Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station of Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
The station was opened on 1 October 1891. It replaced the three following stations:
the Bergisch-Märkische station of the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (BME), originally opened by the Düsseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company in 1838 in the area that is now Graf-Adolf-Platz as a through station on the company’s east-west line from Elberfeld to its station at Rheinknie.
the Cologne-Minden station which the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (CME) opened in 1845 southeast of the BME station as a terminus to which branches were built from the company’s north-south Cologne–Duisburg main line, and
the Rhenish station built by the Rhenish Railway Company (RhE) in 1877 in Düsseldorf-Pempelfort at the end of a branch line from its north-south Troisdorf–Mülheim-Speldorf line. The branch line was the first section of a line to Dortmund, which two years later was completed as far as Mettmann.
Both the Bergisch-Märkische and the Cologne-Minden stations were on the southern edge of the city and were in the way of the construction of Friedrichstadt. The wish to clear the way for the new development was a reason to build a new station in addition to the desire to bring together the stations and lines following the nationalisation of the railway companies of Rhineland-Westphalia between 1879 and 1882.
The original Hauptbahnhof was built in the Wilhelmine style. After three decades it had become too small and its style had become unfashionable. In November 1930, eight designs were submitted to the public as part of a competition to redesign the station. The station building was built from 1932-1936 conforming to a design dictated by the Reichsbahn directorate of Wuppertal and its architects, Krüger and Eduard Behne. It features a notable clock tower.
The station underwent major reconstruction in the 1980s, finishing in 1985, when the Stadtbahn lines passing under the station were opened. This reconstruction involved the remodeling of the old ticket offices into a food court, the installation of lifts and the opening of the station toward the city borough of Oberbilk, where, at the western exit of the station, new office buildings were erected on the site of a former steel works. The former 1st class waiting room has been remodeled into a hotel and a discothèque.
Some minor changes were carried out in the year 2005; the old toilets from 1985 were torn out to make room for a fast food restaurant, a small 1st class lounge was installed in the northern passenger tunnel also. The dated ceilings and information systems in the passenger tunnels are scheduled for replacement also, as they do not meet current fire protection standards.
The station is frequented by roughly a quarter million passengers per day and is therefore Germany's fourth busiest station. All modes of rail transport are offered on the 20 main line tracks (16 platforms currently in use), including InterCityExpress, InterCity and EuroCity trains for long distance travel, DB NachtZug, D-Nacht and EuroNight overnight trains as well as RegionalExpress, RegionalBahn and S-Bahn services for regional distribution. The station is integrated into the Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn network and local traffic operates under the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr transport association. The subterranean station, operated by Rheinbahn, has 4 tracks that are part of the Stadtbahn lines of Düsseldorf. The 6 tramway stops in front of the station connect the Hauptbahnhof to the local tram network, also operated by Rheinbahn.
The station is served by the following services:
High speed services (Thalys) Paris - Brussels - Cologne - Düsseldorf - Essen - Dortmund
Intercity Express services (ICE 10) (Köln/Bonn Airport -) Düsseldorf - Essen - Dortmund - Hamm - Hannover - Berlin
Intercity Express services (ICE 41) Dortmund - Essen - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Frankfurt - Nürnberg - Munich
Intercity Express services (ICE 41) Düsseldorf - Essen - Dortmund - Kassel - Frankfurt - Nürnberg - Munich
Intercity Express services (ICE 42) Münster – Dortmund – Essen – Düsseldorf – Cologne – Frankfurt – Mannheim – Stuttgart – Munich
Intercity Express services (ICE 43) Amsterdam - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Frankfurt - Karlsruhe - Basel
