Bebra station is a railway station on the German passenger and freight rail network in the northern

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 ...

town of

Bebra Bebra () is a small town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Bebra lies some south of Kassel on the Fulda. The town is easy to find on most maps thanks to its prominent location on the ''Fuldakni ...

. It is a railway junction as well as an

intercity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

stop on the Dortmund–

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

– Stralsund route. The station was opened in 1846 and quickly became a major transport hub. Bebra then developed into a classic

railway town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated or was greatly developed because of a railway station or junction at its site. North America During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporar ...

History

Bebra became part of the German railway network on 29 August 1848, with commissioning of the first section of the

Frederick William Northern Railway Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode * Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederic ...

Guxhagen Guxhagen is a municipality in Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany. Geography Guxhagen lies about 15 km south of Kassel between the Habichtswald Nature Park and the Meißner-Kaufunger Wald Nature Park on the river Fulda. It n ...

. On 25 September, the line was extended to

Gerstungen Gerstungen is a municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. In July 2018 the former municipalities of Marksuhl and Wolfsburg-Unkeroda were merged into Gerstungen. History Between 1945 and 1990, Gerstungen station served a ...

. On the same day the Thuringian line to Halle was also extended to Bebra. In 1866 this was followed by the first section of the

Frankfurt–Bebra railway The Frankfurt–Bebra railway runs from Bebra to Frankfurt am Main via Fulda, Gelnhausen, Hanau and Offenbach am Main in south central Germany. The southern section between Fulda and Frankfurt is known as the Kinzig Valley railway (german: Kin ...

Bad Hersfeld The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld (''Bad'' is "spa" in German; the Old High German name of the city was ''Herolfisfeld'') is the district seat of the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southe ...

and in 1875 by the line to Göttingen. The present station building was built in 1869 on an island surrounded by rail tracks. It experienced a small decline in importance with the opening of the ''Berlin curve'' in 1914, connecting between the Frankfurt–Bebra line and the Thuringian line and avoiding the reversal previously required in Bebra. After

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 ...

traffic in the area Bebra shifted more in a north-south direction as traffic heading east was disrupted by the nearby Inner German border. Bebra was, however, a border station for interzone trains to

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

and transit trains and military trains of the Western powers to

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

. In Bebra, locomotives of the

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and East German railways were exchanged. From the summer 1973 timetable this was done in

. The "Berlin curve" was not used while Germany was divided. The electrification of the railways serving the station started in 1963. In 1990, the ''Berlin curve'' was rebuilt and put back into operation. Bebra is now served by an

Intercity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

line and several regional lines. The marshalling yard is also one of Deutsche Bahn’s 13 cargo centres.

Rail services

The following services serve Bebra station:

References

{{Reflist Railway stations in North Hesse Buildings and structures in Hersfeld-Rotenburg Railway stations in Germany opened in 1848 1840s in the Electorate of Hesse Establishments in the Electorate of Hesse