Salzwedel station

Salzwedel
Through station

View over the platforms
Location Salzwedel, Saxony-Anhalt
Germany
Coordinates 52°51′29″N 11°9′42″E / 52.85806°N 11.16167°E / 52.85806; 11.16167Coordinates: 52°51′29″N 11°9′42″E / 52.85806°N 11.16167°E / 52.85806; 11.16167
Line(s)
Platforms 4
Other information
Station code 5487 [1]
DS100 codeLSW [2]
Category4 [1]
History
Opened 1870

Salzwedel station is the station of the district town of Salzwedel in Altmark in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Until 2004, it was a railway junction, but as a result of the closure of nearly all branch lines it has lost most of its importance. Only one railway line still runs through Salzwedel.

History

The former locomotive depot now houses a railway museum
The platforms of Salzwedel station

Salzwedel station was built in 1870 during the construction of the Stendal–Uelzen railway (part of the America Line from Berlin to Bremen and Bremerhaven) by the Magdeburg-Halberstadt Railway Company. Railways formerly ran in seven directions from Salzwedel station or Salzwedel Neustadt station (which lay to the immediate east), as the table below shows. A locomotive depot (Bahnbetriebswerk) was built directly next to it in order to service these routes. During the Second World War, the station area was destroyed in an air raid on 22 February 1945, which caused about 300 deaths. Of the seven lines, only the Stendal–Uelzen railway remain. During the division of Germany the line was cut at the border, but continuous operations were restored on 19 December 1999. It has been extensively modernised since reunification and electrified so that it can be used an alternative route for Intercity-Express train from Berlin to Hamburg.

Passenger services on the last additional line connecting to the station, the Salzwedel–Wittenberg railway, were closed at the timetable change in December 2004. It had recently been upgraded. The decades-old Ferkeltaxe (“piglet taxis”) class VT2.09 railbuses were replaced by modern Desiro low-floor railcars built by Siemens from 2003. But neither they nor a specially formed citizens' initiative could save the route.

Line Opening Closure of
passenger services
Salzwedel–Stendal 1870
Salzwedel–Uelzen 1873
Salzwedel–Oebisfelde 1889 2002
Salzwedel–Dannenberg 1891 1945
Salzwedel–Diesdorf 1901 1995
Salzwedel–Badel 1902 1980
Salzwedel–Wittenberge 1922 2004

The station

The area around the station was reconstructed from scratch in the late 1990s. Deutsche Bahn renovated the entrance building and built two new island platforms, which can be reached by a new underpass with its entrance in an extension of the station building. The town of Salzwedel built a new bus station on the station forecourt and a large station parking area.

Rail services

Operations of regional train services were converted a few years ago to modern class 425 electric railcars. Since the timetable change in December 2006, the RE 20 service has been operated with double-deck trains.

In the 2014/15 timetable the following services serve Salzwedel station:

Line Route Frequency (min) Operator
IC Berlin Südkreuz – Stendal – Salzwedel – Uelzen – Hamburg-Altona - DB long distance
IRE° Berlin Ostbahnhof – Stendal – Salzwedel – Uelzen – Hamburg Hbf - DB Regio Nordost
RE 20 Halle (Saale) – Köthen – Magdeburg – Stendal – Salzwedel – Uelzen 120 DB Regio Südost
RB 29 (Schönebeck-Bad Salzelmen – Magdeburg –) Stendal – Salzwedel (– Uelzen) 120 DB Regio Südost

° since 14 April 2014 [3]

Until mid-December 2014 the station was also served by EuroCity "Wawel", which used to run once daily between Hamburg Altona and Wrocław Główny six days a week.

Every two-hour buses run from the bus station as the “Arendsee Express” to Wittenberg and as "Drömling-Express" to Oebisfelde. These services were established after the cancellation of passenger services on the Salzwedel–Wittenberg railway and the Oebisfelde–Salzwedel railway.

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Stationspreisliste 2017" [Station price list 2017] (PDF) (in German). DB Station&Service. 18 November 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  2. ↑ Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas) (2009/2010 ed.). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
  3. ↑ "Willkommen an Bord des IRE Berlin-Hamburg" (in German). Deutsche Bahn. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
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