Bad Nieuweschans (;

abbreviation An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

: Nsch), previously named Nieuweschans (1868–2013), is an unstaffed

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

in the village of

Bad Nieuweschans Bad Nieuweschans (also ''Lange Akkeren''; ; Gronings: ''Nij-Schans''; German: ''Bad Neuschanz'') is a village in the north-eastern Netherlands on the border with Germany. It forms part of the municipality of Oldambt (municipality), Oldambt. Nieuw ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It connects the Harlingen–Nieuweschans and Ihrhove–Nieuweschans railways and is situated between

Winschoten Winschoten (; gos, Winschoot) is a city with a population of 18,518 in the municipality of Oldambt in the northeast of the Netherlands. It is the largest city in the region of Oldambt in the province of Groningen which has 38,213 inhabitants. ...

, Netherlands and

Weener Weener () is a town in the district of Leer, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the border with the Netherlands, on the river Ems. The towns population is at 15,654, making it the largest town of the region Rheiderland. It has a railw ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The station building was completed in 1867 and demolished in 1973. Train services started on 1 November 1868. Trains were operated by

Staatsspoorwegen ''Staatsspoorwegen'' (Dutch for State Railways, full name: ''Dienst der Staatsspoor- en Tramwegen in Nederlandsch–Indië'' (State Railways and Tramways Service in the Netherlands Indies, ''SS en T''), commonly abbreviated as SS) was a railway co ...

(1868–1937),

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and the ...

(1938–2000),

NoordNed NoordNed Personenvervoer B.V. (English translation Network North) was a public transport company operating trains and buses in the north and northeast of the Netherlands. Founded in 1999 as a joint venture by Arriva and Nederlandse Spoorwegen, af ...

(2000–2005), and

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

and Leer (Germany). There are also two bus connections at the station provided by

Qbuzz Qbuzz is a public transport company in the Netherlands that operates services in South Holland, Utrecht, Drenthe and Groningen. Founded in 2008, it was a 100% subsidiary of Nederlandse Spoorwegen (the Dutch National Railway Operator) between 2 ...

Location

The railway station is located at the Stationsstraat in the village of

. It is the easternmost station in the NetherlandsSpoorkaart Nederland

ProRail ProRail () is a Dutch government organisation responsible for the maintenance and extension of the national railway network infrastructure (not the metro or tram), the allocation of rail capacity, and controlling rail traffic. Prorail is a part o ...

, 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2015. and connects the Dutch railway network in the west with the German railway network in the east. The station is the eastern terminus of the

Harlingen–Nieuweschans railway The Harlingen–Nieuweschans railway is a railway line in the Netherlands running from the port of Harlingen to Bad Nieuweschans, passing through Leeuwarden and Groningen. The line was opened between 1863 and 1868. It is also known as the ''Staa ...

after

, which leads towards Zuidbroek and

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

. The

Ulsda Ulsda (; Gronings: ''Olsde'') is a hamlet in the municipality of Oldambt in the northeast of the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_na ...

railway stop A railway stop is a spot along a railway line, usually between stations or at a seldom-used station, where passengers can board and exit the train. While a junction or interlocking usually divides two or more lines or routes, and thus has rem ...

was between Winschoten and Nieuweschans between 1887 and 1938.Overzicht van de spoorlijn Harlingen-Leeuwarden-Groningen-Nieuweschans
Stationsweb. Retrieved 8 February 2017. The station is also the western terminus of the

Ihrhove–Nieuweschans railway The Ihrhove–Nieuweschans railway is an international railway line running from Ihrhove near Leer in Germany to Bad Nieuweschans in the Netherlands. The line was opened in 1876. Ihrhove is situated on the north-south Emsland Railway, between ...

after

, which leads towards Leer in

.Die Eisenbahn in Ostfriesland - Strecken & Stationen
, Westbahn.de. Retrieved 7 February 2017. The distance from Bad Nieuweschans westward to railway terminus Harlingen Haven is , to Groningen , to Zuidbroek , and to Winschoten . The distance from Bad Nieuweschans eastward to Weener is and to railway terminus Ihrhove .

