Singen (Hohentwiel) station is an important regional railway junction and interchange station in the town of

Singen Singen (; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Singe'') is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border. Location Singen is an industrial city situated in the far sout ...

in the south of 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 ...

. Three railways now meet there, but in the past five railways connected to it. The station 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 on the

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 ...

–

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

route.

Name

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 ...

officially call the station ''Singen (Hohentwiel)'', in reference to the

Hohentwiel Hohentwiel () is a mountain of volcanic origin in the Hegau region of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is the '' Hausberg'' of the industrial city of Singen, located west of it and ca west of '' Zeller See'' (Lake Constance). The ...

, the ''

Hausberg {{italic title ''Hausberg'' (lit.: "house mountain", plural: ''Hausberge'') is German for a prominent mountain or hill in the immediate vicinity of a village, town or city, usually located on its municipal territory, but outside the built up are ...

'' of Singen, to distinguish it from located in Singen part of the town of

Stadtilm Stadtilm () is a town in the Ilm-Kreis district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Ilm, 15 km northeast of Ilmenau, and 11 km southeast of Arnstadt. In July 2018 the former municipality of Ilmtal was merged into Stadtil ...

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 ...

. Because of its size and its significance for the district of Konstanz, the station is sometimes referred to as '' Singen Hauptbahnhof'' () locally. In addition, the abbreviations ''Singen (Hohentw)'', ''Singen (Htw)'' and just ''Singen'' are used.

Railway lines

Singen is near the starting point of the Immendingen–Horb and Horb–Stuttgart line (Gäu Railway, '' Gäubahn'') to . On this line, the city is a stop for

services between Stuttgart, Singen, and . In addition, trains on the Black Forest Railway (''Badische Schwarzwaldbahn''), connecting Singen

Offenburg Offenburg (; "open borough" - coat of arms showing open gates; Low Alemmanic: ''Offäburg'') is a city in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in south-western Germany. With nearly 60,000 inhabitants (2019), it is the largest city and the administrat ...

and Konstanz stop in Singen. The High Rhine Railway () provides connections to and Basel Bad Bf towards west and to and towards east. Singen is also the terminus of the Etzwilen–Singen railway line, which is a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

since 2007.

History

Singen owes its development from a farming village into industrial town primarily to its role as a railway junction. The railway reached the village for the first time in 1863, when the Upper Rhine Railway was completed from Basel to

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

(Constance). Ten years later, the Black Forest Railway was completed from Offenburg to Konstanz, connecting with the Upper Rhine Railway in Singen. The Etzwilen–Singen railway to Switzerland completed the main lines connecting with Singen. Large Swiss companies established their German branch factories in Singen, not least because of its good rail connection. The factory workers were now brought to work in Singen in great numbers by train. A local commuter railway, the Randen Railway (''Randenbahn''), was built in 1912, but it was closed in 1966. The railway used to be one of the largest employers in Singen. The first station building was soon replaced by a more solid building, which still stands today with small changes. The goods yard, which formerly stood on the other side of the tracks with sidings connecting directly from the factories, soon became too small. Therefore, a new freight yard was built in 1927. The section of the High Rhine Railway between Schaffhausen and Singen was electrified in 1989. ICE trainsets 403 015 and 403 515 (

ICE 3 ICE 3 (standing for ''Intercity Express, Intercity-Express'') is a family of high-speed electric multiple unit trains operated by Deutsche Bahn. It currently includes classes 403, 407 and 408 which are additionally specified as ICE 3, New ICE 3 ...

, class 403) were given the name of ''Singen (Hohentwiel)'' in Singen station on 7 June 2008.

Platforms

Customs

Singen is, for customs purposes, a border station for passengers arriving from Switzerland using direct services without intermediate stops. Customs checks may be performed in the station or on board trains by German officials. Systematic passport controls were abolished when Switzerland joined the

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) encompasses European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their common borders. As an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) policy of the European Union (EU), it ...

in 2008.

Operations

Singen (Hohentwiel) has been part of the ''Verkehrsverbund Hegau-Bodensee'' (Hegau-Bodensee Transport Association, VHB) since its inception in 1996.

Long-distance services

Singen station is served by Intercity services at hourly intervals from

via Singen and Schaffhausen to

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. Every two hours, it is served by

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...

(SBB) services hauled by Taurus locomotives of the

Österreichische Bundesbahnen 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). In the other hour, it is served by Deutsche Bahn

InterCity 2 Intercity 2, abbreviated as IC2, refers to DB Intercity trains formed of double-deck rolling stock. Such trains were first introduced by Deutsche Bahn Fernverkehr in December 2015 to replace its aging IC coaches. Rolling Stock Bombardier Twi ...

services. From this there is a connection in Singen to an IC to Zurich, which also runs with SBB cars. Individual IC 2 services run from Singen to Konstanz instead of Zürich. Furthermore, on weekends two pairs of Inter City services, operating as the ''Bodensee'' (

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

), connect Konstanz with

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

and

Emden Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...

. A pair of IC services called ''Schwarzwald'' ("

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

") was operated from

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 ...

to Konstanz, replacing one of the hourly cycle of regional services, until its discontinuation in December 2014 and it was then replaced by another regional train between Offenburg and Konstanz.

Regional services

In regional transport, Interregio-Express and

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 ...

services stop in Singen, giving through connections to

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

, Stuttgart, Basel, Konstanz and

Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...

via

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 ...

. The S6 of the

Bodensee S-Bahn Bodensee S-Bahn is an international marketing effort grouping various regional rail services (S-Bahn, R/RB, RE, RE/REX) around Lake Constance () in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Cross-border rail and bus services along with Lake Constance ...

connects Singen to, among other places,

Engen Engen (延元) was a Japanese era of the Southern Court during the Era of Northern and Southern Courts after Kenmu and before Kōkoku, lasting from February 1336 to April 1340.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Engen''" i ''Japan encyclop ...

as well as

Radolfzell Radolfzell am Bodensee (, ) is a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located at the western end ( Zeller Lake) of Lake Constance, approximately northwest of the city of Konstanz (Constance). It is the third largest town, after Ko ...

, Konstanz and other municipalities on Lake Constance. This service was previously operated as the ''Seehas'', named after a mythical "lake hare". The S62 (nicknamed ''Rhyhas'') of

Schaffhausen S-Bahn The Schaffhausen S-Bahn is an S-Bahn network in the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen and the German state of Baden-Württemberg (Konstanz and Waldshut districts). It comprises three services and began operation in 2015. Services are operated by SBB ...

links Singen with

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

. A connecting service runs from Schaffhausen to

Jestetten Jestetten is a municipality in the district of Waldshut (district), Waldshut in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. History In 1806 Jestetten became part of Baden. From 1840 until 1935, the territory of Jestetten together with Altenburg, Lottstette ...

. (as of 2022)

Defunct and heritage railway lines

Formerly the Randen railway ''Randenbahn'') ran from Singen to Beuren-Büßlingen. Most of this railway line is now dismantled. The Etzwilen–Singen railway (''Etzwilerbahn'') ran via Rielasingen to Etzwilen in Switzerland. Since 2007, the latter is a

operated by heritage trains and

draisine A draisine () is a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure. The eponymous term is derived from the German inventor Baron Karl D ...

Freight traffic

Freight is handled at a

container terminal A container port, container terminal, or intermodal terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land v ...

in the industrial area, which provides connections to Italy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Singen (Hohentwiel) station Railway stations in Germany opened in 1863 Buildings and structures in Konstanz (district) Railway stations in Baden-Württemberg 19th-century establishments in Württemberg