Ruhland station is located in the town of

Ruhland ( Sorbian: ''Rólany'') is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in Upper Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Schwarze Elster, 12 km southwest of Senftenberg. Ruhland station is a major railway junction, for f ...

in northwestern

Upper Lusatia Upper Lusatia (german: Oberlausitz ; hsb, Hornja Łužica ; dsb, Górna Łužyca; szl, Gōrnŏ Łużyca; pl, Łużyce Górne or ''Milsko''; cz, Horní Lužice) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the ...

in the south of the German state of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

on the Großenhain–Cottbus railway and the

Węgliniec–Roßlau railway The Węgliniec–Roßlau (Elbe) railway is a mainline railway in Poland and the German states of Saxony, Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt, originally built by the Berlin-Anhalt Railway Company and the Upper Lusatian Railway Company as part of the t ...

. The station is a heritage-listed building.

History

The

Cottbus-Großenhain Railway Company The Cottbus-Großenhain Railway Company (german: Cottbus-Großenhainer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CGE) was a railway company in Prussia. It owned rail links between Großenhain, Cottbus and Frankfurt (Oder). History It was founded in 1868, with th ...

(''Cottbus-Großenhainer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'') was founded at the end of the 19th century by the railway financier

Karl Eduard Zachariae von Lingenthal Karl Eduard Zachariae von Lingenthal (December 24, 1812 – June 3, 1894) was an eminent German jurist and the son of Karl Salomo Zachariae von Lingenthal. Life He studied philosophy, history, mathematics and linguistics, as well as jurispru ...

. Ruhland station began operations with the opening of the Großenhain–Cottbus railway on 20 April 1870. It became the administrative seat of the

Upper Lusatian Railway Company The Upper Lusatian Railway Company (german: Oberlausitzer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft), which had its headquarters in Ruhland now in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, received a concession on 11 October 1871 for the construction of a railway line, pa ...

(''Oberlausitzer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft''), when it was established on 11 October 1871. The Upper Lusatian Railway opened the Kohlfurt (now

Węgliniec Węgliniec (german: Kohlfurt) is a town in Zgorzelec County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, close to the border with Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Węgliniec. The town lies appr ...

)–Horka–Ruhland railway line on 1 June 1874. Ruhland became an important hub in the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

n railway network. On 1 September 1883 the company and Ruhland station were taken over by the Prussian state. It operated direct trains to

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

, Breslau (now

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

) in

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and

Cottbus Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with exten ...

. Today, the station, which was once a hub of services between the

Province of Lower Silesia The Province of Lower Silesia (german: Provinz Niederschlesien; Silesian German: ''Provinz Niederschläsing''; pl, Prowincja Dolny Śląsk; szl, Prowincyjŏ Dolny Ślōnsk) was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1919 to 1945. Between ...

, the

Duchy of Anhalt The Duchy of Anhalt (german: Herzogtum Anhalt) was a historical German duchy. The duchy was located between the Harz Mountains in the west and the river Elbe and beyond to the Fläming Heath in the east. The territory was once ruled by the House ...

and the

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Saxon ...

, is only a stop for regional traffic.

Planned expansion and renovation

Ruhland town and regional businesses are promoting the development and renovation of the station. Discussions between Ruhland and

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 ...

have been going on for more than ten years. The euphoria of

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governmen ...

has long since turned into scepticism. Deutsche Bahn stated in July 2010 that the first work on the station would be carried out from 2015 to 2019. It was estimated that the work would cost €15,000.

Intermodal terminal

Ruhland station has a significant role in handling traffic to and from the premises of ''

BASF BASF Societas Europaea, SE () is a German multinational corporation, multinational chemical company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The ...

Schwarzheide GmbH'', which is about three kilometres away in the neighbouring town of

Schwarzheide Schwarzheide ( dsb, Carny Gózd) is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Schwarze Elster, 11 km southwest of Senftenberg, 110 km south of Berlin and 40 km n ...

. Currently about 60,000 freight movements are handled annually at the station.

Former branch lines

In 1875, the Upper Lusatian Railway Company opened a branch line from Ruhland to the Lauchhammer iron works that later connected to the Zschipkau-Finsterwalde Railway (''Schipkau-Finsterwalder Eisenbahn'', ZFE). Passenger services closed in 1962. The section from Ruhland to

Lauchhammer Lauchhammer ( dsb, Łuchow) is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in southern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the Black Elster river, approx. 17 km west of Senftenberg, and 50 km north of Dresden. History From 1815 to ...

Ost still serves as an industrial siding, mainly for handling the traffic from BASF Schwarzheide to and from BASF’s factories in

Ludwigshafen am Rhein Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning " Ludwig's Port upon Rhine"), is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it form ...

Services

Rail services

The following services stop at Ruhland station (as of 13 December 2015): A pair of Regionalbahn RB 49 services from

to Falkenberg (Elster) is extended daily to/from

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...

via

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 ...

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 ...

RE 5.

Bus services

The station is also connected by several bus services: routes 601 (Senftenberg–Lauchammer), 610 (Ruhland–Großräschen), 611 (Schwarzheide–Ruhland–Guteborn–Hosena/Jannowitz) and 609 (Schwarzheide–Buckersdorf/Großmehlen/Ortrand).

References

External links

Construction work information of Deutsche Bahn
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruhland station Railway stations in Brandenburg Railway stations in Germany opened in 1870

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

1870 establishments in Prussia Buildings and structures in Oberspreewald-Lausitz