History

The station building was completed in 1867. It was one of nine buildings in the Netherlands of the type SS Hoogezand etc. designed by

Karel Hendrik van Brederode Karel Hendrik van Brederode (; 11 December 1827 – 19 September 1897) was a Dutch engineer and architect of railway stations. In 1847 he was cofounder of the in The Hague. Buildings Over 110 railway stations in the Netherlands were built fo ...

. There was a customs office next to the station building. The segment of the

between Winschoten and ''Nieuweschans'', as it was then called, was opened on 1 November 1868. The

was opened on 26 November 1876. Trains were operated by

Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen The Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen () or SS (''Company for the Exploitation of the State Railways'') was a private railroad founded to use the government funded railways. The company existed until 1938, when it formally merged ...

until 1937.Maatschappij tot exploitatie van staatsspoorwegen 1863-1937
Het Utrechts Archief, 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2017. Georges Simenon's story ''

Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets ''The Crime of Inspector Maigret'' (other English-language titles are ''Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets'' and ''The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien'') is a novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon. The original French-language version ''Le Pendu de ...

'' (1931) starts in this station. From 1938 to 2000, trains were operated by the

, which was formed when the Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen and the

Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij The Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij () or HSM (''Hollands Iron Railway-Company'') was the first railway company in the Netherlands founded on 8 August 1837 as a private company, starting operation in 1839 with a line between Amsterdam ...

merged. In order to escape the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, Jewish physicist

Lise Meitner Elise Meitner ( , ; 7 November 1878 – 27 October 1968) was an Austrian-Swedish physicist who was one of those responsible for the discovery of the element protactinium and nuclear fission. While working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute on rad ...

escaped from Nazi Germany to the Netherlands, on her way to Sweden via this train station on the border. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, between 1942 and 1944, more than 102,000 people were transported from the

Westerbork transit camp Camp Westerbork ( nl, Kamp Westerbork, german: Durchgangslager Westerbork, Drents: ''Börker Kamp; Kamp Westerbörk'' ), also known as Westerbork transit camp, was a Nazi transit camp in the province of Drenthe in the Northeastern Netherlands, d ...

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

. Nieuweschans was the last station in the Netherlands they passed, which is commemorated with the sculpture ''De laatste blik'' (The Last View). The station building was demolished in 1973. Trains service have been provided by

from 2000 to 2005, and by

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Weener Weener () is a town in the district of Leer, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the border with the Netherlands, on the river Ems. The towns population is at 15,654, making it the largest town of the region Rheiderland. It has a railw ...

was destroyed in a collision with the ship '' Emsmoon'', and the Ihrhove–Nieuweschans railway has been closed since.
Schip ramt spoorbrug Weener en legt treinverkeer Leer plat
, ''

Dagblad van het Noorden The ''Dagblad van het Noorden'' (; en, Daily of the North), abbreviated as ''DvhN'', is a Dutch regional daily newspaper that is published and circulated in the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe in the northeastern Netherlands. The newspaper is ...

'', 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2016.

Station layout

The railway through Bad Nieuweschans is unelectrified and oriented west to east. At the station, the

single-track railway A single-track railway is a railway where trains traveling in both directions share the same track. Single track is usually found on lesser-used rail lines, often branch lines, where the level of traffic is not high enough to justify the co ...

splits into two tracks. There are two platforms, platform 1 is north of the northern track and platform 2 is south of the southern track. Beyond the station the tracks merge back into a single track.Leeuwarden–Groningen
Sporenplan. Retrieved 4 May 2016.

Train services

Bus services

References

External links

station information {{Railway stations in Groningen 1860s establishments in the Netherlands Buildings and structures completed in 1867 Buildings and structures demolished in 1973 Railway stations in Groningen (province) Railway stations on the Staatslijn B Railway stations opened in 1868 Transport in Oldambt (municipality)