Intercity Express services (ICE 47) Dortmund – Essen – Düsseldorf – Cologne/Bonn Flughafen – Frankfurt Flughafen – Mannheim – Stuttgart
Intercity Express services (ICE 50) Düsseldorf - Essen - Dortmund - Kassel - Erfurt - Leipzig - Dresden
Intercity Express services (ICE 78) Amsterdam - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Frankfurt
Intercity Express services (ICE 91) Hamburg - Bremen - Münster - Dortmund - Essen - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Koblenz - Frankfurt - Nürnberg - Passau - Linz - Vienna
Eurocity services (EC 30) Hamburg - Bremen - Münster - Dortmund - Essen - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Koblenz - Mainz - Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Basel - Zürich - Chur
Intercity services (IC 30) Westerland - Hamburg - Bremen - Münster - Dortmund - Essen - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Koblenz - Mainz - Mannheim - Stuttgart
Eurocity services (EC 32) Münster - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Koblenz - Mainz - Mannheim - Stuttgart – München – Salzburg – Villach – Klagenfurt
Eurocity services (EC 32) Münster - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Koblenz - Mainz - Mannheim - Stuttgart – Lindau - Innsbruck
Intercity services (IC 32) (Berlin - Hanover -) Dortmund - Essen - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Koblenz - Mainz - Mannheim - Stuttgart - Munich
Intercity services (IC 35) Norddeich - Emden - Rheine - Münster - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Koblenz - Mainz - Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Konstanz
Intercity services (IC 50) Düsseldorf - Essen - Dortmund - Kassel - Erfurt - Leipzig
Intercity services (IC 55) Dresden - Leipzig - Magdeburg - Hanover - Dortmund - Essen - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Koblenz - Mainz - Mannheim - Stuttgart - Oberstdorf
Intercity services (HKX) Hamburg - Osnabrück - Münster - Essen - Düsseldorf - Cologne
CityNightLine services Amsterdam - Duisburg - Cologne - Frankfurt - Karlsruhe - Basel - Zürich
CityNightLine services Amsterdam - Duisburg - Cologne - Frankfurt - Stuttgart - Munich
CityNightLine services Duisburg - Cologne - Dortmund - Berlin - Dresden - Prague
EuroNight services Duisburg - Cologne - Dortmund - Frankfurt (Oder) - Poznan - Kutno - Warsaw
Regional services RE 1 NRW-Express Aachen - Cologne - Düsseldorf - Duisburg - Essen - Dortmund - Hamm
Regional services RE 2 Rhein-Haard-Express Münster - Dülmen - Recklinghausen - Essen - Duisburg - Düsseldorf
Regional services RE 3 Rhein-Emscher-Express Hamm - Dortmund - Gelsenkirchen - Duisburg - Düsseldorf
Regional services RE 4 Wupper-Express Dortmund - Hagen - Wuppertal - Düsseldorf - Mönchengladbach - Aachen
Regional services RE 5 Rhein-Express Wesel - Oberhausen - Duisburg - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Bonn - Koblenz
Regional services RE 6 Rhein-Weser-Express Cologne/Bonn Airport - Cologne - Neuss - Düsseldorf - Duisburg - Essen - Dortmund - Hamm - Bielefeld - Minden
Regional services RE 10 Niers-Express Kleve - Weeze - Krefeld - Düsseldorf
Regional services RE 11 Rhein-Hellweg-Express Hamm - Dortmund - Essen - Duisburg - Krefeld - Mönchengladbach
Regional services RE 13 Maas-Wupper-Express Venlo - Viersen - Mönchengladbach - Düsseldorf - Wuppertal - Hagen - Hamm
Regional services RE 19 Rhein-IJssel-Express Emmerich – Wesel – Oberhausen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf Airport – Düsseldorf
Local services RB 38 Erft-Bahn Cologne - Horrem - Bedburg - Grevenbroich - Neuss - Düsseldorf
Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn services S 1 Solingen - Düsseldorf - Duisburg - Essen - Dortmund
Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn services S 2 Duisburg - Oberhausen - Essen - Gelsenkirchen - Dortmund
Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn services S 6 Essen - Kettwig - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Köln-Nippes
Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn services S 8 Mönchengladbach - Neuss - Düsseldorf - Wuppertal - Hagen
Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn services S 11 Düsseldorf Airport Terminal - Düsseldorf - Neuss - Cologne - Bergisch Gladbach
Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn services S 28 Kaarster See - Neuss - Düsseldorf - Mettmann
Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn services S 68 Langenfeld - Düsseldorf - Wuppertal-Vohwinkel
