Bad Soden (Taunus) station is the northern terminus of the Soden Railway (german: Sodener Bahn) in the German state of

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

. It is also the northern terminus of line S3 of the

Rhine-Main S-Bahn The Rhine-Main S-Bahn system is an integrated rapid transit and commuter train system for the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region, which includes the cities Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Offenbach am Main, Hanau and Darmstadt. The network compris ...

over the

Limes Railway The Limes Railway (german: Limesbahn) is a continuously electrified and single-track railway that runs on the southern edge of the Taunus in the German state of Hesse, connecting the towns of Niederhöchstadt and Bad Soden am Taunus. It is named ...

(''Limesbahn'').

Location and facilities

The station is located in the centre of

Bad Soden Bad Soden (; also: ''Bad Soden am Taunus'') is a town and spa in the Main-Taunus-Kreis, Hessen, Germany. It had a population of 22,563 , up from 21,412 in 2005. Information Bad Soden is a residential town for commuters working in Frankfurt am ...

. The entrance building was built in 1847 and the middle part of the building dates from this time. The southern gable of the northern wing and the attached sheds were added in the second decade of the last century. The entrance building is listed as a monument under the Hessian Heritage Act. Next to the platform, there was a long freight shed with its own sidings. These facilities have been removed in the last few years.

History

The station was opened on 22 May 1847 as the terminus of the Soden Railway. This joined Soden with the nearest large town, Höchst, where it connected with the

Taunus Railway The Taunus Railway (German: ''Taunus-Eisenbahn'') is a double-track electrified railway line, which connects Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, Germany. It is 41.2 km long and follows the course of the Main on its north side, running quite close ...

from

Frankfurt 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 it ...

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

opened in 1839. The line and associated works were taken over by 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 ...

on 3 May 1872. The station was rebuilt in its present form with two tracks as part of the construction of the connection to the Rhine-Main S-Bahn in 1978. At the same time, the new Limes line was built for the S-Bahn from Bad Soden station to Niederhöchstadt via Schwalbach, connecting to Frankfurt via

Eschborn Eschborn () is a town in the Main-Taunus district, Hesse, Germany. It is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area and has a population of 21,488 (2018). Eschborn is home to numerous corporations due to its proximity to Frankfurt and relatively ...

Services

Line S3 of the

runs over the Limes line from Bad Soden to Darmstadtvia

Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof, also called Frankfurt Central Station and Frankfurt Main Station, is the busiest railway station in the German state of Hesse. Because of its location near the middle of Germany and usage as a transport hub for lo ...

. Between 1979 and 1997, it also reversed at Bad Soden and continued over the Soden line to Frankfurt-Hoechst. Since 1997, the ''Frankfurt-Königsteiner Eisenbahn'' (now rebranded as the

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 ...

—Hessian State Railways) has operated the Soden line. Despite the fact that the line is electrified, it is operated, along with the Hessische Landesbahn's other routes through the Taunus, by a diesel multiple unit (usually a VT 2E, sometimes a LINT). The bus stop at the station is served by local bus routes 253, 803, 810, 811, 812 and 828.

Prospects

The line of the S3 between Niederhöchstadt and Bad Soden has only one track, which allows maximum services at 30-minute intervals. Bad Soden has considered building another platform in order to allow operations at 15-minute intervals.

References

* {{Navbox Rhine-Main S-Bahn Rhine-Main S-Bahn stations Railway stations in Hesse Buildings and structures in Main-Taunus-Kreis Railway stations in Germany opened in 1847