof has four platforms with seven tracks that have a platform height of 76 cm with the exception of track 1 (38 cm). Track 1 is the “house” platform with a length of 330 m. Track 2/3 are located on an island platform with a length of 410 m and track 4/5 are on an island platform with a length of 428 m. Long-distance trains stop only on tracks 3 and 4, since these are the main through tracks. Tracks 6 and 7 are located on a 193 m-long island platform,[34][35] which is used exclusively by local services. On platform 2/3 is the "Service Team", which is responsible for providing services to passengers on the platforms. Access to the platforms is via an underpass. Due to the lack of lifts, physically disabled people still have to use a ground-level crossing at the northern end of the platforms, which can only be used with the accompaniment of the service staff.

View of the northern part of the marshalling yard

Immediately to the east of the passenger station there is a marshalling yard where there are numerous tracks for the marshalling of freight trains. The marshalling of trains is facilitated by a hump.

At the south end of the yard there is a locomotive depot (Bahnbetriebswerk) operated by DB Schenker Rail.