The Nassau Rhine Railway Company (Nassauische Rhein Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) opened in 1856, the first section of the Nassau Rhine Railway (Nassauische Rheinbahn) from Wiesbaden to Rudesheim, which was authorised in 1853. Due to financial and technical difficulties, the line was not opened to Oberlahnstein until 1862. It was extended to Niederlahnstein on 3 June 1864. There, the Rhine Railway ran over the Pfaffendorf Bridge to Koblenz to connect with the West Rhine Railway (Linke Rheinstrecke) of the Rhenish Railway Company (Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft). A train ferry had connected Oberlahnstein and Königsbach in order to connect the two lines for two years from the second half of 1862. The extension of the Nassau Rhine Railway from Niederlahnstein to Neuwied was opened on 27 October 1869.
With the annexation of Duchy of Nassau by Prussia as a result of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the subsequent absorption of the Nassau State Railway, including the Lahn Valley Railway by the Prussian state railways, a direct connection was opened on 15 May 1879 from Niederlahnstein to the Lahn Valley Railway near Friedrichssegen. In 1878/79, the Horchheim rail bridge was opened to the south of Koblenz to connect the east and west Rhine lines. Thus, the direct connection was built from Niederlahnstein to Koblenz. In the same period, the station received a new entrance building.
At the end of the Second World War, the station was the target of Allied air raids on 26 December 1944 and the station building was completely destroyed. After the Niederlahnstein–Hohenrhein section of the Lahn Valley Railway was destroyed in the Second World War it was rebuilt as a single-track line. Around 1960, the entire East Rhine Railway from Cologne to Wiesbaden was electrified.
During the introduction of the interim Rhineland-Palatinate integrated regular-interval timetable (Rheinland-Pfalz-Taktes) between early June 2004 and early November 2009, Niederlahnstein station was made a pilot project of Rhineland-Palatinate to convert it into an "environmental station". The core of the concept was the upgrading of the platforms to make them barrier-free. This involved the building of three passenger lifts to the platforms. In addition, new platform canopies, bicycle parking, short-term parking and a new pedestrian underpass as an entry to the station were built. The municipality of Lahnstein was commissioned to carry out the redevelopment of the station forecourt. The total construction cost of the project was €5.4 million.[4]
In December 2007, an electronic interlocking was commissioned on the Right Rhine line. In the summer of 2008, the second phase of the project was completed and the Oberlahnstein–Niederlahnstein section was connected to the electronic interlocking system.[5]
In 2007, services on the Frankfurt-Koblenz section were tendered Europe-wide by the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (Rhine-Main Transport Association, RMV) and the Zweckverband Schienenpersonennahverkehr Rheinland-Pfalz Nord (Rail Transport Association of Rhineland-Palatinate North, SPNV). As a result, VIAS GmbH took over operations between Neuwied, Koblenz, Wiesbaden and Frankfurt under the 2010/2011 timetable on 12 December 2010.
Depot
A locomotive depot (Bahnbetriebswerk) with a turntable was formerly attached to Niederlahnstein station. It was disbanded as an independent agency in August 1952.
Platforms
Niederlahnstein station has an extensive layout of tracks. Four platform tracks next to two island platforms serve passenger traffic. There is no “home” platform next to the station building.
The numbering begins on the west side of the station building.
Track 2 is a through track and the main track for the Lahn Valley Railway and shares an island platform with track 3. Today, trains of Vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft operate as line RB 25 and the Lahntalexpress (RE 25) towards Koblenz Hbf.
Track 3 is a through track and is located on the island platform next to track 2. Today, it is used by trains towards Limburg and Gießen.
Track 4 is a through track of the East Rhine Railway. It shares another island platform with track 5. Today, it is used by VIAS trains to Koblenz Hbf and Neuwied.
Track 5 is another through track and is located on the island platform next to track 4. It is used by VIAS trains to Frankfurt Hbf via Rüdesheim and Wiesbaden Hbf.
