Erkelenz station is a station in the town of Erkelenz

Erkelenz

- Geology :The Erkelenz Börde is the northernmost extent of the Jülich Börde and is formed from a loess plateau that has an average thickness of over eleven metres in this area. Beneath it are the gravels and sands of the main ice age terrace, laid down by the Rhine and the Meuse...

 in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...

. It lies on the Aachen–Mönchengladbach railway and has been classified by Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

 since January 2011 as a category 5 station

German railway station categories

About 5,400 railway stations in Germany that are owned and operated by the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Station&Service are assigned into seven categories, denoting the service level available at the station....

. The station is served by the Wupper-Express and the Rhein-Niers-Bahn.

It consists of a simple station building from the 1950s with two platforms. Close to the station there are a park and ride lot and transfer facilities to express, regional and city buses.

While freight has declined in importance at Erkelenz station with the relocation of heavy traffic from rail to road in the 1980s, passenger traffic has developed to such extent that the station today is the most important stop between Aachen and Moenchengladbach, based on entry and exit numbers. From 1992 to 2001, Erkelenz station was an InterRegio

InterRegio

The InterRegio is a train service seen in some European countries. Mostly they are trains that run "from region to region", as best described by Swiss Federal Railways.-Switzerland:...

 stop on the route towards eastern Germany (Aachen

Aachen Hauptbahnhof

Aachen Central Station is the train station for the city of Aachen, in the far west of Germany near the Dutch and Belgian border. It is the largest of the four currently active Aachen stations, and is integrated into the long-distance network.- History :...

–Chemnitz

Chemnitz Hauptbahnhof

is the Hauptbahnhof of Chemnitz in Germany.-Station building :The station has a combination of terminating and through platforms. Platform tracks 1 to 9 terminate and tracks 10 to14 continue to the west of Chemnitz towards Zwickau, Nuremberg and Göttingen. Tracks 11 to 14 are reached by a passenger...

). With the conversion of the railway line to electronic interlocking operation in November 2007, the crossovers were taken out, so the station is now regarded operationally as a halt, and the new German Ks-Signal system of signalling was installed. The former third platform track was taken out of use during the remodelling so that trains can no longer overtake at the station. Later, the third track was completely dismantled.

Rail services

Line	Line name	| Linienverlauf
	Wupper-Express	Aachen Aachen Hauptbahnhof Aachen Central Station is the train station for the city of Aachen, in the far west of Germany near the Dutch and Belgian border. It is the largest of the four currently active Aachen stations, and is integrated into the long-distance network.- History :...  – Herzogenrath Herzogenrath station Herzogenrath station is the most important railway station in the city of Herzogenrath, Städteregion Aachen, NRW, Germany. Here, the lines to Sittard via Landgraaf and Heerlen and to Stolberg, both part of the regional Euregiobahn network, branch from the main line from Aachen to...  – Geilenkirchen – Erkelenz – Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in the city of Mönchengladbach in western Germany.-Overview:The station is the largest railway station in the city and, along with Rheydt Hbf, one of the two Hauptbahnhof stations in Mönchengladbach...  – Düsseldorf Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof is the Hauptbahnhof for the city of Düsseldorf in Germany, state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia.-History:The station was opened on 1 October 1891 opened as Düsseldorf Central Station...  – Wuppertal – Hagen Hagen Hauptbahnhof is the Hauptbahnhof for the city of Hagen in western Germany. It is an important rail hub for the southeastern Ruhr area, offering regional and long distance connections....  – Dortmund Dortmund Hauptbahnhof is the central station for the city of Dortmund in Germany.The station's origins lie in a joint station of the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn and Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn which was built north of the city centre in 1847. That station was replaced by a new station, erected in 1910 at the current site....
	Rhein-Niers-Bahn	Aachen Hbf – Herzogenrath – Übach-Palenberg – Geilenkirchen – Hückelhoven-Baal – Erkelenz – Rheydt – Mönchengladbach Hbf – Viersen Viersen station Viersen station is a station in the city of Viersen in the west of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.-History:The first Viersen station was opened on 5 October 1849 by the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway Company as part of its Ruhrort–Gladbach line near Alte Bruchstraße.On 4 March 1850,...  – Krefeld Krefeld Hauptbahnhof Krefeld Hauptbahnhof is the largest station of the city of Krefeld in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The double-track and electrified Duisburg-Ruhrort–Mönchengladbach railway and the Lower Left Rhine Railway cross at the station. A line to Rheydt formerly began at the station, but...  – Rheinhausen Rheinhausen station Rheinhausen station is located in the Duisburg suburb of Rheinhausen in the Lower Rhine region of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It lies on the Duisburg-Ruhrort–Mönchengladbach railway and is the starting point of the Lower Rhine Railway towards Xanten.-Location : The station is not in...  – Duisburg Duisburg Hauptbahnhof is the Hauptbahnhof of the city of Duisburg in western Germany. It is situated at the meeting point of many important national and international railway lines in the Northwestern Ruhr valley.- Lines :...