Rheda-Wiedenbrück station is a passenger station in the

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

n town of

Rheda-Wiedenbrück Rheda-Wiedenbrück (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Raie-Wienbrügge'') is a city in the Gütersloh (district), district of Gütersloh, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography The twin community lies within the valley of the river E ...

in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. It lies on the Hamm–Minden railway, one of the most heavily trafficked lines in Germany. The Warendorf Railway branches off to the west to

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

. The section of the Warendorf Railway running east to

Lippstadt Lippstadt () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest town within the district of Soest. Lippstadt is situated about 60 kilometres east of Dortmund, 40 kilometres south of Bielefeld and 30 kilometres west of Paderborn. Geo ...

is now closed. The station is located north of central Rheda.

History

As part of the construction of its

trunk line In telecommunications, trunking is a technology for providing network access to multiple clients simultaneously by sharing a set of circuits, carriers, channels, or frequencies, instead of providing individual circuits or channels for each clie ...

from

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

via the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

valley to

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

, the

Cologne-Minden Railway Company The Cologne-Minden Railway Company (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 that in the mid-19th ...

(

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 ...

, old spelling: ''Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', CME) opened the Hamm–Minden line on 15 October 1847, including the Rheda-Wiedenbrück station, originally called ''Rheda in Westfalen''. After the nationalisation of the nominally private railway companies, the section from

Warendorf Warendorf (, Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Warnduorp'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and capital of Warendorf (district), Warendorf District. The town is best known today for its well-preserved medieval town centre, for eq ...

via Rheda to Lippstadt of the Warendorf Railway was completed on 25 June 1887, originally crossing the railway station and the existing line at an acute angle. The northern section of the line between Munster and Rheda was controlled by the Royal Railway Division of Cologne Right Bank (''Königlichen Eisenbahndirection Cöln rechtsrheinisch''), the southern section to Lippstadt, however, was controlled by the Royal Railway Division of Hanover (''Königlichen Eisenbahndirection Hannover''). In the following years there were several changes to the competent Railway Division. At the end of the 19th century, the station's name changed to ''Rheda ( Bezirk Minden)''. Even before the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

the station was again renamed as ''Rheda (Westfalen)''. In the early 1920s there was an extensive renovation of the station, during which the Warendorf line was changed significantly. The Warendorf line to the west from Munster was diverted around Rheda to run parallel to the railway line from Hamm to run into the station. East of the station the Warendorf line ran parallel to the line to Bielefeld out of the station and returned to the old route between the towns of Rheda and Wiedenbrück. This converted the station into a railway junction. As part of the North Rhine-Westphalia municipal reform in 1970 the towns of Rheda and Wiedenbrück were merged, but it took a full ten years before

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 ...

changed to the new name. Since 28 September 1980 the station has been called ''Rheda-Wiedenbrück''. On 1 May 2001, the last part of the southern section of the Warendorf line from Rheda to Lippstadt was closed. Two years later, on 14 December 2003, the freight yard was closed.

Services

In passenger transport the station is served by several

Regional-Express In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (; RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with a top speed of and an average speed of about as it calls at fewer stations than ''R ...

and

Regionalbahn The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...

services:

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rheda-Wiedenbruck station Railway stations in North Rhine-Westphalia Railway stations in Germany opened in 1847 1847 establishments in Prussia Buildings and structures in Gütersloh (district)