Ruhland station is located in the town of

Ruhland ( Sorbian: ''Rólany'') is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in Upper Lusatia, Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. It is situated on the river Schwarze Elster, southwest of Senftenberg. Ruhland station is a major railway junction, ...

in northwestern

Upper Lusatia Upper Lusatia (, ; , ; ; or ''Milsko''; ) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the north, it makes up the region of Lusatia, named after the Polabian Slavs, Slavic ''Lusici'' tribe. Both parts of Lusatia a ...

in the south of the German state of

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

on the Großenhain–Cottbus railway and the Węgliniec–Roßlau railway. The station is a heritage-listed building.

History

The Cottbus-Großenhain Railway Company (''Cottbus-Großenhainer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'') was founded at the end of the 19th century by the railway financier

Karl Eduard Zachariae von Lingenthal Karl Eduard Zachariae von Lingenthal (December 24, 1812 – June 3, 1894) was a German jurist and the son of Karl Salomo Zachariae von Lingenthal. Life He studied philosophy, history, mathematics and linguistics, as well as jurisprudence, a ...

. Ruhland station began operations with the opening of the Großenhain–Cottbus railway on 20 April 1870. It became the administrative seat of the Upper Lusatian Railway Company (''Oberlausitzer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft''), when it was established on 11 October 1871. The Upper Lusatian Railway opened the Kohlfurt (now Węgliniec)–Horka–Ruhland railway line on 1 June 1874. Ruhland became an important hub in the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n railway network. On 1 September 1883 the company and Ruhland station were taken over by the Prussian state. It operated direct trains to

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

, Breslau (now

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

) in

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a historical and geographical region mostly located in Poland with small portions in the Czech Republic and Germany. It is the western part of the region of Silesia. Its largest city is Wrocław. The first ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

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 ...

and

Cottbus Cottbus () or (;) is a university city and the second-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after the state capital, Potsdam. With around 100,000 inhabitants, Cottbus is the most populous city in Lusatia. Cottbus lies in the Sorbian ...

. Today, the station, which was once a hub of services between the

Province of Lower Silesia The Province of Lower Silesia (; Silesian German: ''Provinz Niederschläsing''; ; ) was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1919 to 1945. Between 1938 and 1941 it was reunited with Upper Silesia as the Province of Silesia. The capita ...

, the

Duchy of Anhalt The Duchy of Anhalt () was a historical German duchy. The duchy was located between the Harz Mountains in the west and the River Elbe and beyond to the Fläming Heath in the east. The territory was once ruled by the House of Ascania, and is now ...

and the

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony () was a German monarchy in Central Europe between 1806 and 1918, the successor of the Electorate of Saxony. It joined the Confederation of the Rhine after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, later joining the German ...

, is only a stop for regional traffic. On 31 January 2016, reconstruction work began on the tracks and platforms. The dilapidated bridges on Elsterbogen-Bernsdorfer Straße were to be replaced and the L 57 would be lowered, allowing increase use by road transport.

Intermodal terminal

Ruhland station has a significant role in handling traffic to and from the premises of ''

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

Schwarzheide GmbH'', which is about three kilometres away in the neighbouring town of Schwarzheide. Currently about 60,000 freight movements are handled annually at the station.

Former branch lines

In 1875, the Upper Lusatian Railway Company opened a branch line from Ruhland to the Lauchhammer iron works that later connected to the Zschipkau-Finsterwalde Railway (''Schipkau-Finsterwalder Eisenbahn'', ZFE). Passenger services closed in 1962. The section from Ruhland to

Lauchhammer Lauchhammer (, ) or Łuchow is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in southern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the Black Elster river, approx. 17 km west of Senftenberg, and 50 km north of Dresden. History From 1815 to ...

Ost still serves as an industrial siding, mainly for handling the traffic from BASF Schwarzheide to and from BASF’s factories in

Ludwigshafen am Rhein Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning "Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig's Port upon the Rhine"; Palatine German dialects, Palatine German: ''Ludwichshafe''), is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in the German state of Rh ...

Services

Rail services

The following services stop at Ruhland station (as of 25 June 2024): A pair of

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 ...

RB 49 services from

to Falkenberg (Elster) is extended daily to/from

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...

via

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 ...

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 ...

RE 5.

Bus services

The station is also connected by several bus services: routes 601 (Senftenberg–Lauchammer), 610 (Ruhland–Großräschen), 611 (Schwarzheide–Ruhland–Guteborn–Hosena/Jannowitz) and 609 (Schwarzheide–Buckersdorf/Großmehlen/Ortrand).

References

External links

Construction work information of Deutsche Bahn
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruhland station Railway stations in Brandenburg Railway stations in Germany opened in 1870

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 ...

1870 establishments in Prussia Buildings and structures in Oberspreewald-Lausitz