Rostock Hauptbahnhof

Rostock Hauptbahnhof, also Rostock Central Station (from 1896 until the turn of the 20th century called Rostock Central-Bahnhof), is the main railway station in the German city of Rostock. It is situated well to the south of the city centre,[3] to which it is linked by tram.[4] The station was opened in 1886 by the Deutsch-Nordischer Lloyd, operating a combined railway/ferry line to Nykøbing Falster in Denmark. The station was expanded in 1913 and 1922, but was heavily damaged in World War II. The importance of the traditional route to Hamburg and Copenhagen diminished after the post-World War II division of Germany, with long-distance services instead focusing on cities within the German Democratic Republic. Electrification reached the station in 1985. After German reunification, the station was extensively modernised.

Rostock Hauptbahnhof
Bf
LocationKonrad-Adenauer-Platz 1, Steintor-Vorstadt, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Germany
Coordinates54°04′41″N 12°07′51″E
Owned byDeutsche Bahn
Operated by
Line(s)
Other information
Station code5365[1]
DS100 codeWR[2]
IBNR8010304
Category2[1]
Websitewww.bahnhof.de
History
Electrified1985
Previous names
  • Lloydbahnhof (till 1896)
  • Central-Bahnhof (till 1900)
Services
Preceding station   DB Fernverkehr   Following station
towards Stralsund
ICE 26
towards Karlsruhe
Terminus
IC 17
via Berlin
towards Dresden
IC 28
towards Munich
IC/EC 30
towards Stuttgart
Terminus
IC 56
towards Dresden
Preceding station   DB Regio Nordost   Following station
toward Hamburg Hbf
RE 1
Hanse-Express
via Schwerin		Terminus
TerminusRE 5
via Berlin
toward Elsterwerda
TerminusRE 9
Hanse-Express
via Stralsund
toward Sassnitz
toward Wismar
RB 11
via Rostock
Roggentin
toward Tessin
toward Bad Doberan
RB 12
via Rostock - Rövershagen
Preceding station   S-Bahn Rostock   Following station
Rostock Parkstraße
toward Warnemünde
S 1
Terminus
Rostock Parkstraße
toward Warnemünde
S 2
via Rostock - Schwaan
toward Güstrow
Rostock Parkstraße
toward Warnemünde
S 3
via Rostock - Laage (Meckl)
toward Güstrow
Location
Rostock Hauptbahnhof
Location within Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Rostock Hauptbahnhof
Location within Germany
Rostock Hauptbahnhof
Location within Europe

History

Today's station was opened in 1886 by the Deutsch-Nordische-Lloyd (German-Nordic-Lloyd) Railway Company as the Lloyd-Bahnhof (“station of the Lloyd Railway”). The company operated the Lloyd Railway on the Neustrelitz–Rostock–Warnemünde route and the subsequent mail steamer connection to Nykøbing Falster. In 1894, the Lloyd Railway was acquired by the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and incorporated in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg Friedrich-Franz Railway (Großherzoglich Mecklenburgische Friedrich-Franz-Eisenbahn, MFFE), which already owned a large station in Rostock. The parallel operation of passenger and freight traffic proved to be inefficient.

In 1896, the station of the Lloyd Railway was assigned to handle most of the movement of passengers and was converted into the Central-Bahnhof (central station) and after the turn of the 20th century it was renamed Rostock Hauptbahnhof (main station).

Northern entrance in 1920
Entrance building and station forecourt on the north side, 1964

With the establishment of the train ferry between Warnemünde and Gedser in 1903, long-distance express trains between Berlin and Copenhagen stopped at the station. After the reconstruction of the approach of the line towards Stralsund, trains to and from Stralsund no longer stopped at the station of the Friedrich-Franz Railway, which subsequently became the Rostock freight yard.

In 1913, the station entrance hall was redeveloped with Art Nouveau elements and small balustrades to a design by Paul Korff. The platform facilities were extended in 1922 to include two platform tracks and the station subway was extended accordingly.

The station was damaged by bombing in the Second World War. There was a temporary reconstruction.

The importance of Rostock and the station increased as a result of the division of Germany. Passenger numbers rose sharply, especially after the establishment of new industrial enterprises and residential areas in the north-west of the city. The importance of north–south long-distance connections to Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin also grew. Direct trains were established to Prague and Budapest. Rostock's "traditional" long-distance connections to Hamburg and Copenhagen were very limited after the division of Germany in 1949. Improvisation was required for the expansion of the station, while avoiding another move in its location. More platforms were built to cope with the increasing ridership. An exit was built on the station subway towards the south of the city. The station was connected to the electrified network of Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1985.

There was a shift of traffic flows with the reunification of Germany. On the one hand, traffic moved from the railways to the road and, on the other hand, the importance of connections to Hamburg and Kiel (via Lübeck) grew strongly. The direct long-distance connections to Dresden, Magdeburg and Leipzig were abandoned up to the mid-1990s and the connection to Copenhagen was also abandoned with the closing of the rail ferry away to Gedser. The Rostock–Berlin connection became a regional service.

Rebuilding the station
New southern station building, built 1999-2003
Tram station on the underground level

Due to the limited capacity of the station there were already plans in the East German period for a renovation of the station or even the building of a new central station.

In the general transport plan of the 1960s for the city, a new through station was provided near the suburb of Brinckmansdorf where trains from Stralsund could continue towards the south without reversing. Freight traffic would have been completely separated from passenger traffic.[5] The project was not realized.

