Bremen Hauptbahnhof (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

for ''Bremen main station'') is a railway station in the city of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

in northwestern

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is the most important rail station for both the city and

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

of Bremen;

InterCityExpress Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this category) is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It ...

Intercity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...

EuroCity EuroCity (EC) is an international Train categories in Europe, train category and brand for European inter-city rail, inter-city trains that cross international borders and meet criteria covering comfort, speed, food service, and cleanliness. E ...

CityNightLine CityNightLine AG (timetable and platform sign abbreviation: CNL) was a Swiss night train service. CNL had right of passage grants in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark. It served stations in Belgium, France, Italy and t ...

and

DB NachtZug City Night Line, abbreviated CNL, was a train category of German railway company Deutsche Bahn for overnight passenger train services between Germany and neighbouring European countries. In late 2015, Deutsche Bahn announced that it planned to ...

services call at the station, which is situated to the Northeast of the city centre. The train services are operated 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 ...

NordWestBahn The Austrian Northwestern Railway (German: ''Österreichische Nordwestbahn'', ÖNWB, Czech: ''Rakouská severozápadní dráha'') was the name of a former railway company during the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Today, the term is still ...

Metronom The Metronom railway company () is a German partly-state-owned railway company based in the Lower Saxon town of Uelzen since December 2005. The company's activities focus exclusively on passenger transport, operating services from Hamburg to Br ...

and

Erixx Erixx GmbH (stylized as erixx) is a private railway company operating regional train service in Lower Saxony and Bremen, northern Germany. It is wholly owned by Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen AG (OHE). Since 11 December 2011, Erixx operates on be ...

History

Bremen's first train station was opened in 1847 on the site of today's station, on the line to Hanover. Later, lines leading to

Vegesack Vegesack is a northern district of Bremen, the capital of the Germany , German States of Germany, state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (Freie Hansestadt Bremen). Geography ''Vegesack'' is located about north from the centre of Brem ...

( Bremen-Vegesack–Bremen line),

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the Bremen (state), city-state of Bremen. The Geeste (river), River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser. Brem ...

(then ''Wesermünde'', Bremen–Bremerhaven line),

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places * Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony * Ol ...

and

Uelzen Uelzen (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Uelzen (), is a town in northeast Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the district of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a Hanseatic town and an independent municipality. Uelz ...

(

Uelzen–Langwedel railway The Uelzen–Langwedel railway runs through the Lüneburg Heath in north Germany in an east-west direction. The line became known as part of the so-called America Line. History Imperial era The '' Bremen State Railway'', as it was first cal ...

) were connected to the station. In 1870, the

Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn The Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German language, German, old spelling: ''Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', ''CME'') was along with the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company and the Rhenish Railway Company one of the railway companies tha ...

, opening its Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg line (''Rollbahn''), built another station some hundred metres north of the old station, since the old station could not cope with the additional Rollbahn traffic. Eventually, it was decided that a single station would be better, and so today's station was built from 1886 to 1891 after plans by

Hubert Stier Hubert Oswald Stier (27 March 1838 in Berlin – 25 June 1907 in Hannover) was a German architect and university lecturer. He built mainly train stations, museums, and churches primarily in the Neo-Renaissance style. Most of his works are located ...

, with

sculptures Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Diedrich Samuel Kropp Diedrich is both a masculine German given name and a German surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Diedrich Bader (born 1966), American actor, voice actor and comedian * Diedrich A. Bohlen (1827–1890), German-born American arc ...

and

Carl Dopmeyer Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...

. In 1907, additional tracks were added. Whilst the station hall has been remodeled several times due to war damage and modernisation, its basic outline still resembles the original 1880s building. The station hall was thoroughly renovated in the late 1990s and early 2000s, merging the two formerly separated passenger tunnels into a single concourse. Since 1973, it is protected by the monument protection act. The station's platforms, however, were only partially renovated, but are expected to be refurbished from 2008 on for €12.6 million. While the station enjoyed a great reputation throughout much of its history, when Consumer Choice Center ranked Europe's top 50 railway stations in 2022, Bremen Hauptbahnhof ranked last.

