Ludwigsburg station is in
Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg (; Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg district with about 88,000 inhabitants. It is ...
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 ...
on the
Franconia Railway
The Franconia Railway (german: Frankenbahn) is a railway line in the north of the German state of Baden-Württemberg and the Bavarian province of Lower Franconia that links Stuttgart and Würzburg. Its name comes from the fact that the majority o ...
and the
Backnang–Bietigheim line. It is served by regional trains and the
Stuttgart S-Bahn
The Stuttgart S-Bahn is a suburban railway system (S-Bahn) serving the Stuttgart Region, an urban agglomeration of around 2.7 million people, consisting of the city of Stuttgart and the adjacent districts of Esslingen, Böblingen, Ludwi ...
. Until 2005 the
Ludwigsburg–Markgröningen line also connected to the station. In addition, it has a direct link with
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 ...
's
main marshalling yard at
Kornwestheim
Kornwestheim ( Swabian: ) is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated about north of Stuttgart, and south of Ludwigsburg.
History
Origins and Development
Kornwestheim can look back at a history of ...
.
History
From the beginning of the planning for the
Central Railway (german: Centralbahn), a station was planned for the ''Residenzstadt'' (city with a royal palace) of Ludwigsburg. Construction began in 1844 and affected several parts of the Ludwigsburg district. A portion of the Lerchenholz hill had to be removed. The site of the former Schafhofseen (lake) had to be filled in. Ludwigsburg station had a two-storey entrance building and a locomotive depot.
On 5 October 1846 the first train ran to Ludwigsburg. The stops between Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg were not served by the
Royal Württemberg State Railways
The Royal Württemberg State Railways (''Königlich Württembergische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.W.St.E.'') were the state railways of the Kingdom of Württemberg (from 1918 the ''People's State of Württemberg'') between 1843 and 1920. Please ...
until ten days later. The inauguration ceremony for the new line was held in Stuttgart. The Ludwigsburg city council took no part in it.
Unfortunately for the locals the station was in a very unfavourable position. Due to the swampy area around the Feuersee (lake) there was only a narrow track that was very difficult to use in rain or snow. Carts could only approach the station via Solitudestraße and Leonbergerstraße. A direct road link had to be created as soon as possible. But the Government did not have the finances to achieve this.
The construction continued on the
Northern Railway. A year later, on 11 October 1847, the next section was completed and trains ran to
Bietigheim
Bietigheim is a village in the district of Rastatt in Baden-Württemberg in Southwestern Germany. It is located east of the Rhine river and thus the border to France, west of the Black Forest (more precisely the Northern Black Forest), south of ...
. In 1852 the State Railways opened a second track on the line from Stuttgart to Bietigheim. In the 1860s another floor was added to the station building along with two wings. The southern wing was a building for mail handling, the north one was a waiting room. A loading dock existed for freight and military traffic. At the time there were five tracks running through the station. A sixth track was added as siding in 1868 to serve the factory of Heinrich Franck & Sons, which produced a
coffee substitute
Coffee substitutes are non-coffee products, usually without caffeine, that are used to imitate coffee. Coffee substitutes can be used for medical, economic and religious reasons, or simply because coffee is not readily available. Roasted grain b ...
from
chickory.
After ten years of construction, the road between Wilhelmsplatz (now Schillerplatz) and the station was completed in 1869. ''Eisenbahnstraße'' (railway street) was a short time later renamed ''Myliusstraße'' after General Ferdinand von Mylius who was considered the founder of the costly street. Stately buildings were built along the street and ''Bahnhofsvorplatz'' (station forecourt) such as the railway hotel (1870s), the general post office (1886) and the music hall (1890).
On 15 October 1881 the State Railway opened the railway line between Ludwigsburg and Beihingen (now part of
Freiberg am Neckar
Freiberg am Neckar is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Neckar, 18 km north of Stuttgart, and 4 km north of Ludwigsburg.
Administrative structure
The town of ...
), connecting to the
Backnang–Bietigheim line. Three terminating tracks were built on the north side of the entrance building to cater for the resulting traffic.
From 1910 to 1926 the station forecourt was the starting point of the Ludwigsburg Overhead Line Railway (''Ludwigsburger Oberleitungs-Bahn''), an early
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 ...
operation. A
branch line to Markgröningen was opened on 4 December 1916. The building of two additional tracks between Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg was completed in 1929. On 15 May 1933, electrification of two tracks to Stuttgart was completed and suburban services began to operate on the line.
On 28 September 1975
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained ...
closed passenger operations on the line to Markgröningen due to lack of passengers. From the mid-1970s tracks in the station area were modified as part of the introduction of
Stuttgart S-Bahn
The Stuttgart S-Bahn is a suburban railway system (S-Bahn) serving the Stuttgart Region, an urban agglomeration of around 2.7 million people, consisting of the city of Stuttgart and the adjacent districts of Esslingen, Böblingen, Ludwi ...
operations. The junction between the Northern Railway and the line to Backnang is now grade separated. The terminating tracks north of the station were built over.
Despite an extensive renovation of the station and the waiting room in the 1950s, the station was outdated and still unpopular with some of the population. Its demolition in favour of a new building began in October 1987. It was one of a small number of stations that had survived
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 ...
to be demolished and replaced in
Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...
. After several planning delays the groundbreaking ceremony for a new building took place in June 1991. The new building combines the station with a shopping centre. It was opened on 19 November 1992.
Operations
The station has five platform tracks. Regional trains stop at track 1 running towards Bietigheim. Track 2 is used by S-Bahn services to Bietigheim or
Marbach. S-Bahn services towards
Zuffenhausen
Zuffenhausen is one of three northernmost boroughs of the city of Stuttgart, capital of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The borough is primarily an incorporation of the formerly independent townships Zuffenhausen, Zazenhausen, Neuwirtshau ...
run on track 3. Track 4 is used by regional trains to Stuttgart. Track 5 is not used by scheduled services.
Long-distance services do not normally stop at Ludwigsburg, except for a night stop on 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 ...
train from
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 ...
to Stuttgart and an
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, Switzerla ...
from Stuttgart to
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
. The station 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 3 station.
Regional services
S-Bahn
Notes
References
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External links
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{{Stuttgart S-Bahn
Railway stations in Baden-Württemberg
Stuttgart S-Bahn stations
Buildings and structures in Ludwigsburg
Railway stations in Germany opened in 1846