Crailsheim Station
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Crailsheim station is a junction station in the German state of
Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...
where four railway lines converge. It lies at the 30.4 km point (from Goldshöfe) on the Upper Jagst Railway, with the chainage continuing on the Hohenlohe Railway. The chainage on the
Tauber Valley Railway The Tauber Valley Railway (German: ''Taubertalbahn'') is a single-tracked, unelectrified, standard gauge railway between Wertheim and Crailsheim in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It runs alongside the Tauber to Weikersheim, ...
and the line to Nuremberg starts at the station. With its four platform tracks and numerous passing tracks and sidings, it is the largest station in the district of Schwäbisch Hall. It is by served by
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 ...
and regional trains, and is the western terminus of line S4 of the
Nuremberg S-Bahn The Nuremberg S-Bahn () is an S-Bahn network covering the region of Nuremberg, Fürth and Erlangen which started operations in 1987 and is now integrated into the Greater Nuremberg Transport Association (Verkehrsverbund Großraum Nürnberg). Th ...
.


History

The construction of a railway line from
Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. From the late Middle Ages on, it developed into an important trading centre. At the begi ...
via
Schwäbisch Hall Schwäbisch Hall (; 'Swabian Hall'; from 1802 until 1934 and colloquially: ''Hall'') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg located in the valley of the Kocher river, the longest tributary (together with its headwater Lein) of the N ...
to Wasseralfingen (near
Aalen Aalen (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Oole'') is a town located in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, about east of Stuttgart and north of Ulm. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district and is its largest town. It is ...
) was authorised in a resolution of the parliament of the Kingdom of
Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...
on 17 November 1858. The proponents planned a route along the
Jagst The Jagst () is a right tributary of the Neckar in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The source of this 190 km long river is in the hills east of Ellwangen, close to the Bavarian border. The Jagst winds through the towns of Ellwangen, Cra ...
to connect the cities of Crailsheim and
Ellwangen Ellwangen an der Jagst, officially Ellwangen (Jagst), in common use simply Ellwangen () is a town in the district of Ostalbkreis in the east of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated about north of Aalen. Ellwangen has 25,000 inha ...
. The route was in competition with a proposed line from
Gaildorf Gaildorf is a town in the district of Schwäbisch Hall, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the river Kocher, 13 km south of Schwäbisch Hall. Gaildorf is the approximate center of the Limpurger Land district, formerly a county ...
and the upper
Kocher The Kocher () is a -longincluding its source river Schwarzer Kocher right tributary of the Neckar in the north-eastern part of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The name "Kocher" originates from its Celtic name "cochan" and probably means winding, m ...
valley, which was a much shorter route. Crailsheim mayor Nagel and the administrator of the Ellwangen district (''Oberamt Ellwangen''), Karl Weinheimer, founded a railway committee with other citizens, which successfully represented the interests of the leading officials of Crailsheim and Ellwangen. The committee proposed Crailsheim as a possible new hub for lines to
Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...
and
Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
, convincing the parliament of its merits. The reason advanced was the higher number of inhabitants of the cities Ellwangen and Crailsheim, compared to Gaildorf, as well as the greater volume of trade. The Hohenlohe Railway (then called the ''Kocherbahn'', Kocher Railway) reached Schwäbisch Hall on 4 August 1862. Parliament approved the rapid extension of the line to Crailsheim on 13 April 1865. The government of Bavaria also expressed satisfaction with this route. The Crailsheim council and a citizens' committee now discussed the location of the station. They foresaw the establishment of the station in the Ansbacher district (on the road to Ansbach), between the Wilder-Mann-Keller hotel and the Wasserstall area (now in the area around Gebiet Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium, Volksfestplatz and Beuerlbacher Straße, northeast of the centre of the town). However, this was not possible for topographical reasons and the authorities had to choose a site to the west of the town. Initially, a site in the Haller district (on the road to Schwäbisch Hall) was considered but eventually it was decided to build the station directly to the west of central Crailsheim in the Siechenäcker area. As is still clearly visible, the station has an exact north–south orientation. Worthingtonstraße (formerly Kronprinzstraße), the Alte Postweg, and some other streets were rerouted. Underpasses were built for the roads to Roßfeld and to Altenmünster. The
Royal Württemberg State Railways The Royal Württemberg State Railways (''Königlich Württembergische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.W.St.E.'') were the state railways of the Kingdom of Württemberg (from 1918 the ''People's State of Württemberg'') between 1843 and 1920. Early ...
(''Königlich Württembergischen Staats-Eisenbahnen'', KWSt.E.) built a monumental entrance building in Crailsheim, as it was the seat of the district (''oberamt'') with nearly 3,000 inhabitants. The construction work continued from February to November 1866. The station was formally opened with the commissioning of the Upper Jagst Railway on 15 November 1866. On 10 December 1867, the State Railway completed the Hall–Crailsheim section of the Kocher Railway.


