Hamburg-Altona (or simply Altona) is a

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 prep ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany, situated to the west of the city's main station, in the district which bears its name. A main line

terminal station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing su ...

, most

Intercity-Express The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerl ...

(ICE) services to and from southern Germany begin and terminate at Hamburg-Altona. It also has an underground station (named Altona) which is served by the rapid transit trains of the Hamburg S-Bahn. The station is managed by

DB Station&Service DB Station&Service AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, responsible for managing over 5,400 train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, ...

History

The original Altona station was built by the Altona-Kiel Railway Company at the end of the line from Kiel, some 300 metres south of the current station. It opened in 1844, at which time Altona was an independent city within the

Duchy of Holstein The Duchy of Holstein (german: Herzogtum Holstein, da, Hertugdømmet Holsten) was the northernmost state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It originated when King Christian I of Denmark had hi ...

(the old station is currently used as the present-day Altona borough's town hall). In 1866 the link line was opened, allowing trains to run through to Klosterthor station (near the main train station) and on to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. In 1867 the Altona-Blankenese railway was opened to the towns on the right bank of the river

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...

(this line is today used by S-Bahn lines S1 and S11). In 1898 ''Altona Hauptbahnhof'' (Altona main station) was opened at the current location. It was badly damaged 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 opposing ...

but subsequently rebuilt. The building was finally demolished in the late 1970s during the construction of the

City-S-Bahn The City S-Bahn is a 5,380 metre-long tunnel section of the Hamburg S-Bahn. It runs between Hamburg-Altona station, Altona station and Hamburg Hauptbahnhof through the city centre of Hamburg and the districts of Altona, Hamburg, Altona and St. Paul ...

despite protests; it was feared that the tunnelling would cause the structure to collapse. It was replaced by the current two-storey, low-rise precast concrete structure upon its opening in 1979.

Future

In September 2009 the ''

Hamburger Morgenpost The ''Hamburger Morgenpost'' (Hamburg Morning Post) (also known as Mopo) is a daily German newspaper published in Hamburg in tabloid format. As of 2006 the ''Hamburger Morgenpost'' was the second-largest newspaper in Hamburg after '' Bild Zeitu ...

'' and ''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter All ...

'' revealed that Deutsche Bahn AG plans to close the long distance train station at Altona and to build a new station in the area of

Diebsteich station The train station Diebsteich is served by the rapid transit trains of the Hamburg S-Bahn and the commuter trains of the AKN railways plc. The S-Bahn tracks run parallel with the Hamburg-Altona–Kiel railway. Right along the tracks is the border ...

. According to ''Die Welt'', the

city government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

had preliminary studies for the area to build flats and a park. Initially it was expected that the new station would open in 2016. As a result of frequent protests, that date has been delayed until 2027.

Station layout

Regional and long-distance trains start and terminate at the street-level bay platforms within the terminal. There are two underground

island platforms An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

for the Hamburg S-Bahn rapid transit trains, accessible by stairs,

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizo ...

s and lifts. In front of the station there is a

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is ...

with connections across the city.

Station services

Trains

Long distance

Altona is the terminus/starting point for ICE lines 18, 25 and 28 to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, line 22 to Stuttgart, line 26 to

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

and line 20 to

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

. All ICE services are run by Deutsche Bahn.

Regional trains

Regional services available from Altona include number RE 6/60 to Westerland (Sylt) and RB 71 to

Itzehoe Itzehoe (; nds, Itzhoe) is a town in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. As the capital of the district Steinburg, Itzehoe is located on the Stör, a navigable tributary of the Elbe, 51 km (31.7 mi) northwest of Hamburg and 24 ...

and

Wrist In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as (1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand; "The wrist contains eight bones, roughly aligned in two rows, known as the carp ...

S-Bahn (Rapid transit)

The S1 and S11 line trains on the Blankenese line from the west of the city call at Altona and continue on towards

Hamburg Hauptbahnhof Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (abbrev. ''Hamburg Hbf'') is the main railway station of the city of Hamburg, Germany. Opened in 1906 to replace four separate terminal stations, today Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is operated by DB Station&Service AG. With an avera ...

via the City S-Bahn and the link line towards

Hamburg Airport Hamburg Airport , known in German as ''Flughafen Hamburg'', is a major international airport in Hamburg, the second-largest city in Germany. Since November 2016 the airport has been christened after the former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt. ...

and the northern terminus at

Poppenbüttel Poppenbüttel () is a quarter in the borough Wandsbek of Hamburg, Germany. In 2020 the population was 24,135. History Poppenbüttel became a part of Hamburg in 1937. During World War II there were working locations for the subcamp Sasel of Neuenga ...

. Route S3 runs from

Pinneberg Pinneberg (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Pinnbarg'') is a town in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It is the capital of the district of Pinneberg and has a population of about 43,500 inhabitants. Pinneberg is located 18&nbs ...

in the north-west of the city via the Pinneberg line and continues via Jungfernstieg station and the Hauptbahnhof and via the

Harburg S-Bahn The Harburg S-Bahn line is a railway line in southern Hamburg, Germany. It starts at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and runs via Harburg to Stade. It mostly runs parallel with the line to Hanover and the Lower Elbe line and is now part of the Hamburg S ...

towards Neugraben, eventually terminating at Stade in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

. Route S31 starts here and runs via the link line, Holstenstrasse station and the Hauptbahnhof towards Harburg and Neugraben.

Facilities

Several shops are located in the station building, along with emergency and information telephones,

ticket machine A ticket machine, also known as a ticket vending machine (TVM), is a vending machine that produces paper or electronic tickets, or recharges a stored-value card or smart card or the user's mobile wallet, typically on a smartphone. For instanc ...

s, toilets, lockboxes and personnel.

Gallery

File:Altonarbf90.jpg, The first station with wings built in 1890, as seen from the south] File:130-altona-cropped.GIF, Bahnhof Altona (railway station) in 1971. Buses, trams, trains and S-Bahn trains all met here. File:Bahnhof Hamburg Altona.JPG, Present-day platforms and tracks

References

External links

DB station information

Picture of the Hamburg-Altona station

Network plan HVV
(PDF, 560 KiB) {{Authority control Hamburg S-Bahn stations Railway stations in Germany opened in 1844 Altona Buildings and structures in Altona, Hamburg Hermann Eggert buildings