Gotha station is the main station of

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

in the

German state The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation and consists of sixteen partly sovereign ''states''. Of the sixteen states, thirteen are so-called area-states ('Flächenländer'); in these, below the level of the state government, there is a ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

. It 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 and every two hours by

Intercity-Express Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this Train categories in Europe, category) is a high-speed rail in Germany, high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland an ...

trains on the

Thuringian Railway Thuringian is an East Central German dialect group spoken in much of the modern German Free State of Thuringia north of the Rennsteig ridge, southwestern Saxony-Anhalt and adjacent territories of Hesse and Bavaria. It is close to Upper Saxon s ...

. Services on the Gotha–Leinefelde line to the north also serve the station. Passenger services on the Ohra Valley Railway (''Ohratalbahn'') to the south ended in December 2011.

History

Gotha station was built in 1847, when the local section of the Thuringian line was completed between Halle and

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 River, Fulda. The town is easy to find on most maps thanks to its prominent location on the ' ...

. Gotha was at this time the provincial capital of

Saxe-Gotha Saxe-Gotha () was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine duchies, Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin, Wettin dynasty in the former Landgraviate of Thuringia. The ducal residence was erected at Gotha (town), Gotha. History The duch ...

and already had 15,000 inhabitants. Accordingly, the station was built in a neoclassical style. In 1870 the second line was built from Gotha, running via

Mühlhausen Mühlhausen () is a town in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, north of Niederdorla, the country's Central Germany (geography)#Geographical centre, geographical centre, north-west of Erfurt, east of Kassel and south-east of Göttingen ...

Leinefelde Leinefelde-Worbis () is a town in the district of Eichsfeld, in northwestern Thuringia, Germany. The town was formed on March 16, 2004, from the former independent towns Leinefelde and Worbis along with the municipalities of Breitenbach and Wi ...

(continuing to

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

). The third and last line connecting to Gotha station was the Ohra Valley Railway opened in 1876 to

Ohrdruf Ohrdruf () is a small town in the district of Gotha in the German state of Thuringia. It lies some 30 km southwest of Erfurt at the foot of the northern slope of the Thuringian Forest. The former municipalities Crawinkel, Gräfenhain an ...

and to the line to Würzburg at

Gräfenroda Gräfenroda is a village and a former municipality in the Ilm-Kreis district, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it has been part of the municipality of Geratal. It was the administrative seat of the former ''Amt (subnational entity), V ...

in 1892. In 1894 the Gotha tramway was opened. The station was the junction of several tram lines. In 1929, the Thuringian Forest Railway (''Thüringerwaldbahn''), an overland

interurban The interurban (or radial railway in Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms u ...

tramway was opened from Gotha station, running across the city tramlines and continuing to Bad Tabarz via

Waltershausen Waltershausen is a town in the south-western part of the district of Gotha in the state of Thuringia, Germany. Geography Geographic location Located on the verge of the Thuringian Basin just before the Thuringian Forest, Waltershausen is so ...

and

Friedrichroda Friedrichroda () is a town in the district of Gotha, Thuringia, Germany. It is situated at the north foot of the Thuringian Forest, 21 km by rail southwest of the town of Gotha. It is surrounded by fir-clad hills and possesses numerous han ...

. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the central section and west wing of the station were destroyed in air strikes; the east wing and the entrance area survived. Some of it still has not been repaired. In 2007, the station forecourt was completely restructured and the stop on the Thuringian Forest Railway was relocated.

Services

The following services stopped at Gotha station in 2022. The Thuringian Forest Railway (

tramway to

) runs from the forecourt.

References

{{Authority control Railway stations in Gotha

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

Buildings and structures in Gotha (district) Railway stations in Germany opened in 1847

History

Services

See also

References