Wächtersbach station is a station in the town of

Wächtersbach The town of Wächtersbach () is part of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. In 1982, the town hosted the 22nd ''Hessentag'' state festival. Location Wächtersbach lies between the Spessart and the Vogelsberg Mountains in the middle Kinzig ...

in the German state of

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

on the

Frankfurt–Göttingen railway The Frankfurt–Göttingen railway is a continuously double track and electrified main line in Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, Germany. The line was initially built from Bebra towards Fulda by the Kurhessen State Railway. After the Prussian annex ...

. The former Bad Orb Light Railway (''Bad Orber Kleinbahn'') branches off at the station. It was originally standard gauge, but has been converted to

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

. The Vogelsberg Southern Railway (''Vogelsberger Südbahn'') also used to branch off here to Hartmannshain (in the municipality of

Grebenhain Grebenhain is a municipality in the Vogelsbergkreis in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location The municipality of Grebenhain lies from 400 to 733 m above sea level in the southeastern Vogelsberg Mountains, about 30 km west of Fulda. Neighbourin ...

) via

Birstein Birstein is a municipality on the northeastern edge of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis in Hesse, Germany with approximately 6,600 inhabitants. It was the home of the former principality of Isenburg-Birstein. Geography Location The town lies at the souther ...

. The station is classified by

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

(DB) as a category 4 station.

History

The station was opened on 1 May 1867 along with the

Hanau Hanau () is a city in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its railway Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ma ...

–Waechtersbach section of the Frankfurt–Bebra railway. The Wächtersbach–Birstein section of the Vogelsberg Southern Railway was opened on 30 June 1898 by the Wächtersbach-Birstein Light Railway Company (''Wächtersbach-Birsteiner Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft''). The Birstein-Hartmannshain section was opened on 23 December 1934. The Vogelsberg Southern Railway was closed on 27 May 1967. Today the Vogelsberg Southern Railway

cycle track A cycle track or cycleway (''British'') or bikeway (''mainly North American''), sometimes historically referred to as a sidepath, is a separate route for cycles and not motor vehicles. In some cases cycle tracks are also used by other users such ...

(Vogelsberger Südbahnradweg) is built on it. Dampfkleinbahn Bad Orb 02

The Wächtersbach–Bad Orb railway was originally a standard gauge line, which began in Wächtersbach and ran to Bad Orb. It was opened on 23 May 1901 and closed on 4 March 1995. On 26 May 2001, the first section in Bad Orb was reopened as a 600-mm gauge railway and the whole route to Wächtersbach has been operated since 29 October 2006 (locomotive Emma). The seasonal service operates on Sundays and public holidays from Easter to the end of October. Trains stop at the former station called ''Wächtersbach Kleinbahnhof'' next to Wächtersbach station and the operator uses the (unofficial) platform 21.

Infrastructure

The entrance building of Wächtersbach station is now listed as a monument under the Hessian Heritage Act. The station has a “home” platform (next to the station building) and an island platform. The home platform (platform 1) is 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 a top speed of and an average speed of about as it calls at fewer stations than ''R ...

services from

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the city hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. Track 2 and track 3, which are on the central island platform, are used by services in the opposite direction.

Regionalbahn The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...

services to Frankfurt start on track 3. The station was rebuilt to make it accessible for the disabled in 2015.

Operations

Fares in Wächtersbach are set and services are managed by the

Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) is a List of German transport associations, transport association that covers the Public transport, public transport network of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area in Germany. Its head offi ...

(Rhine-Main Transport Association, RMV). The station is served by Regional-Express and Regionalbahn services. In the summer months from May to October tourist trains (Emma) run three times a day.

Rail

Regional-Express trains from Fulda to Frankfurt (RE 50) stop at the station hourly every day. There is also a daily hourly service of Regionalbahn (stopping) trains (RB 51). During the weekday peak hours some Regionalbahn services start from or terminate at Bad Soden-Salmunster.

Buses

Wächtersbach bus station is served by bus routes 81 to 84, which connect to Bad Soden-Salmunster,

Flörsbachtal Flörsbachtal is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. It has a population close to 2,400. Flösbachtal contains both the oldest parish and the youngest settlement established in the Spessart hills. Located within the munic ...

Jossgrund Jossgrund () is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. It has around 3,500 inhabitants distributed among several formerly independent villages, now ''Ortsteile''. The administration seat is at Oberndorf. Geography Location ...

and

Bad Orb Bad Orb (; "Thermae on the Orb (Kinzig), Orb River") is a spa town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis district of Hesse, Germany. It is situated east of Hanau between the forested hills of the Spessart. Bad Orb has a population of over 10,000. Its econom ...

. Bus lines 71 and 72 are connections between Wächtersbach-

Brachttal Brachttal is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Frankfurt Rhine-Main in Hesse, Germany. Districts The Bracht, a tributary of the Kinzig, flows through the ''Tal'' (valley) so the municipality got the name ''Brachttal.'' Brachttal ...

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wachtersbach Station Railway stations in Hesse Railway stations in Germany opened in 1867