Hildesheim Hauptbahnhof

Hildesheim Hauptbahnhof (German for Hildesheim Central Station) is the main railway station for the city of Hildesheim in Lower Saxony, Germany. The station opened in 1961 and is located on the Lehrte–Nordstemmen, Hildesheim–Brunswick and Hildesheim–Goslar railway. The train services are operated by DB Fernverkehr, Erixx, Metronom and NordWestBahn.

Hildesheim Hauptbahnhof
Through station
Station forecourt in August 2016
General information
Location	Bahnhofsplatz 1, Hildesheim, Lower Saxony Germany
Coordinates	52°9′38″N 9°57′14″E
Elevation	87 m (285 ft)
Owned by	Deutsche Bahn
Operated by	DB Netz DB Station&Service
Line(s)	Lehrte–Nordstemmen (1770) Hildesheim–Brunswick (1772) Hildesheim–Goslar (1773) Hildesheim loop (1774)
Platforms	9
Other information
Station code	2765
DS100 code	HHI
IBNR	8000169
Category	2
Fare zone	ROSA: 100 (ROSA tickets accepted on RB79) GVH: D (ROSA transitional tariff, monthly passes only)
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1846 (first station) 1884 (second station) 1961 (current station building)
Services
Preceding station DB Fernverkehr Following station Göttingen towards Interlaken Ost ICE 12 Braunschweig Hbf towards Berlin Ostbahnhof Göttingen towards Frankfurt Airport ICE 13 Preceding station Erixx Following station Sarstedt towards Hannover Hbf RE 10 Hildesheim Ost towards Bad Harzburg Preceding station Metronom Following station Terminus RE 50 Hoheneggelsen towards Wolfsburg Hbf Preceding station Regionalverkehre Start Deutschland Following station Emmerke towards Bünde RB 77 Terminus Terminus RB 79 Hildesheim Ost towards Bodenburg Preceding station Hanover S-Bahn Following station Harsum towards Hannover Hbf S 3 Terminus Emmerke towards Bennemühlen S 4
Location Hildesheim Hauptbahnhof Location within Lower Saxony Hildesheim Hauptbahnhof Location within Europe Hildesheim Hauptbahnhof Hildesheim Hauptbahnhof (Europe)

History

The first Hildesheim station was opened by the Royal Hanoverian State Railways as the terminus of the Lehrte–Nordstemmen line—the southern arm of its Cross railway—on 12 July 1846 to the north of the present Kaiserstraße, near the current Bahnhofsallee. After the opening of the Hanoverian Southern Railway the Cross railway was extended on 15 September 1853 to Nordstemmen Station on the Southern Railway. The reception building of the first Hildesheim railway station was a half-timbered building with a slate roof.

The Hanover-Altenbeken Railway Company (German: Hannover-Altenbekener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, HAE) was planning to build a rail line from Löhne to Vienenburg, through Hildesheim. Since it became insolvent before the completion of the line, Magdeburg-Halberstädt Railway Company (German: Magdeburg-Halberstädter Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, MHE) took over the construction of the line as well as the management of the HAE. It opened the line from Hildesheim to Vienenburg on 19 May 1875 and on 1 May 1883 the Brunswick Railway (German: Braunschweigischen Eisenbahn) opened a branch to Goslar, now part of the Hildesheim–Goslar line.

For the additional traffic the HAE built a second track from Nordstemmen to Hildesheim, but at first it had to build a temporary station, the current Hildesheim Ost station, because it was not allowed to use the existing station. Only after the nationalisation of the HAE and its parent the MHE did trains begin to stop at the main railway station on 20 May 1880.

Even without the additional traffic the original station was already too small, and so, after long negotiations with the city it was agreed to build a new station further north. On 4 May 1884, the new station was opened to a design by Hubert Stier in a neo-renaissance style. The old station building was taken apart and rebuilt as Dissen-Bad Rothenfelde station, which still stands. In 1888, the single-track line to Brunswick was opened for long-distance trains running east to Magdeburg and Berlin.

Although the station building was only slightly damaged in the bombing of Hildesheim on 22 March 1945, it was demolished in 1959. In 1961 the station received a new station building in the functional style of the time. The buildings on its island platform were then removed.

The Nordstemmen–Lehrte line was electrified on 29 May 1965 and the line to Brunswick has been worked by electric trains since 30 May 1976. The Hanover–Würzburg high-speed line was connected to Hildesheim by the Hildesheim loop in 1991. Since December 2008, Hildesheim Hauptbahnhof is located on the network of the Hanover S-Bahn. S-Bahn trains leave every hour for Hannover Hauptbahnhof via both Barnten and Sarstedt (S4) and Lehrte (S3). In preparation the platforms of tracks 4/5 and 6/7 were completely renovated in 2008.

The lobby of the Train station was renovated from 2013 to 2016. The original completion was mid 2015, but the renovation caused many problems and was moved to mid 2016.

Train services

The station is served by the following services:

Long-distance

Line	Route	Frequency
ICE 12	Berlin Ostbahnhof – Hildesheim – Göttingen – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Frankfurt (Main) – Mannheim – Freiburg – Basel (– Interlaken)	Every two hours
ICE 13	Berlin Ostbahnhof – Braunschweig – Hildesheim – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Frankfurt Süd – Frankfurt Airport	Every two hours

Regional

Line	Route	Interval (min)	Operator
RE 10	Hannover – Hildesheim – Salzgitter-Ringelheim – Goslar – Bad Harzburg	060	erixx
RE 50	Hildesheim – Braunschweig – Wolfsburg	060	metronom
RB 77	Hildesheim – Hamelin – Löhne – Bünde	060	Regionalverkehre Start Deutschland
RB 79	Hildesheim – Bad Salzdetfurth – Bodenburg	060	Regionalverkehre Start Deutschland

S-Bahn

Since December 2008, Hildesheim Hauptbahnhof has been connected to the Hannover S-Bahn. Hourly S-Bahn trains run to Hannover Hauptbahnhof both via Barnten and Sarstedt (S4) and via Lehrte (S3). The platforms of tracks 4/5 and 6/7 were completely rebuilt in 2008 in preparation.

Line	Route	Interval (min)
S 3	Hildesheim – Sehnde – Lehrte – Hannover	060
S 4	Hildesheim – Sarstedt – Hannover Messe/Laatzen – Hannover – Langenhagen – Bennemühlen	060

References

Sources

• Bahls, Michael (2006). Die Hannover-Altenbekener Eisenbahn (The Hanover Altenbeken Railway) (in German). Nordhorn: Kenning. pp. 207–218. ISBN 3-927587-77-X.
• Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland [German railway atlas]. Schweers + Wall. 2017. ISBN 978-3-89494-146-8.