Kiel Hauptbahnhof

Kiel Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in the northern German city of Kiel. It consists of eight rail tracks, all of which are electrified, and is a hub for train services to nearby towns such as Plön and Eckernförde.

Kiel Hauptbahnhof
Deutsche Bahn
Terminus
Main entrance on the north side
General information
LocationSophienblatt 25-27, Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein
Germany
Coordinates54°18′53″N 10°07′54″E
Owned byDB Netz
Operated byDB Station&Service
Line(s)
Platforms8
Train operatorsDB Fernverkehr
DB Regio Nord
Construction
Architectural styleBaroque Revival
Other information
Station code3174 [1]
DS100 codeAK [2]
IBNR8000199
Category2 [1]
Websitewww.bahnhof.de
History
Opened1899
Previous names1899-1927 Bahnhof Kiel
Services
Preceding station DB Fernverkehr Following station
Terminus ICE 20 Hamburg-Altona
towards Basel SBB
ICE 22 Hamburg-Altona
ICE 28 Hamburg-Altona
towards München Hbf
ICE 31 Hamburg-Altona
EC 27 Hamburg-Altona
towards Praha
Preceding station DB Regio Nord Following station
Terminus RE 7 Flintbek
towards Hamburg Hbf
RE 70 Bordesholm
towards Hamburg Hbf
Suchsdorf
towards Flensburg
RE 72 Terminus
Kiel-Hassee CITTI-PARK
towards Husum
RE 74
Kiel-Hassee CITTI-PARK
towards Eckernförde
RB 73
Kiel-Hassee CITTI-PARK
towards Rendsburg
RB 75
Preceding station Erixx Following station
Terminus RB 76 Kiel Schulen am Langsee
towards Kiel-Oppendorf
RE 83 Raisdorf
towards Lüneburg
RB 84 Kiel-Elmschenhagen
towards Lübeck Hbf
Location
Kiel Hauptbahnhof is located in Schleswig-Holstein
Kiel Hauptbahnhof
Kiel Hauptbahnhof
Location within Schleswig-Holstein
Kiel Hauptbahnhof is located in Germany
Kiel Hauptbahnhof
Kiel Hauptbahnhof
Location within Germany
Kiel Hauptbahnhof is located in Europe
Kiel Hauptbahnhof
Kiel Hauptbahnhof
Location within Europe

Overview

With 25,000 daily passengers and visitors to Kiel Hauptbahnhof, it is the second busiest railway station in Schleswig-Holstein after Lübeck Hauptbahnhof. The area around the station is the busiest place in Kiel. More than 100,000 people daily use the bus station, the railway station and the station forecourt.

Station forecourt with northern entrance

The station is the starting point of lines to Hamburg, Lübeck, Flensburg and Husum. It is located directly on Kieler Förde. The ferry terminal for Oslo and Gothenburg is a few hundred metres away.

Kiel Hauptbahnhof is built as a railway terminus and has a three-aisled train shed, which is 121 metres (397 ft 0 in) long and 55 metres (180 ft 5 in) wide.

History

Eagle over the eastern entrance of the former imperial waiting rooms in 2010
Imperial steps and east side ramp, looking to the west in 2008.

Kiel's first railway station was built between 1843 and 1846 at Ziegelteich, about 500 m north of the current location. This station was unable to cope with the growing traffic, especially after the declaration of the Reichskriegshäfen ("Imperial War Harbours") in Kiel in 1871. The current location was selected for its improved access to the port by road. Construction began in 1895.

The western part of the six-track terminal station was completed and opened in 1899. Trains continued to run in the meantime to the old station through a gap in the east wing. After the opening of the new station, operations to the old station were abandoned and the east wing was completed in 1900. The old station was demolished in 1902. On the east side of the entrance building were the imperial steps (Kaisertreppe), which together with a curved driveway provided the shortest possible route to the harbour basin where the imperial yacht was berthed. The final completion of the west wing and the platform hall lasted until 1911 because, among other things, the city monastery and a poorhouse on Sophienblatt, had to be demolished.

In 1944, the station and the adjacent magnificent buildings were severely damaged by the Allies in a heavy air raid. Starting in 1950, the station was rebuilt in a simplified form. The restaurant was located in the eastern part of the entrance building, so that the imperial staircase was no longer available as an entrance. In the 1950s, the station environment was transformed. In particular, the access street of Sophienblatt was greatly broadened.

In preparation for the 1972 Summer Olympics, an elevated parking deck was built on the north side of the station forecourt, covering the central bus station, which was at ground level. The pedestrian connection between the railway station and the bus station across the forecourt at the time was effected by means of a pedestrian walk covered by a light steel structure, leading out of the main entrance arch of the railway station and ending at the raised parking level. In the station, a level for shopping was inserted in the station concourse and around the north entrance, which halved the historical ceiling heights. The parking deck and the central bus station underneath it was partly demolished from 2009 to 2010, reducing it by nearly a third at its southern end closest to the station. A hotel of the "Atlantic" chain was built there. It opened in June 2010 and cost around €23 million to build.

Hotel Atlantic opposite the Hauptbahnhof

A pedestrian bridge that was built to connect the Sophienhof shopping centre, built in 1988, and the station building has affected the architecture of the building.

On the eastern side towards the harbour, the Erlebniszentrum (“experience centre”) CAP was rebuilt in 1994/1995 with several restaurants and a large cinema. It has direct access at platform height from the easternmost platform. In 2010, the CAP had its second renovation, essentially involving changes in its passageway and entrance areas while retaining some local businesses, including a bowling alley and a discotheque.

