The Lahn is a 245.6-kilometre-long (152.6 mi), right tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km).
The politics of Hesse takes place within a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the Federal Government of Germany exercises sovereign rights with certain powers reserved to the states of Germany including Hesse. The state has a multi-party system where, as in most other states of former Western Germany and the federal level, the three main parties are the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), and the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
The Grand Duchy of Hesse State Railways belonged to the Länderbahnen at the time of the German Empire. In the 19th century, the Grand Duchy of Hesse consisted of three provinces. Between the rivers Rhine, Main, and Neckar, the province of Starkenburg embraced the Odenwald and the Hessian Ried. It also included the ducal residence of Darmstadt. West of the Rhine was the province of Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen), with the towns of Mainz, Worms, and Bingen. The province of Upper Hesse (Oberhessen), which included the Vogelsberg and the Wetterau, was not directly linked by land to the others. As a result of its lack of territorial integrity, the state did not initially build its own state railway. Rather, it took part in joint state railway projects with its neighbouring states. These were the:
The Hessian Ludwig Railway or HLB with its network of 697 kilometres of railway was one of the largest privately owned railway companies in Germany.
The term Upper Hesse originally referred to the southern possessions of the Landgraviate of Hesse, which were initially geographically separated from the more northerly Lower Hesse by the County of Ziegenhain.
The Frankfurt–Göttingen railway is a continuously double track and electrified main line in Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, Germany. The line was initially built from Bebra towards Fulda by the Kurhessen State Railway. After the Prussian annexation of the Electorate of Hesse as a result of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, it was completed to Frankfurt as the Frankfurt-Bebra Railway. The line was later extended from Bebra to Göttingen.
Gießen railway station is the main railway station in Gießen, Hesse, Germany. The station is a Category 2 station is used by 20,000 passengers daily. The station was opened on 25 August 1850 and is located on the Main-Weser Railway and Dill railway. The current station reception building was built between 1904 and 1911. The main original station building is a historic landmark and has been protected. Outside the station is a bus station and a taxi rank. Parking garages are located nearby.
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.
Großen Buseck is a station in Buseck in the German state of Hesse. The station is on the Vogelsberg Railway and has two platforms.
Grünberg (Oberhess) is a station in the town of Grünberg in the German state of Hesse. The stations of Lehnheim and Göbelnrod are also in Grünberg. It is located 23.2 kilometres from Gießen station on the Vogelsberg Railway (Vogelsbergbahn), which continues to Fulda. In the past, the Lumda Valley Railway (Lumdatalbahn) to Londorf and Lollar branched off here and the Butzbach–Lich railway to Butzbach via Lich and Münzenberg.
The Gießen–Fulda railway is a single-track main line from Gießen via Alsfeld to Fulda in the German state of Hesse.
The Gießen–Gelnhausen railway is a single-track, non-electrified mainline in the German state of Hesse. It runs from Gießen via Nidda to Gelnhausen.
Glauburg-Stockheim station is a station on the Gießen–Gelnhausen railway in the town of Glauburg in the German state of Hesse. It is also at the end of the Nidda Valley Railway from Bad Vilbel. The Oberwald Railway (Oberwaldbahn) to Lauterbach began here from 1 October 1888 until 1 June 1984. The station is classified by Deutsche Bahn (DB) as a category 5 station.
Hungen station is a station on the Gießen–Gelnhausen railway in the town of Hungen in the German state of Hesse. From 1 June 1890 to 4 April 2003, the Friedberg–Mücke railway branched off to Mücke via Laubach and to Friedberg via Wölfersheim and Beienheim. The station is classified by Deutsche Bahn (DB) as a category 6 station.
Büdingen (Oberhess) station is a station on the Gießen–Gelnhausen railway in the town of Büdingen in the German state of Hesse. The station is located in the centre of the town. Büches-Düdelsheim station is also located in the municipality, in the district of Büches. The station is classified by Deutsche Bahn (DB) as a category 5 station.
The region of Middle Hesse is one of three planning regions in the German state of Hesse, alongside North and South Hesse. Its territory is identical with that of the administrative province of Gießen and covers the counties of Limburg-Weilburg, Lahn-Dill-Kreis, Gießen, Marburg-Biedenkopf and Vogelsbergkreis. The Middle Hesse Regional Assembly, which decides on the regional plan, currently consists of 31 members chosen by the five counties and the three towns with special status: Gießen, Marburg and Wetzlar. The regional assembly has tasked the governing president (Regierungspräsident) with delivering regional management. The Mid-Hesse Regional Management Association was founded on 22 January 2003.
Alsfeld station is in the town of Alsfeld in the German state of Hesse. It is at line-km 60.3 of the Vogelsberg Railway (Vogelsbergbahn) and line-km 0.0 of the Niederaula–Alsfeld railway, which was closed in 1988. The entrance building, which was built in 1914/15 at Bahnhofstraße 14, is a protected monument.
Burg- und Nieder-Gemünden station is, along with Ehringshausen (Oberhess) station, one of two stations in the municipality of Gemünden (Felda) in Vogelsbergkreis, Hesse, Germany. It lies at kilometer 38.0 of the Vogelsberg Railway (Gießen–Fulda). From 1901 to 1991, Kirchhain–Burg- und Nieder-Gemünden railway branched off here to Kirchhain via Homberg (Ohm). It is listed as a cultural monument under the Hessian Monument Protection Act, but the station building itself is in a neglected state.
The is a large volcanic mountain range in the German Central Uplands in the state of Hesse, separated from the Rhön Mountains by the Fulda river valley. Emerging approximately 19 million years ago, the Vogelsberg is Central Europe's largest basalt formation, consisting of a multitude of layers that descend from their peak in ring-shaped terraces to the base.
The Friedberg–Mücke railway is a railway that was opened in 1890/97 in the Wetterau and Vogelsberg regions in the German state of Hesse. Sections of the line are also called the Horlofftalbahn and the Seentalbahn. It originally connected three major railways that run from Giessen, namely: