Wiesloch-Walldorf Station

Wiesloch-Walldorf station is in the towns of Wiesloch and Walldorf in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The station is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 3 station. Leimbach Park and the Wiesloch Feldbahn and Industrial Museum are located to the north of the station, with the headquarters of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen and SAP SE on the south-western side.

History

19th century

The Karlsruhe—Heidelberg section of the Rhine Valley Railway was opened on 15 April 1843 as part of the construction of the Baden Mainline from Mannheim via Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Baden-Baden and Freiburg to Basel, which was initially built to 1600 mm broad gauge. As a result, Walldorf and Wiesloch gained a connection to the rail network. A few years later the line was duplicated. Since the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway’s broad gauge was not compatible with the gauge of neighbouring countries, it now feared the loss of lucrative transit traffic. Therefore, in 1854, Baden began to regauge its lines to and this was completed in just four months from Mannheim to Bruchsal.

20th and 21st century

Since the station is located about three kilometres from both Wiesloch and Walldorf, both towns only gained a limited benefit from the line. In 1901, a private branch line, the Wiesloch-Meckesheim/Waldangelloch railway, was opened connecting the centre of Wiesloch with Wiesloch-Walldorf station. This line continued to Meckesheim, providing a connection between the Rhine Valley Railway and the Neckargemünd–Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld railway. The services of this line operated from a platform in the station forecourt, where there was a connecting track to the state line. Passenger services on this line closed in 1980 and freight traffic was discontinued in 1990.

A tramway was built 1902 to connect to the town of Walldorf from the station forecourt, but it was closed in 1954. The station building was demolished sometime before 1990.

On Sunday 18 January 1959 a North American F-100 Super Sabre crashed a couple of hundred metres from the station.

In 2000, the ''Zweckverband Bahnhof Wiesloch-Walldorf'' (Administrative Association of Wiesloch-Walldorf station) was founded to promote the redevelopment of the station and the upgrading of the station's environment.

Operations

Today, 135 long-distance trains stop at the station each week. It is served by two trains every hour on Intercity line 26 as well as individual services of IC line 30 and an Intercity-Express service. Regional-Express services stop every two hours on the route between Heidelberg and Stuttgart. The station is also integrated in the S-Bahn network of the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn and is served by lines S 3 and S 4 at half-hourly intervals towards Heidelberg/Mannheim and Bruchsal/Karlsruhe.

Long-distance, regional and S-Bahn services

* ( Westerland or Ostseebad Binz –) Hamburg – Bremen – Dortmund – Duisburg – Cologne – Koblenz – Mannheim – Wiesloch-Walldorf – Stuttgart (or Karlsruhe – Freiburg – Basel – Chur)
* (Ostseebad Binz – Stralsund) – Hamburg – Hannover – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Gießen – Frankfurt – Heidelberg – Wiesloch-Walldorf – Karlsruhe – (Konstanz)
* Heidelberg – Wiesloch-Walldorf – Bruchsal – Stuttgart
* Germersheim - Speyer – Schifferstadt – Ludwigshafen – Mannheim – Heidelberg – Wiesloch-Walldorf – Bruchsal – Karlsruhe
* Germersheim - Speyer – Schifferstadt – Ludwigshafen – Mannheim – Heidelberg – Wiesloch-Walldorf – Bruchsal
* Frankfurt – … – Heidelberg – Wiesloch-Walldorf – Stuttgart – … – Vienna Airport railway station

Notes

External links

* {{cite web , publisher= City of Wiesloch , url= http://www.wiesloch.de/servlet/PB/menu/1147122_l1/index.html, title= Sanierung des Bahnhofs Wiesloch-Walldorf , language=German , accessdate= 17 April 2012

Railway stations in Baden-Württemberg
Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn stations
Railway stations in Germany opened in 1843
1843 establishments in Baden
Wiesloch
Mannheim–Karlsruhe–Basel railway