Kiel station during reconstruction in 2003 from the north
Renovated Kiel Hauptbahnhof at night in 2006 from the north

The railway to Hamburg was electrified in 1995. Since then Intercity-Express trains start and end here daily.

In 1999, a comprehensive renovation of the station started. Among other things, it received a new lobby. The intermediate level of the historic hall was removed and thus the former ceiling height were restored. The pedestrian walkway to the bus station on the north side of the station was demolished without replacement and the pedestrian walkway to the Sophienhof shopping centre was replaced by a steel and glass structure. The redesigned station forecourt and the foyer with shops on the concourse were inaugurated for Kiel Week in June 2004. The imperial steps on the east side have been restored. Due to financial and technical difficulties, the reconstruction was interrupted several times and only concluded in May 2006[3] with the completion of a new station hall, only the cross-walk at the end of the platforms is still in its original condition although it has been refurbished. The total cost of the conversion amounted to €60 million. The cost for the work in the station hall was estimated to cost around €30 million.[3] From 2013, there will be a further renovation of the station with the creation of tracks 2a and 6a. Track 2a was built outside the train shed with a connection to the platform for tracks 1 and 2. Tracks 6a is also built outside the train shed with a connection to the platform for tracks 5 and 6. These are needed to cope with the additional traffic on the Kiel-Rendsburg (-Fockbek) route and the Kiel–Schönberger Strand route from 2014.[4]

Routes

Regular services to the station operate on the following lines:

Occasionally operated line

Kiel–Schönberg–Schönberger Strand railway; from 1897 to 1911 and from 1954 to 1981, the passenger trains of the Kiel–Schönberger railway terminated at the station. Especially on weekends in the summer months, special trains ran to Schoenberg beach; in some years there was even a fixed timetable. Since September 2013, daily school trains have operated to the recently completed Kiel Schulen am Langsee station.

Closed and dismantled line

The trains of the Kiel–Segeberg Light Railway had its terminus at the Hauptbahnhof from 1 July 1954, but services ended on this line in 1961.

Rail services

The station is served by the following services.

Long distance services

As of 2019:

Line Route Frequency
ICE 20 Kiel – Hamburg Hbf Hannover Hbf Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe Frankfurt (Main) Hbf Mannheim Hbf Karlsruhe Hbf Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf Basel SBB (– Zürich HB Interlaken Ost) Individual services
ICE 22 Kiel – Hamburg Hbf – Hannover Hbf – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Frankfurt (Main) Hbf Frankfurt Airport – Mannheim Hbf Stuttgart Hbf Individual services
ICE 28 Kiel – Hamburg Berlin Lutherstadt Wittenberg Leipzig Individual services
ICE 31 Kiel – Hamburg Hbf Osnabrück Hbf Dortmund Hbf Düsseldorf Hbf Cologne Hbf Koblenz Hbf – Frankfurt (Main) Hbf Würzburg Hbf Nuremberg Hbf Munich Hbf Individual services
IC 31 Kiel – Hamburg Hbf Münster (Westf) Hbf – Dortmund Hbf – Cologne Hbf Mainz Hbf – Frankfurt (Main) Hbf (– Würzburg Hbf – Nuremberg Hbf Passau Hbf) Individual services
EC 27 Kiel – Hamburg Hbf – Berlin-Spandau – Berlin Hbf – Berlin SüdkreuzDresdenBad Schandau – Ústí nad Labem – Prague Individual services

Regional services

As of 2022:

Train class Route Timetable route
RE 7 Kiel – Flintbek – Bordesholm – Einfeld – NeumünsterElmshornHamburg DammtorHamburg Hbf 103
RE 70 Kiel – Bordesholm – Neumünster – WristElmshornPinneberg – Hamburg Dammtor – Hamburg 103
RE 72 Kiel – Suchsdorf – Gettorf – EckernfördeRiesebySüderbrarupSörupHusbyFlensburg 146
RB 73 KielKiel-Hassee CITTI-PARKKronshagen – Suchsdorf – Gettorf – Eckernförde 146
RE 74 KielRendsburgSchleswigHusum 134
RB 75 Kiel – Kiel-Hassee CITTI-PARK – Kiel-Russee – MelsdorfAchterwehrFeldeBredenbekSchülldorf – Rendsburg 134
RB 76 Kiel – Kiel-Schulen am Langsee – Kiel-Ellerbek – Oppendorf 133
RE 83 Kiel – Raisdorf – Preetz – Plön – Bad Malente-Gremsmühlen – Eutin – Bad Schwartau – Lübeck HauptbahnhofLübeck Flughafen – Ratzeburg – MöllnBüchen – Lauenburg (Elbe) – Echem – Lüneburg 145
RB 84 Kiel – Kiel-Elmschenhagen – Raisdorf – Preetz – Ascheberg – Plön – Bad Malente-Gremsmühlen – Eutin – Pönitz – Pansdorf – Bad Schwartau – Lübeck 145

Notes

  1. "Stationspreisliste 2023" [Station price list 2023] (PDF) (in German). DB Station&Service. 28 November 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  2. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas) (2009/2010 ed.). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
  3. "Kiel: Bahnhofsumbau vollendet". Eisenbahn-Revue International (in German) (7/2006): 323. ISSN 1421-2811.
  4. "Zwei neue Gleise für Kieler Hauptbahnhof". Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag (in German). 8 May 2013. p. 18. Retrieved 23 June 2013.

References

  • Ingo Dierck, Ralph Müller (1 June 1999). DB Station & Service (ed.). 100 Jahre Hauptbahnhof Kiel (in German). Kiel: O. O. u. J.
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