Bad Homburg station is located in

Bad Homburg Bad Homburg vor der Höhe () is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's offic ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

, Germany on the

Homburg Railway The Homburg Railway (german: Homburger Bahn ) is an 18 km line from Frankfurt am Main to Bad Homburg in the German state of Hesse. It was opened in 1860 as one of the first railway lines in Germany. It is now part of the Rhine-Main S-Bahn ...

and was opened on 26 October 1907. It is used by about 19,000 passengers each day.

Historical background

The new through station in Bad Homburg replaced two older terminal stations. One of these stations was at the site of the present town hall and was the terminus of the line from

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

that was opened in 1860 by the ''Homburg Railways'' (german: Homburger Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft). In 1895 the

Prussian state railways The term Prussian state railways (German: ''Preußische Staatseisenbahnen'') encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia. The words "state railways" are not capitalized because Prussia did not have a ...

opened another terminus, called ''Homburg Neu'' (new) station, for the High Taunus line from Homburg via

Friedrichsdorf Friedrichsdorf () is a town of the Hochtaunuskreis, some north of Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inh ...

Usingen Usingen is a small town in the Hochtaunuskreis in Hessen, Germany. Until 1972, this residential and school town was the seat of the former district of Usingen. Coat of arms The earliest seal whose appearance is known – there had been earlier on ...

. This second station was between the lower end of the street of Louisenstraße and the current connection to the

autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...

. The two stations were separated by a distance of 200 to 300 metres. They were connected via a track that was only used for shunting.

The new station

Homburg was a popular palace of

Emperor Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empi ...

. Thus the separation of rail services at Homburg’s two stations was not only operationally unsatisfactory, it also did not meet the Emperor’s ceremonial needs. Therefore, a new through station with a separate building for royalty was built between 1905 and 1907, which connected the two railway lines leading to Homburg to each other. It cost just under 4.7 million

marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members * Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel ...

. It was called Homburg station and renamed Bad Homburg station in 1912 when the town was similarly renamed. The station building is very representative of

Renaissance Revival architecture Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

and has an asymmetric design. The building was designed by government architect Armin Wegner, although the emperor repeatedly intervened in its design.

Operation

Bad Homburg station is now used by

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban- suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble co ...

S5 services running between Frankfurt South and

, and by

Hessische Landesbahn Hessische Landesbahn (Hessian State Railway, HLB) is a regional transport company owned by the German state of Hesse, based in Frankfurt am Main. It provides bus and rail passenger transport services and, to a lesser extent, rail freight services i ...

-operated RB 15 services running on the Taunusbahn between Frankfurt and Friedrichsdorf and Brandoberndorf. Outside the station building is a bus station used by all Bad Homburg bus routes and most regional bus routes. File:13-08-29 Bahnhof Bad Homburg 0004.jpg, Interior File:Bahnhof S5 HG Hauptgebaeude.jpg, Station File:Bad Homburg Fuerstenbahnhof 12122010.JPG, Former separate station building for royalty ("Fürstenbahnhof")

Future

It is planned to extend line U2 of the

Frankfurt U-Bahn The Frankfurt U-Bahn is a Stadtbahn system serving Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. Together with the Rhine-Main S-Bahn and the Frankfurt Straßenbahn, it forms the backbone of the public transport system in Frankfurt. Its name derives from the Germa ...

from Bad Homburg Gonzenheim to Bad Homburg station. A project known as ''Regionaltangente West'' (''Regional Tangent West'') would build a north–south line through

Frankfurt Airport Regional station Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station (german: Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Regionalbahnhof) is an underground railway station at Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt, Germany. It provides local S-Bahn and '' Regionalbahn'' services to the city and t ...

and could connect with the Bad Homburg station.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * * {{Navbox Rhine-Main S-Bahn Rhine-Main S-Bahn stations Railway stations in Hesse Buildings and structures in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe Railway stations in Germany opened in 1907