Track 6 was formerly a through track without a platform, which was used by freight. There is now a buffer stop on this track approximately in the middle of the station, making this track usable from Niederlahnstein to Koblenz.
Track 7 is usable for through freight trains. During the recent rebuilding of the station access to the former island platform, which was formerly also used by track 8, was removed.
Track 8, like track 7, is usable only for freight traffic.
Rail services
Railways in greater Koblenz
All local trains (Regional-Express and Regionalbahn) running on the two lines serving the station stop here. Freight and some long-distance trains pass through the station without stopping.
The southern section of the East Rhine Railway (Koblenz–Wiesbaden–Frankfurt) was served until the beginning of the 2010/2011 timetable in December 2010 by the Loreley-Bahn (RB 10) and the Loreley-Express (RE 10), which were operated by Deutsche Bahn (DB). As the result of a Europe-wide tender, services since 12 December 2010 have been operated as a single Regionalbahn service every hour, sometimes even every half hour, by VIAS GmbH, using new Stadler FLIRT sets.
After the change to the 2004/2005 timetable on 12 December 2004, diesel multiple units were operated on the Lahn Valley Railway as RB 23 by Vectus between Koblenz Hbf and Limburg (Lahn), usually hourly. In addition there was a Regional-Express service (RE 25) that ran between Koblenz Hbf, Limburg and Gießen. Both these services have been operated by DB Regio Südwest and marketed as the Lahn-Eifel-Bahn since the timetable change in December 2014. The Regionalbahn service has been extended from Koblenz to Mayen Ost.
↑ "Umweltbahnhof Niederlahnstein" (Press release) (in German). Government of Rhineland-Palatinate. 9 November 2009. Archived from the original on 6 January 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
Lahnstein is a verband-free town of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated at the confluence of the Lahn with the Rhine, approximately 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south of Koblenz. Lahnstein was created in 1969 by the merger of the previously independent towns of Oberlahnstein on the south side of the Lahn and Niederlahnstein on the north side. In 2020, it had a population of 18,030.
Nassau is a town located in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It lies on the lower course of the Lahn River, on the mouth of the Mühlbach, between Limburg an der Lahn and the spa town of Bad Ems, and is located in the Nassau Nature Park, surrounded by the Westerwald to the north and the Taunus to the south. The town is on the German-Dutch holiday road, the Orange Route. As of 2021, it had a population of 4,592.
Bingen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in the German city of Bingen am Rhein on the West Rhine Railway. It is located in the borough of Bingerbrück. The station that serves central Bingen is called Bingen Stadt.
Boppard Hauptbahnhof is a station in the town of Boppard in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is located on the outskirts of the town near the Rhine. It is at a railway junction on the West Rhine Railway between Köln Hauptbahnhof and Mainz Hauptbahnhof, and it is the starting point of the Hunsrück Railway (Hunsrückbahn) to Emmelshausen. It has three platform tracks.
The West Rhine railway is a famously picturesque, double-track electrified railway line running for 185 km from Cologne via Bonn, Koblenz, and Bingen to Mainz. It is situated close to the western (left) bank of the river Rhine and mostly aligned to allow 160 km/h operation between Cologne and Koblenz and between Bingen and Mainz. Line speed between Koblenz and Bingen is restricted by the meandering nature of the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The East Rhine Railway is a major, double-track, electrified railway line, running along the right bank of the Rhine from Cologne to Wiesbaden. The 179-kilometer (111.2 mi)-long line forms two Deutsche Bahn routes. Route 465 extends from Cologne to Koblenz, via Troisdorf, Bonn-Beuel, Unkel, and Neuwied. From Koblenz, Route 466 extends to Wiesbaden, via Rüdesheim am Rhein. Together with the Taunus railway, the line is used by Stadt-Express line SE-10 of the Rhine-Main Transport Association, which runs from Frankfurt to Koblenz and Neuwied.
