Bretten station is the centre of rail transport in the town of

Bretten Bretten (; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Bredde'') is a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Geography Bretten lies in the centre of a rectangle that is formed by Heidelber ...

in the German state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. The

Württemberg Western Railway The Western Railway (''Westbahn'') in Württemberg was opened in 1853 and ran from Bietigheim-Bissingen to Bruchsal. It was the first railway link between the states of Württemberg and Baden in Germany and one of the oldest lines in Germany. ...

and the Kraichgau line cross at the station.

History

Bretten station was opened on 1 October 1853 as part of the construction of Western Railway from

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

Bruchsal Bruchsal (; orig. Bruohselle, Bruaselle, historically known in English as Bruxhall; South Franconian: ''Brusel'') is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, ...

. In the late 1870s, the Kraichgau Railway was opened from

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. ...

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. From the late Mid ...

, creating a railway junction. At the same time the station was moved from near the town centre to its present location at the junction to the west of the town centre. The Western Railway through Bretten station was electrified in the 1950s. When

Karlsruhe Stadtbahn The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn is a German tram-train system combining tram lines in the city of Karlsruhe with railway lines in the surrounding countryside, serving the entire region of the middle upper Rhine valley and creating connections to neighbou ...

services opened on the Kraichgau Railway to Bretten-Gölshausen on 25 September 1992, along with the electrification of the Kraichgau Railway, this first two-system light railway (

tram-train A tram-train is a type of light rail vehicle that meets the standards of a light rail system (usually an urban street running tramway), but which also meets national mainline standards permitting operation alongside mainline trains. This all ...

) line was called line B. In May 1994, Stadtbahn line S9 opened from

to Bretten and it was extended to

Mühlacker Mühlacker is a town in the eastern part of the Enz (district), Enz district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Mühlacker station has direct rail connections with Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Heidelberg, Pforzheim and the Northern Black Forest. Mühlhau ...

in 1999. In 1994, line B was renamed line S4. In the summer of 2000 the station was modernised. Among other things, the platforms were raised, waiting rooms were enlarged and a toilet was built. Between 2002 and 2004, with the opening of Stadtbahn operations on the

Murg Valley Railway The Murg Valley Railway (german: Murgtalbahn) is a 58 kilometre long railway line in the Northern Black Forest in Germany, that links Rastatt and Freudenstadt. It was opened in stages from 1868 to 1928 being built outwards from both Rastatt and Fr ...

, services were extended to

Freudenstadt Freudenstadt ( Swabian: ''Fraidestadt'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is capital of the district Freudenstadt. The closest population centres are Offenburg to the west (approx. 36 km away) and Tübingen to the eas ...

, but through services were discontinued at the end of 2004 due to the route's high susceptibility to delays. In addition

Regional-Express In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with average speed at about 70–90 km/h (top speed often 160 km/h) as it calls at f ...

trains operate from

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, stopping in Bretten, as does the so-called "Kraichgau Sprinter", which runs twice daily between

and

with few stops. In the station forecourt, there is a bus station served by bus lines 141, 143, 144, 145 and 146, connecting to Bretten and its immediate surroundings.

Notes

References

External links

{{cite web, title= Track plan of Bretten station, format=PDF, 193.74 kB , publisher=

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

, url=http://www.deutschebahn.com/site/bahn/de/geschaefte/infrastruktur__schiene/netz/netzzugang/dokumente/Bahnhof/SNB/R/RBT__NBS.pdf, accessdate=24 January 2011 , language=German Avg-863-01

Railway stations in Baden-Württemberg Railway stations in Germany opened in 1853 Karlsruhe Stadtbahn stations Karlsruhe (district)