Tübingen Hauptbahnhof

Tübingen Hauptbahnhof is the largest station in the university town of Tübingen and the district of Tübingen, and a transport hub in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.

Location

The station is located south of the centre of the old town on the opposite side of the Neckar. It was originally built in open fields, that are now the southern Tübingen districts of Derendingen and Südstadt. In 1960 a bus station was established in the station forecourt (Europaplatz), which is now used by 34 bus routes daily, connecting the station to the entire city.

History

The line now forming the Plochingen–Immendingen railway, then called the ''Obere Neckarbahn'' (Upper Neckar Railway), was opened from Plochingen to Reutlingen in 1859. It was extended to Tübingen and Rottenburg am Neckar in 1861. The line was then further extended in several stages until 1870, when it finally reached Immendingen on the Black Forest Railway, connecting to Lake Constance. This provided the rail link to the capital of the former Kingdom of Württemberg for the then 8,000 residents of Tübingen and about 30,000 residents in the administrative district of Oberamt Tübingen that then included Tübingen. In 1861/1862, the still preserved station building was built to a design by the architect Josef Schlierholz. At the same time an engine depot was established in Tübingen. From 1867 to 1874, the Royal Württemberg State Railways built the Hohenzollern Railway (''Hohenzollernbahn'' or Hohenzollern Railway, later called the ''Zollernalbbahn'' or Zollernalb Railway) from Tübingen via Hechingen to Sigmaringen, forming the Tübingen–Sigmaringen railway and making Tübingen into a railway junction. Once the Ammer Valley Railway from Herrenberg was connected to Tübingen on 1 May 1910, the present form of the rail junction was largely achieved. In 1916, an underpass was built to the two island platforms, the entrance building was extended to the west with the construction of the so-called exit hall, the interior of the entrance building was rebuilt and the platforms were covered. Apart from changes of use, in particular the conversion of waiting rooms and storage areas to shops and restaurants, and minor changes, such as the removal of the platform barriers, it is largely unchanged since then.

Air raid shelters were set up in the basement of the entrance building in 1937.

Current operations

Layout of the station

The Tübingen Hauptbahnhof now has eight running lines, five of which are equipped with platforms: track 1 is the main platform track, the two island platforms are bordered by tracks 2/3 and 5/6. On the island platforms there are also the bay platforms 9–12, of which only 12 is used for passenger operations. At the western end of the main platform there is another bay platform, track 13, which is used for passenger traffic. To the north of this, a platform will be built on the existing dead-end track 14, which has been needed for the intensified service on line RB 63 since December 2022. To the west are the depot and the Ammertalbahn, the Tübingen–Sigmaringen railway line and the line towards Immendingen. To the east is the former freight yard on the line towards Plochingen. Today, only a few sidings remain there; the remaining area was developed into a new urban district between 2015 and 2019.

All tracks have LCD destination displays for passenger information. There is also a Deutsche Bahn service point and a travel centre. Two restaurants and various shops are available for visitors. The station also has a federal police station and a contact point of the ''Bahnhofsmission'' (a charity).

The platforms have been barrier-free accessible since September 2011. This development was planned as part of the station modernisation programme of DB Station&Service

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