Idar-Oberstein station serves the town of

Idar-Oberstein Idar-Oberstein () is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a ''Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (large city belonging to a district), it assumes some of the responsibilities that for smaller municipalities in ...

in the German state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

. It is on the

Nahe Valley Railway The Nahe Valley Railway (german: Nahetalbahn) is a two-track, partially electrified main line railway in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, which runs for almost 100 kilometres along the Nahe (Rhine), Nahe. It was built by the ...

(german: Nahetalbahn) and is classified by

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 ...

as a category 4 station. It is regularly served by

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 ...

and Regionalbahn services and in the past it was served by freight traffic. The station is located in the centre of Idar-Oberstein.

History

Idar-Oberstein station was opened on 15 December 1859 as Oberstein station. At that time the only line ran to

Bingen am Rhein Bingen am Rhein () is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The settlement's original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant "hole in the rock", a description of the shoal behind the ''Mäuseturm'', k ...

. In 1860, the Nahe Valley Railway was completed to the Saarland, making train travel possible to Neunkirchen, where there was a connection to the

Palatine Ludwig Railway A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times.

(''Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn''). Later links were also opened from the Nahe Valley Railway to the

Glan Valley Railway The Glan Valley Railway (german: Glantalbahn) is a non-electrified line along the Glan river, in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It consists of the Glan-Münchweiler–Altenglan section, which was built as part of the Landstuhl–Kuse ...

(''Glantalbahn''), to

Baumholder Baumholder () is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, in the Westrich, an historic region that encompasses areas in both Germany and France. The town of Baumholder is the administrative seat of the like-named ''Verb ...

and the current district of

Birkenfeld Birkenfeld () is a town and the district seat of the Birkenfeld district in southwest Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also the seat of the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde''. The town itself has approximately 7,000 inhabitants. Geography ...

via the Birkenfeld Railway. Today, the Nahe Valley Railway is one of the main axes of passenger services in Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition, the station was formerly the starting point of the Idar-Oberstein tramway (1900 to 1956) and the Idar-Oberstein

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

service (1956 to 1969).

Infrastructure

Idar-Oberstein station has an entrance building. In the course of renovation of the station, the platforms were renovated and made accessible for the handicapped by lift. In addition, the platforms were equipped with

tactile paving Tactile paving (also called tenji blocks, truncated domes, detectable warnings, tactile tiles, tactile ground surface indicators, tactile walking surface indicators, or detectable warning surfaces) is a system of textured ground surface indicat ...

. In November 2008, the building was completely repainted and decorated with pictures of the city's attractions.

Rail services

Idar-Oberstein station is served by the following regional rail services:

Notes

{{Reflist Railway stations in Rhineland-Palatinate Railway stations in Germany opened in 1859 Buildings and structures in Birkenfeld (district)