Bebra station is a railway station on the German passenger and freight rail network in the northern

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Da ...

town of

Bebra Bebra () is a small town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Bebra lies some south of Kassel on the Fulda. The town is easy to find on most maps thanks to its prominent location on the ''Fuldaknie'' ...

. It is a railway junction as well as 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 ma ...

stop on the

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is th ...

–

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

–

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, ...

route. The station was opened in 1846 and quickly became a major transport hub. Bebra then developed into a classic

railway town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated or was greatly developed because of a railway station or junction at its site. North America During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, tempora ...

History

Bebra became part of the German railway network on 29 August 1848, with commissioning of the first section of the Frederick William Northern Railway to

Guxhagen Guxhagen is a municipality in Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany. Geography Guxhagen lies about 15 km south of Kassel between the Habichtswald Nature Park and the Meißner-Kaufunger Wald Nature Park on the river Fulda. It nei ...

. On 25 September, the line was extended to

Gerstungen Gerstungen is a municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. In July 2018 the former municipalities of Marksuhl and Wolfsburg-Unkeroda were merged into Gerstungen. History Between 1945 and 1990, Gerstungen station served as ...

. On the same day the Thuringian line to

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

was also extended to Bebra. In 1866 this was followed by the first section of the Frankfurt–Bebra railway to

Bad Hersfeld The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld (''Bad'' is "spa" in German; the Old High German name of the city was ''Herolfisfeld'') is the district seat of the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km south ...

and in 1875 by the line to Göttingen. The present station building was built in 1869 on an island surrounded by rail tracks. It experienced a small decline in importance with the opening of the ''Berlin curve'' in 1914, connecting between the Frankfurt–Bebra line and the Thuringian line and avoiding the reversal previously required in Bebra. After

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

traffic in the area Bebra shifted more in a north-south direction as traffic heading east was disrupted by the nearby

Inner German border The inner German border (german: Innerdeutsche Grenze or ; initially also ) was the border between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. Not ...

. Bebra was, however, a border station for interzone trains to

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

and transit trains and military trains of the Western powers to

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under m ...

. In Bebra, locomotives of the

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and East German railways were exchanged. From the summer 1973 timetable this was done in

. The "Berlin curve" was not used while Germany was divided. The electrification of the railways serving the station started in 1963. In 1990, the ''Berlin curve'' was rebuilt and put back into operation. Bebra is now served by 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 ma ...

line and several regional lines. The marshalling yard is also one of

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 ...

’s 13 cargo centres.

Rail services

The following services serve Bebra station:

References

{{Reflist Railway stations in North Hesse Buildings and structures in Hersfeld-Rotenburg Railway stations in Germany opened in 1848 1840s in the Electorate of Hesse Establishments in the Electorate of Hesse