Planning around 1980 provided for the demolition of the station building that was built between the tracks to make room for island platforms. A new platform would also have been built on the north side of the station. The entrance would have stayed there, but the main entrance would have moved to the south side of the station, where a new station building was planned.[6]

During the renovation of the station from 1999 to 2003, somewhat similar ideas were realized. The station building on the north side was rebuilt incorporating the old entrance hall. A new subterranean level was added with a tram tunnel and a small southern entrance building. The station building at the centre of the tracks was demolished except for a small part. A direct connection from long-distance and regional service to the tramway is now possible on two levels under the tracks. A new island platform was built for the S-Bahn and new platform numbering was introduced. The station has been served by a pair of Intercity-Express services since 11 June 2007.

Infrastructure

Since the renovation in the early 21st century, the station has a main entrance building on the north side of the railway tracks and a smaller entrance building on the south side. The platforms with eleven platform tracks are reached via a subterranean level between the two entrance buildings. The Rostock tram station with two platforms is on a second subterranean level.

The main entrance building in 2019

The platforms are arranged as follows: south-west of the main station building is an island platform with tracks 1 and 2, which are mainly used by the trains of the Rostock S-Bahn. This is followed by a wide island platform served by trains on through tracks 3 on the northeast side and track 7 on the southwest side. Previously this platform was the location of the original entrance building, which was demolished to a large extent during the reconstruction up to 2000. At the eastern end of this platform, are the bay platforms of tracks 4 and 5 and at the western end is the bay platform track 6, which was taken into operation in December 2012 and is occasionally used by S-Bahn trains to Warnemünde. To the southwest these are followed by another two island platforms with tracks 8 and 9 and tracks 10 and 11 respectively.

The entrance building that stood until the late 20th century was a heritage-listed building.[7] Since the reconstruction of the station, it is no longer included in the lists of monuments.[8]

Rail services

The station is on the following lines:

Long distance
Line Route Frequency
ICE 15 Eisenach – Halle (Saale) – Berlin – Rostock – Warnemünde

Warnemünde – Rostock – Berlin – Halle (Saale) – Erfurt – Frankfurt (Main)

 One train on Saturday
ICE 26 (Binz – / Greifswald –) Stralsund – Rostock – Hamburg – Hannover – Frankfurt – Karlsruhe (– Stuttgart – Munich) Approximately every two hours
ICE 28 Warnemünde – Rostock – Berlin – Leipzig – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Munich Individual services
IC 28 Warnemünde – Rostock – Berlin – Halle (Saale) – Jena Paradies – Nuremberg – Munich Individual services
ICE 29 Warnemünde – Rostock – Berlin – Halle – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Munich Individual services
IC 30 (Binz –) Stralsund – Rostock – Hamburg – Bremen – Cologne – Stuttgart Individual services
IC 56 Warnemünde – Rostock – Magdeburg – Halle (Saale) – Leipzig Individual services, seasonal
ICE 91 Vienna – Passau – Regensburg – Nuremberg – Coburg – Erfurt – Berlin – Neustrelitz – Waren (Müritz) – Rostock One train

Regional services
Line Route Frequency
RE 1 Rostock – Bützow – Bad Kleinen – Schwerin – Büchen – Hamburg Every 2 hours with additional trains in the peak
RE 5 Rostock – Güstrow – Neustrelitz – Berlin – Jüterbog – Lutherstadt Wittenberg Every 2 hours
RE 9 Rostock – Ribnitz-Damgarten – Stralsund – Bergen auf Rügen – Sassnitz Every 2 hours
RB 11 Wismar – Neubukow – Kröpelin – Bad Doberan – Parkentin – Groß Schwaß – Rostock – Tessin Hourly (request halt in Sandhagen, Teschow u. Kalsow)
RB 12 (Bad Doberan –) Rostock – Graal-Müritz (/ – Ribnitz-Damgarten West) Hourly on weekends in the winter every 2 hours,
Bad Doberan/Ribnitz-Damgarten West – Rostock only in the peak
RB 17 Rostock – Bützow – Bad Kleinen – Schwerin – Ludwigslust Individual services
S 1 Warnemünde – Rostock Every 15 minutes
together with S2, S3, every 7.5 minutes in the peak
S 2 Warnemünde – Rostock – Schwaan – Güstrow Hourly
every 2 hours on the weekend
S 3 Warnemünde – Rostock – Laage (Meckl) – Güstrow Hourly
every 2 hours on the weekend

Notes
  1. "Stationspreisliste 2021" [Station price list 2021] (PDF) (in German). DB Station&Service. 16 November 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  2. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas) (2009/2010 ed.). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
  3. Gordon McLachlan (2004). The Rough Guide to Germany. Rough Guides. p. 724.
  4. Rick Steves; Cameron Hewitt (2013). Rick Steves' Northern European Cruise Ports. Avalon Travel.
  5. Lothar Schultz (2010). Die Lloydbahn, Neustrelitz–Rostock–Warnemünde (in German). Berlin: Verlag Bernd Neddermeyer. pp. 139/140. ISBN 978-3-941712-08-9.
  6. Lothar Schultz (1980). 130 Jahre Rostocker Eisenbahn (in German). p. 37. (documentation, Deutscher Modelleisenbahnerverband der DDR)
  7. "Heritage list of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" (PDF; 934 kB) (in German). 1997. p. 349. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  8. "Heritage list of Hansestadt Rostock, as at September 2011" (PDF; 934 kB) (in German). 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2014.

References
  • Lothar Schultz (2010). Die Lloydbahn, Neustrelitz–Rostock–Warnemünde (in German). Berlin: Verlag Bernd Neddermeyer. pp. 70–75 and 133–145. ISBN 978-3-941712-08-9.
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