Rail services

The following services currently call at the station:Timetables for Bremen Hbf station

Long distance

Regional services

* ''Norddeich - Emden - Oldenburg - Bremen - Nienburg - Hanover'' * ''Bremen - Rotenburg - Buchholz - Hamburg'' * ''Bremerhaven-Lehe - Bremen - Nienburg - Hanover'' * ''Bremerhaven-Lehe - Bremen - Osnabrück'' * Der Heidesprinter ''Bremen - Soltau - Uelzen'' * ''Bremen - Rotenburg - Tostedt - Buchholz - Hamburg'' * ''Osnabrück - Bramsche - Vechta - Delmenhorst - Bremen''

S-Bahn services

* ''Bremen-Farge - Bremen-Vegesack - Bremen - Verden'' * ''Bremerhaven-Lehe - Osterholz-Scharmbeck - Bremen - Twistringen'' * ''Bad Zwischenahn - Oldenburg - Delmenhorst - Bremen'' * ''Bremen - Delmenhorst - Hude - Oldenburg - Oldenburg-Wechloy - Bad Zwischenahn'' * ''Nordenham - Hude - Delmenhorst - Bremen''

Operational usage

The station sees 100 long-distance and 410 regional trains per day. About 100,000 passengers per day use the station. The station features nine

platform Platform may refer to: Arts * Platform, an arts centre at The Bridge, Easterhouse, Glasgow * ''Platform'' (1993 film), a 1993 Bollywood action film * ''Platform'' (2000 film), a 2000 film by Jia Zhangke * '' The Platform'' (2019 film) * Pla ...

tracks, of which seven are in the station hall. In the hall, two tracks serve as through tracks for freight traffic. The station is electrified since 1964 and has been thoroughly modernised during the late 1990s. Both the passenger and mail subways, which used to be separate, were joined together and the station's subway now features a rich selection of shops and food halls, akin to a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

. The platforms have been partly modernised as well (most notably platforms 5 and 6, which carry most of the southbound long distance traffic), and lifts have been put in.
Trains usually depart from: * Track 1 -

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

( Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg line) * Track 2 -

( Oldenburg–Bremen line),

Nordenham Nordenham () is a town in the Wesermarsch district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located at the mouth (on the west bank) of the Weser river on the Butjadingen peninsula on the coast of the North Sea. The seaport city of Bremerhaven is locat ...

( Hude–Blexen line) * Track 5 - Verden,

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

( Bremen–Hanover line) * Track 6 -

( Bremen–Bremerhaven line) * Track 7 -

(

Diepholz Diepholz (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Deefholt'') is a town and capital of the district of Diepholz in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the rivers Hunte and Lohne, approximately 45 km northeast of Osnabrück, and 60 km southwes ...

( Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg line) * Track 8 -

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

( Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg line),

( Uelzen–Langwedel line) * Track 9 -

(

, Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg line) * Track 10 - Rotenburg ( Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg line) The station is connected to the Bremen

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

way network operated by BSAG by a large, six-track tram station in front of the main hall.

Decorations

The sculptures on the façade, among other railway-related symbolisms, depict the coats of arms of the cities of Bremen and Hamburg, the original destinations of the line. There is a large

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

inside the station's main hall, dating back to the 1950s and showing scenes from the city port. It went into oblivion when it was drywalled off and station announcement boards were put over it in the 1970s, but has been carefully renovated at the station's most recent interior overhaul and is now viewable to the public again.

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Bremen (city) Railway stations in Bremen (state) Transport in Bremen (city) Railway stations in Germany opened in 1847 History of Bremen (city) Baroque Revival architecture in Germany Renaissance Revival architecture in Germany Romanesque Revival railway stations in Germany