Essen-Altenessen station

Essen-Altenessen station
Through station
Tram (left) and elevated S-Bahn tracks (right) in 2006
Location	Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany
Coordinates	51°29′3″N 7°0′27″E / 51.48417°N 7.00750°ECoordinates: 51°29′3″N 7°0′27″E / 51.48417°N 7.00750°E
Line(s)	Duisburg–Dortmund railway (KBS 416) Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn Line S 2 (KBS 450.2)
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	1694
DS100 code	EEAL
Category	5
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1847

Essen-Altenessen (Bahnhof Essen-Altenessen) is a railway station situated in Essen in western Germany. It is served by the S2 line of Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn^[1] and line U18 of the Essen Stadtbahn.

History

The station was opened on 15 May 1847 on the trunk line of the former Cologne-Minden Railway Company (Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CME).^[2] under the name of Essen CM. It and Essen-Bergeborbeck are the oldest stations in modern Essen.

A railway association was founded in 1841 by the community of Essen to persuade the Cologne-Minden Railway Company to move its proposed route further south to run through Essen. Even the offer of a subsidy of 2,000 Prussian thalers failed to persuade the CME to change its route because it wanted to avoid hills where possible, running roughly along the course of the Emscher. As a result of this rejection, the city of Essen later spent over 16,000 thalers to establish a road connecting to Altenessen station.^[3]

Until the establishment of Essen BM (Bergisch-Märkische) station (which later became Essen Hauptbahnhof) in 1862, Altenessen station served as Essen station. The freight sector was of particular importance to the station, especially the transport of coal from numerous mines in the two communities. In 1872, the station was renamed Altenessen.^[2][3]

Integration in the station in the rail network

A nearly two-kilometre long line the station connected via Helene junction to Essen-Stoppenberg was opened on 27 April 1874.^[4] A line opened in 1880, connecting this station to Essen BM, which was renamed Essen Hauptbahnhof in 1897.^[5] In addition, connections existed to Essen-Nord (renamed Essen Rh in 1885 after its builder, the Rhenish Railway Company) and Essen-Segeroth station, which since 1868 had also been called Essen CM and Essen-Altenessen Rheinisch station (Altenessen Rh, from 1912).^[6] After the incorporation of Altenessen in Essen in 1915, the Altenessen station was renamed Essen-Altenessen in 1920.^[2]

The station was built as a "wedge" station with central station building between the Cologne-Minden line and the line to Stoppenberg.^[7]

By 1887 the tracks were at ground level, with a nearby level crossing over Essen-Horster Strasse, now Altenessener Strasse. The approximately 170–180 trains running per day (not including shunting) meant that the crossing was closed for up to seven hours each day. That made it necessary to rebuild the station, the street and the line. Altenessener Strasse was lowered by 2.64 meters, while the rail lines were raised and three bridges were built. The bridge over Altenessener Strasse and Lierfeldstraße on the line to Stoppenberg was opened on 30 September 1901. The bridge over Altenessener Strasse on the main line was opened on 10 November 1901.^[8]

The Second World War and later

The rail bridge over Lierfeldstraße linking Altenessen with Essen

In the Second World War there was a slave labour camp of the railway division (Reichsbahndirektion) of Essen/Ruhr at the station for 27 French prisoners.^[9] Heavy air raids in October 1944 destroyed the railway tracks, stopping train operations run through Altenessen.^[10] Several bombs also hit the station.^[11]

The station was renovated in 1999, following the demolition of the station building.

Current services

Today the station serves only as a stop for local traffic on the route between Oberhausen and Gelsenkirchen. It is served every hour by Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn line S 2 (Duisburg–Oberhausen-Altenessen–Gelsenkirchen–Herne–Dortmund) and Regional-Express service RE3, Rhein-Emscher-Express (Düsseldorf–Duisburg–Oberhausen–Altenessen–Gelsenkirchen–Herne–Dortmund–Hamm).^[2]

The station is also a hub for urban transport. The is served by tram line106 (via Essen Hbf, Rüttenscheid, Holsterhausen to Altendorf or Bergeborbeck), bus line 140 (from Borbeck to Stoppenberg), 162/172 (Altenessen ring line) and 183 (Karlsplatz via Stoppenberg to Katerberg) and Essen Stadtbahn lines U11 (Gelsenkirchen-Horst via Essen Hbf to Messe/Gruga) and U18 (Karlsplatz via Essen Hbf to Mülheim).^[12]

References

1. Map of the Rhine-Ruhr rapid transit system, Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr, 2011
2. "Essen-Altenessen (EEAL) operations". NRW rail archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
3. Thomas Dupke (2002). "Kohle, Krupp und Kommunalentwicklung". In Borsdorf. Essen – Geschichte einer Stadt (in German). p. 293.
4. "Operations on line 2173: Essen-Stoppenberg ↔ Essen Altenessen". NRW rail archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
5. "Operations on line 2172: Essen Hbf ↔ Gelsenkirchen-Zoo". NRW rail archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
6. "Operations on line 2255: Essen-Altenessen Rheinisch link". NRW rail archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
7. Town map of 1927 and 1970
8. Sanel. "Die Brücken am Bahnhof". Altenessen Info (in German). Retrieved 20 September 2011.
9. Josef Heidelbach (2000). "Fern der Heimat zur Arbeit gezwungen". In Lesebuchkreis Altenessen. Altenessen unter dem Hakenkreuz 1933–1945 (in German). p. 88.
10. Elisabeth Lucht (2000). "Erlebnisse meiner Lehrzeit 1943-1947". In Lesebuchkreis Altenessen. Altenessen unter dem Hakenkreuz 1933–1945 (in German). pp. 31/32.
11. Wladislaus Przybilla (2000). "Fräulein Maria - Dokument einer Zeugenschaft - gefährliche Nächstenliebe". In Lesebuchkreis Altenessen. Altenessen unter dem Hakenkreuz 1933–1945 (in German). p. 64.
12. Essener Verkehrs-AG timetable

External links

• "Essen-Altenessen station". NRW Rail Archive (in German). André Joost. Retrieved 12 September 2011.