Crailsheim as a border station

On 12 December 1868, the Bavarian-Württemberg treaty was signed, which provided for the construction of the
Nuremberg–Crailsheim railway The Nuremberg–Crailsheim railway is a major railway in the north of the German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, which links Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof, Nuremberg, Ansbach station, Ansbach and Crailsheim station, Crailsheim. The line has the ...
. The line was completed on 15 June 1876 with the completion of the Dombühl–border–Crailsheim section. As a result, Crailsheim station won addition importance as a border station. The station building received a three-story extension in 1874–1875 for the accommodation of the Bavarian staff. In addition, the
Royal Bavarian State Railways The Royal Bavarian State Railways (''Königliche Bayerische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.Bay.Sts.B.'') was the state railway company for the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was founded in 1844. The organisation grew into the second largest of the German ...
(''Königlich Bayerische Staats-Eisenbahnen'') built a roundhouse and a freight shed. This was the beginning of the Crailsheim depot. Since the KWSt.E. operated on Stuttgart local time and the Bavarian State Railways operated on Munich time, this meant that operations towards Bavaria, had to operate by a tower clock at the northern end of the station which was nine and a half minutes ahead of Stuttgart time. New houses were built near the station for the Bavarian railway workers. From 1887 to 1890, the KWSt.E. duplicated the line from Heilbronn to the border of Bavaria and Württemberg at Ellrichshausen. This was intended to improve east–west connections between
Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...
and the French border for military reasons. On 1 January 1890, the KWSt.E. took over the operations of the Bavarian State Railways and replaced the Bavarian staff. Only the northern station clock marked the function of the station as a border station, until it along with the other clocks was changed to
Central European Time Central European Time (CET) is a standard time of Central, and parts of Western Europe, which is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The UTC offset, time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00. It is used in most parts of Eur ...
on 1 June 1891.


Deutsche Reichsbahn period

On 1 1920 April the Württemberg State Railways was absorbed by
Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...
. Under the Reichsbahn, Crailsheim station was one of the main stations in Württemberg. Express trains on the
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
,
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
–Stuttgart and
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 ...
Friedrichshafen Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the ''Bodensee'') in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (''K ...
routes stopped here. The Crailsheim railway junction and depot had a military role during the Second World War. It is likely, according to the then stationmaster, that more than one million soldiers passed through the station in the six years of the war. On 23 February 1945, Allied bombers attacked Crailsheim in two waves. They destroyed or damaged all the buildings in the station area. Overall, on that day 61 people died in the city and 100 suffered injuries. More air strikes were made on the railways on 1 and 4 April 1945 and rail traffic towards Nuremberg and Lauda was interrupted completely.


Post-war period

After the Second World War, many experts were involved in the construction of the city which had suffered from air raids and destructive shelling. Also the city council called for a transformation of the station. A new entrance building would not be rebuilt on an island between the tracks, which was perceived as unfavourable, but at Kronprinzstraße (''Worthingtonstraße'' since 1948). The railway division (''Eisenbahndirektionen'') in Stuttgart, agreed with this proposal. In the meantime in 1948 and 1949, it built a one-story facility at the old location that went into service on 24 December 1949. Elaborate plans were made in the 1970s for a new station building and related facilities but
Deutsche Bundesbahn Deutsche Bundesbahn (, ) or DB () was formed as the state railway of the newly established West Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained the state railway of West Germany u ...
finally rejected them in 1981 as unaffordable and the temporary station of 1949 continues to this day.


Modernisation

The city has lowered Worthingtonstraße and built a bus station and new parking lots. On 2 June 1985, Deutsche Bundesbahn commenced regular electric operations between
Ansbach Ansbach ( , ; ) is a city in the Germany, German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk, administrative region of Mittelfranken, Middle Franconia. Ansbach is southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the river Fränk ...
and Goldshöfe. On 31 May 1996, electrification was completed of the Marbach (Neckar)–Crailsheim section.


