Passau Hauptbahnhof
Encyclopedia
Passau
Passau is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt or "City of Three Rivers," because the Danube is joined at Passau by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north....
in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and was built in 1860. It has eight platforms, of which three are bay platforms and three are through tracks. The ca. 130 m long station building is built in the classic style.
Present-day services
Today the station is a stop for ICE and ICIntercity (Deutsche Bahn)
Intercity is the second-highest train classification in Germany, after the ICE. Intercity services are loco-hauled express services, usually over long-distances. There are Intercity routes throughout Germany, and routes generally operate with a two-hour frequency, with multiple routes giving a more...
long-distance trains, as well as local trains operated 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...
(DB AG) and the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB). From Passau, regional services run to Munich
Landshut–Plattling railway
The Landshut–Plattling railway is a single-tracked, electrified main line in Lower Bavaria, in southern Germany. It runs along the Isar river and is part of the line between Munich and Passau.- History :...
, Regensburg
Regensburg–Passau railway
The Regensburg–Passau railway forms a key transport link from Germany to Austria and other southeast European countries and is one of the most important main lines in southern Germany...
and on the Rottalbahn
Passau–Neumarkt-Sankt Veit railway
The Passau–Neumarkt-Sankt Veit railway or Rott Valley Railway is a single-tracked, unelectrified branch line in southeastern Bavaria in Germany. At 98 kilometres it is the longest branch line in Bavaria.-Construction:...
to Mühldorf am Inn and the Austrian Western Railway
Austrian Western Railway
The Empress Elisabeth Railway was the name of a former railway company during the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Today, the term is still used to refer to the railway lines that were formerly operated by that company....
to Wels
Wels
Wels is the second largest city of the state of Upper Austria, located in the north of Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is not part of its surrounding Wels County , but a so-called Statutarstadt . However, Wels is the county seat of Wels-Land.- Geography :Wels is located in the...
and Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
.
Because Passau was on the trunk route (Magistrale) from Frankfurt am Main via Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
and Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, many long-distance trains transited through it, such as the Ostende to Vienna Express (since the early 1900s) or the TEE Prinz Eugen between Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
(since the 1960s), which gave its name later to the equivalent IC and then ICE trains.
Former railway lines
From the Hauptbahnhof in PassauPassau
Passau is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt or "City of Three Rivers," because the Danube is joined at Passau by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north....
two railway lines branch off that have since been closed. The Ilztalbahn to Waldkirchen
Waldkirchen
Waldkirchen is the biggest town in the district of Freyung-Grafenau in Germany.-History:It was mentioned for the first time in 1203. Soon it became an important trading place along the "Goldener Steig" , a salt-trading route between Bavaria and Bohemia in the late Middle Ages...
and Freyung
Freyung
Freyung may refer to:* Freyung, Bavaria* Freyung-Grafenau, a district in Bavaria* Passau–Freyung railway, a branch line in Bavaria* Freyung , a public square in Vienna...
, with its former branch into the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
and to Eging am See and Deggendorf, and the line to Hauzenberg with its branch to Obernzell
Obernzell
Obernzell is a municipality in the district of Passau in Bavaria in Germany....
, that ran as far as Wegscheid
Wegscheid
Wegscheid is a municipality in the district of Passau in Bavaria in Germany....
in former times. These routes, which had not been worked by timetabled services for 25 years, were used until 2002 by the Passauer Eisenbahnfreunde
Passauer Eisenbahnfreunde
The Passauer Eisenbahnfreunde or PEF is a German railway society with the aim of preserving historic railway vehicles in working order in order to operate them....
(Passau Railway Society) for special trains, as well as by the goods trains of various companies. After 2002 the routes became impassable due to flood damage. Meanwhile societies have been formed to support the lines to Freyung and Hauzenberg and they hope to reactivate these routes.
Former track layout
West of the main passenger terminal on the site of the former marshalling yard is a large freight station that serves the cross-border goods traffic between Germany and Austria as well as the cross-loading of goods to ships that ply the river DanubeDanube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
. To the east, the remaining storage sidings and locomotive shed were dismantled in order to create the "new centre of Passau" Neue Mitte Passau.
Station rebuilding
It was planned to convert the station to a barrier-free zone from 2008 to mid-2011 with a subsidy from the Free State of Bavaria of €2M towards the overall cost of €12.5M. The two island platforms as well as the home platform were to have been reached by a lift, and platforms 5 and 6 over the so-called Poststeg ("post office walkway") which would have considerably shortened the distance to the Central Bus StationBus station
A bus station is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. It is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can stop...
in the new centre of Passau. In addition the home platform was to have been raised by about 76 cm and the underpass widened.
These plans were however changed during the course of 2008, because they would not have coped with the very high number of tourists at the station, especially those using the Danube crossings.
Joint DB/ÖBB use
Since 1951 the station has been used by the ÖBB and DBDeutsche 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...
jointly as an internal station. For that reason there were two separate pedestrian underpasses under the tracks, separated by a wall, that enabled border and customs checks to be carried out. Since the entry of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
into the EU
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
in 1995 and the associated scrapping of these checks, this wall has been removed apart from a small section. On this section of wall there is a memorial tablet for the two policemen, Klaus März and Georg Schachner, who were murdered on 11 November 1993 in an Intercity from Linz to Passau near Schärding
Schärding
Schärding is a town in northern Upper Austria, Austria, capital of the district of the same name, and a major port on the Inn River. As of 2001, it has a population of 5,052. Historically it was owned by the Wittelsbach family, which reflects on the town's architecture...
.
Above the tracks since 1975 stands the first "bridge post office" in Germany.