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°ECoordinates: 52°51′29″N 11°9′42″E / 52.85806°N 11.16167°E
Line(s)	Stendal–Uelzen railway (KBS 305)
Platforms	4
Other information
Station code	5487 [1]
DS100 code	LSW [2]
Category	4 [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. "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.

External links

• "Pictures of past and present station" (in German). Retrieved 18 April 2014.