Heppenheim (Bergstraße) station is a station in the town of Heppenheim and it is the most southerly station in the German state of

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

on the Main-Neckar Railway between

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 its na ...

and

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 ...

. On weekdays the station is served by two

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 ...

services on the long-distance network of

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 ...

. The station is classified by

as a category 5 station.

History

The station was opened along with the Langen–Darmstadt–Heppenheim section of the Main-Neckar Railway on 22 June 1846. During the Baden Revolution of 1848 the station was occupied many times. In 1903, the Lorsch–Heppenheim section of the

Nibelungen Railway The Nibelung Railway (german: Nibelungenbahn) is a 23.9 km long electrified line between Worms Central Station, Worms in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and Bensheim station, Bensheim in Hesse. Its name refers to the fact that the li ...

was opened. Because of the failure to connect to the

Odenwald The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Location The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried'' (the northeastern section ...

, traffic on the Nibelungen Railway was below expectations. Several decades later, the Heppenheim–Lorsch line was closed and dismantled.

Rail services

Long-distance services

On weekdays, there is one

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 ...

service to

and

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...

Regional services

* RE 60:

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

–

Weinheim Weinheim (; pfl, Woinem) is a town with about 43,000 inhabitants in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, approximately north of Heidelberg and northeast of Mannheim. Weinheim is known as the "Zwei ...

–Heppenheim– Bensheim–

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

–Frankfurt ('' Regional-Express'') * RB 68:

–Weinheim–Heppenheim–Bensheim–Darmstadt–Frankfurt ('' Regionalbahn'') * RB 67: Mannheim–Weinheim–Heppenheim–Bensheim (''Regionalbahn'')

Station facilities

Reception Building

The station building was built between 1845 and 1846 after a design by Georg Moller in the neo-classical style on the town side, to the east of the line. The facade of the lower level of the two-story

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

building is marked on the long side by five

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

, the central group of three on the ground floor act as entrances to the

vestibule Vestibule or Vestibulum can have the following meanings, each primarily based upon a common origin, from early 17th century French, derived from Latin ''vestibulum, -i n.'' "entrance court". Anatomy In general, vestibule is a small space or cavity ...

. On the narrow sides of the building there are three bays. The whole length of the eaves of the flat hip roof are decorated with a volute frieze. On both sides of the main building there are approximately symmetrical, single storey extensions. The platform canopy in front of the entrance building is built as lattices on thin columns with small

capitals Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

, built in cast iron. The building is listed by the Hessian heritage office as an early railway station of outstanding historical significance. Heppenheim station was modernised and equipped for the disabled in preparation for '' Hessentag'' (a festival devised to promote unity in the state of Hesse, which was created in 1945) in the summer of 2004.

Tracks

In the station area there are still a number of shunting and freight tracks, which connected to the premises of different companies, but they are now overgrown. They are no longer used for freight.

Notes

References

* {{Authority control Railway stations in Hesse Neoclassical architecture in Germany Railway stations in Germany opened in 1846