The Frankfurt-Höchst station is an important station in the Frankfurt district of Höchst and is the second largest station in the city with twelve tracks. It is currently mainly used by S-Bahn, suburban and regional services.
The Nassau State Railway took over the privately built railway lines on the Rhine and Lahn rivers in the Duchy of Nassau from the Nassau Rhine and Lahn Railway Company in 1861 and extended them further. It was taken over by the Prussian State Railways in 1866.
The Lahntal railway or Lahn Valley Railway is a railway line between Niederlahnstein in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate to Wetzlar in Hesse, partly following the Lahn valley (Lahntal). Its western terminus was originally in Oberlahnstein. Trains now mostly operate between Koblenz and Gießen. The line was opened by the Nassau Rhine and Lahn Railway Company and the Nassau State Railway between 1858 and 1863 and is one of the oldest railways in Germany.
The Koblenz–Neuwied railway is a two-track, electrified main line railway in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It connects the Neuwied station on the Right (east) Rhine line to the major railway junction at Koblenz Hauptbahnhof and to the Left (west) Rhine and Moselle lines.
Engers station is a through station and a former railway junction in the district of Engers in the town of Neuwied in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is on the East Rhine Railway and was formerly also the beginning of a line to Au (Sieg) and had a large freight yard.
Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein station is the only station on the right (eastern) bank in the city of Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is on the East Rhine railway at the foot of the Ehrenbreitstein hill in the Ehrenbreitstein district, next to the Rhine.
Niedernhausen station serves the municipality of Niedernhausen in the German state of Hesse. It is the most important station on the Main-Lahn Railway between the stations of Frankfurt-Höchst and Eschhofen in Limburg an der Lahn. It is the terminus of the Ländches Railway running from Niedernhausen to Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof and of line S2 of the Rhine-Main S-Bahn from Frankfurt.
The Limburg–Altenkirchen railway is a 65.1 km long branch line from Limburg via Westerburg to Altenkirchen and connecting via the Engers–Au railway to Au through the Westerwald. In German the line is also known as the Oberwesterwaldbahn. It runs through the German states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate.
The Aar Valley Railway is a 53.7 km long line between Wiesbaden, the capital of the German state of Hesse, and Diez in Rhineland-Palatinate. From 1985 to 2009, the southern end was operated as a heritage railway with historic trains. The Hessian part of the line is heritage-listed. Currently, two bridges are unusable and several sets of points are defective and need to be repaired. Its northern end is operated with draisines.
Eschhofen station lies on the Lahn Valley Railway in the town of Limburg an der Lahn in the German state of Hesse. In addition, just east of the station, the Main-Lahn Railway (Main-Lahn-Bahn) branches off to Frankfurt. The station was opened in 1863. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 5 station.
Oberlahnstein station is, along with Niederlahnstein and Friedrichssegen, one of three stations in the town of Lahnstein in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is a through station with 3 platform tracks on the East Rhine Railway and is located in the Oberlahnstein district. The adjacent former freight depot is now a brownfield site.
Vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH was a German transport company based in Limburg an der Lahn. In 2004, it took over the operation of a regional rail network located in the Lahn valley, the Westerwald and the Taunus, which is called the Westerwald-Taunus network. The operations of the network focused on Limburg. In 2014, the contract for these services were awarded to its main shareholder, Hessische Landesbahn (HLB) and Vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft was subsequently taken over by HLB.
The Lahn-Eifel-Bahn is a rail passenger service in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse that runs as the RB 23 from Limburg an der Lahn via Koblenz and Andernach to Mayen, as RE 25 from Gießen via Limburg to Koblenz and as RB 38 from Andernach via Mayen to Kaisersesch.
Altenkirchen (Westerw) station is the station of the district town of Altenkirchen in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is at track-kilometre 65.1 on the Limburg–Altenkirchen railway and at track-km 61.1 on the Engers–Au railway, also known as the Holzbachtalbahn.
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