Entrance building (1866-1945)

Crailsheim station was designed by building inspector (''Bauinspektor'') Baumann as a three-story building, which was almost 46 metres long and 17 metres wide. It consisted of two wings and a central structure. The windows and doors on the ground floor were fitted with arches in the
Rundbogenstil (round-arch style) is a 19th-century historic revival style of architecture popular in the German-speaking lands and the German diaspora. It combines elements of Byzantine, Romanesque, and Renaissance architecture with particular s ...
(round arch style). The facade was made of gray sandstone. The upper floors had a shiny finish. The roof was slate-covered. A special feature of this building was the northern clock tower, with a height of 28.7 metres. It emphasised the importance of the station as a border station and was adapted also to the silhouette of the city, with the ''Stadtturm'' (town tower) and the towers of the churches of Liebfrauenkapelle and Johanneskirche. The station building was located in an island between the tracks. The access road led—as it still does—from Bahnhofstraße/Haller Straße to the station. It was lined with elms from the beginning. The main entrance was on the north side of the building below the tower. Behind it was a lobby, which was 5.35 metres to 5.16 meters tall and surrounded by the ticket office and baggage counter. Passengers passed through a 45 metre long and 3.16 metre wide corridor to the waiting room, which was still divided into classes. On 12 December 1868, the KWSt.E. agreed to expand the station to handle border operations and to allow the Royal Bavarian State Railways to operate the Nuremberg–Crailsheim line. The Bavarian building was built to the south and it also had a three-story annex. It was identical to the original building and had a length of 19 metres. Its width was the same. On 23 February 1945, there was a heavy air raid on Crailsheim, which also targeted the railway junction. The entrance building was burned out and collapsed. Its reconstruction after World War II was considered out of the question, because the city council already wanted to get rid of the island building. Since 1949, a temporary station has stood in its place.


Depot

Due to the importance of traffic at the station, it was soon necessary to station locomotives there. A locomotive depot was established in 1870 at the southern end of the station between the lines to Hessental and Aalen. A second
turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...
was established in 1926. With the opening of the line from Nuremberg, the Bavarian State Railways also needed its own depots, these were built in the eastern part of the station (on the Bavarian side). These depots were not abandoned until 1930, although operations had been handed over to the Württemberg State Railways in 1890. After the destruction of the Second World War, the depot flourished during the steam era, with up to 70 locomotives stationed there. But with the decline of steam operations, the depot became insignificant. On 30 May 1976, at the end of the winter timetable, the last steam locomotive used the Crailsheim depot. A week later, two class 44 locomotives left Crailsheim depot, making it steam-free, so that there were now only diesel operations. The turntables were dismantled in 1985 with the introduction of electrical operations. Today not much is left the former locomotive depot and the distinctive water tower now serves as a bar. A portion of the site is used by the
DBK Historic Railway The DBK Historic Railway is a preserved railway association in Crailsheim, Germany. Founded as the "Kocher Valley Steam Railway" (''Dampfbahn Kochertal'') in 1985 at Sulzbach-Laufen, it moved gradually into the former steam engine locomotive de ...
association, which has managed to build a new turntable with the assistance of grants.


Rail operations

Crailsheim station is a railway junction at the intersection of the Upper Jagst Railway, the
Nuremberg–Crailsheim railway The Nuremberg–Crailsheim railway is a major railway in the north of the German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, which links Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof, Nuremberg, Ansbach station, Ansbach and Crailsheim station, Crailsheim. The line has the ...
, the Hohenlohe Railway and the
Tauber Valley Railway The Tauber Valley Railway (German: ''Taubertalbahn'') is a single-tracked, unelectrified, standard gauge railway between Wertheim and Crailsheim in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It runs alongside the Tauber to Weikersheim, ...
. Track 1, the western “home” platform (next to the station building) is mostly used for train services to Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental and Lauda. Some trains also run towards
Ansbach Ansbach ( , ; ) is a city in the Germany, German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk, administrative region of Mittelfranken, Middle Franconia. Ansbach is southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the river Fränk ...
. Track 2, the eastern “home” platform is served by
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 ...
trains to
Aalen Aalen (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Oole'') is a town located in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, about east of Stuttgart and north of Ulm. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district and is its largest town. It is ...
and some trains in all directions. Track 3 is served by trains to Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental, Ansbach and Lauda. Inter-city trains running to Ansbach and Aalen stop on track 4. 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 ...
as a category 3 station.


Long-distance


Regional services

Regional services as of 2023:


S-Bahn services

From 15 December 2024 the station is served by Nuremberg S-Bahn line S4 every two hours:


References


Literature

* * * * {{cite book, author=Jürgen Gaßebner, Claus-Jürgen Jacobson, title=Bahnanlagen aus der Luft, publisher=Transpress-Verlag, year=1999, isbn=978-3-613-71098-6, language=German Railway stations in Baden-Württemberg Railway stations in Germany opened in 1866 19th-century establishments in Württemberg