Passau Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station at

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

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 ...

. Built in 1860, it has eight platforms, of which three are bay platforms and three are through tracks. The ca. 130 m long station building is built in the classic style.

Present-day services

Today the station is a stop for

ICE Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

and IC long-distance trains, as well as local trains 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 ...

(DB AG) and the

Austrian Federal Railways The Austrian Federal Railways ( , formally or () and formerly the or ''BBÖ'' ), now commonly known as ÖBB (), is the national railway company of Austria, and the administrator of Liechtenstein's railways. The ÖBB group i ...

(ÖBB). From Passau, regional services run to

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

and on the '' Rottalbahn'' to

Mühldorf am Inn Mühldorf am Inn (, ; Central Bavarian: ''Muihdorf am Inn'') is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Mühldorf (district), district Mühldorf on the river Inn (river), Inn. It is located at , and had a population of ab ...

and the

Austrian Western Railway The Western Railway () is a two-track, partly four-track, electrified railway line in Austria that runs from Vienna to Salzburg via St. Pölten and Linz Hauptbahnhof and is one of the major lines of Austria. It was originally opened as the ''Empr ...

Wels Wels (; Central Bavarian: ''Wös'') is a city in Upper Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is the county seat of Wels-Land, and with a population of approximately 60,000, the List of cities and towns in Austria, eighth largest city in Aus ...

and

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

. Because Passau was on the trunk route (''Magistrale'') from

Frankfurt am Main 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 ...

via

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 ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, many long-distance trains transited through it, such as the Ostende to Vienna Express (since the early 20th century) or the

TEE A tee is a stand used in sport to support and elevate a stationary ball prior to striking with a foot, club, or bat. Tees are used extensively in golf, tee-ball, baseball, American football, and rugby. Etymology The word tee is derived from t ...

''Prinz Eugen'' between

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 ...

and

(since the 1960s), which gave its name later to the equivalent IC and then ICE trains.

Former railway lines

From the

Hauptbahnhof Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

two railway lines branch off that have since been closed. The '' Ilztalbahn'' to

Waldkirchen Waldkirchen is the biggest town in the district of Freyung-Grafenau in Germany. History Mentioned for the first time in 1203, it soon became an important trading place along the "Goldener Steig" (Golden Path), a salt-trading route between Bava ...

and Freyung, with its former branch into the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and to Eging am See and Deggendorf, and the line to Hauzenberg with its branch to

Obernzell Obernzell () is a municipality in the district of Passau in Bavaria in Germany. Geography Geographical location Obernzell is located in the Donau-Wald region at the Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is t ...

, that ran as far as

Wegscheid Wegscheid is a municipality in the district of Passau in Bavaria in Germany. In November 1936, Fritz Wächtler Fritz Wächtler (7 January 1891 – 19 April 1945) was a Nazi Party official and politician who served as the ''Gauleiter'' of ...

in former times. These routes, which had not been worked by timetabled services for 25 years, were used until 2002 by the Passauer Eisenbahnfreunde (''Passau Railway Society'') for special trains, as well as by the goods trains of various companies. After 2002 the routes became impassable due to flood damage. Meanwhile, societies have been formed to support the lines to Freyung and Hauzenberg and they hope to reactivate these routes.

Former track layout

West of the main passenger terminal on the site of the former

marshalling yard A classification yard (American English, as well as the Canadian National Railway), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, and Australian English, and the former Canadian Pacific Railway) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway y ...

is a large freight station that serves the

cross-border Borders are generally defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ...

goods traffic between Germany and Austria as well as the cross-loading of goods to ships that ply the river

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

. To the east, the remaining storage sidings and

locomotive shed A motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds" or just "sheds". Facilit ...

were dismantled in order to create the "new centre of Passau" ''Neue Mitte Passau''.

Station rebuilding

It was planned to convert the station to a barrier-free zone from 2008 to mid-2011 with a subsidy from the Free State of Bavaria of €2M towards the overall cost of €12.5M. The two island platforms as well as the home platform were to have been reached by a lift, and platforms 5 and 6 over the so-called ''Poststeg'' ("post office walkway") which would have considerably shortened the distance to the Central Bus Station in the new centre of Passau. In addition the home platform was to have been raised by about and the underpass widened. These plans were however changed during the course of 2008, because they would not have coped with the very high number of tourists at the station, especially those using the Danube crossings.

Joint DB/ÖBB use

Since 1951 the station has been used by the

ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways ( , formally or () and formerly the or ''BBÖ'' ), now commonly known as ÖBB (), is the national railway company of Austria, and the administrator of Liechtenstein's railways. The ÖBB group i ...

and DB jointly as an internal station. For that reason there were two separate pedestrian underpasses under the tracks, separated by a wall, that enabled border and customs checks to be carried out. Since the entry of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

into the EU in 1995 and the associated scrapping of these checks, this wall has been removed apart from a small section. On this section of wall there is a memorial tablet for the two policemen, Klaus März and Georg Schachner, who were murdered on 11 November 1993 in an Intercity from Linz to Passau near

Schärding Schärding ( , Bavarian name: Scharing) is a town in the northern Austrian state of Upper Austria, the capital of the district of the same name, and a major port on the Inn River. Historically, it was owned by the Wittelsbach family, which is r ...

. Above the tracks since 1975 stands the first "bridge post office" in Germany.

Train services

The station is served by the following services:Timetables for Passau Hbf station

Notes

External links

{{Commons category, Passau Hauptbahnhof Railway stations in Bavaria

Railway stations in Germany opened in 1860