Sinsheim (Elsenz) Hauptbahnhof

Sinsheim (Elsenz) Hauptbahnhof
Through station
Station with class 425 EMU
Location	Friedrichstr. 25, Sinsheim, Baden-Württemberg Germany
Coordinates	49°15′02″N 8°52′29″E / 49.250537°N 8.874807°ECoordinates: 49°15′02″N 8°52′29″E / 49.250537°N 8.874807°E
Line(s)	Neckargemünd–Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	5870
DS100 code	RSM
IBNR	8005578
Category	4 [1]
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1868

Sinsheim (Elsenz) Hauptbahnhof — called Sinsheim (Elsenz) station until 2010 — is a station on the Neckargemünd–Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld railway in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The station falls within the area of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar (Transport association of Rhine-Neckar) and is an important station in the Kraichgau. In the area of the city of Sinsheim, there are also stations (all called Haltepunkte in German, “halts”) at Hoffenheim, Sinsheim Museum/Arena, Steinsfurt and Reihen.

History

The station was opened in 1868 to coincide with the opening of the Meckenheim–Rappenau section of the Neckargemünd–Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld railway of the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways. The station building was built in 1867/68. It was designed in the Weinbrenner style by a student of the architect Friedrich Weinbrenner.^[2] The building, including its ground and upper storey, is listed as a cultural monument by the state of Baden-Württemberg.^[3]

The station facilities had been expanded by 1900 with an overpass over Dührener Straße (street).

In 2009, the town of Sinsheim began to renovate the entrance building and the surrounding area, including the establishment of a park and ride parking area and the redesign of the bus station. The existing pedestrian zone of the town was extended to the station. Since December 2009, trains on the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn have stopped at Sinsheim Hauptbahnhof.^[4]

The northern line of the Heilbronn Stadtbahn was opened at the 2014/2015 timetable change. Following the construction of the section of line from Bad Rappenau to Bad Friedrichshall between 7 January 2014 and 30 April 2015, the new S42 service was opened between Sinsheim and Bad Rappenau.^[5][6] In the spring of 2015, S42 services were extended from Bad Rappenau to central Heilbronn.

Station infrastructure

The station building and the stairway to the pedestrian overbridge seen from the south side

South side of the station building with track field

The station building has a largely symmetrical floor plan centred on an axis extending from the southern end of Bahnhofstraße. The platforms are on the south side of the building. East of the station building is the bus station. The tracks and the street of Jahnstraße to its south are spanned by a footbridge. This was rebuilt during the line’s electrification. The station has three platform tracks. Track 1 is located next to the station building and tracks 2 and 3 are on a central platform. South of the tracks is a timber roundhouse, including a turntable. The roundhouse, which, with its stalls for two locomotives, is used by Eisenbahnfreunde Kraichgau (railway friends of the Kraichgau) as its club house, stood in Meckenheim until 1947.^[7]

Rail services

In 2015, Sinsheim Hauptbahnhof is served by Regional-Express service RE2 (Mannheim–Heilbronn) every two hours. On weekends, occasional services of Regionalbahn service RB 10 run on the Mannheim–Stuttgart route. Every half-hour there is a service of line S5 of the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn (Heidelberg–Eppingen). There are hourly services of S42 of the Heilbronn Stadtbahn between Sinsheim and Heilbronn Hauptbahnhof/Willy-Brandt-Platz.

All services except S42 are usually operated with class 425 electric multiple units. Individual services of the Mannheim–Heilbronn route are operated as push-pull trains propelled by class 111 locomotives and five Silberling carriages. Line S42 is operated with two-car Flexity Swift sets.

The main station is next to a bus station, which is served by bus lines 741, 761, 763, 765, 767, 768, 771, 772, 795, 796 and 797 of the PalatinaBus company, which connect to the town of Sinsheim.^[8][9] Shuttle buses to the Rhein-Neckar Arena football stadium, where TSG 1899 Hoffenheim plays its home games, also operate from the bus station.^[10]

Notes

1. "Stationspreisliste 2016" [Station price list 2016] (PDF) (in German). DB Station&Service. 1 December 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
2. "Bahnhofsgebäude, Baujahr 1868" (in German). City of Sinsheim. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
3. "Neues Leben im Bahnhof Sinsheim" (PDF) (in German). Dombrowski Massivhaus. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
4. "Neues Leben im Bahnhof Sinsheim" (in German). Dombrowski Massivhaus. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
5. "Schienenersatzverkehr (Sinsheim –) Bad Rappenau – Neckarsulm" (PDF) (in German). Deutsche Bahn. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
6. "Noch 127 Tage bis zum Start der Stadtbahn". Rhein-Neckar Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 21 April 2016.
7. "Vereinsheim Lokschuppen" (in German). Eisenbahnfreunde Kraichgau e.V. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
8. "Liniennetz Waibstadt" (in German). Palatinabus. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
9. "Palatina Bus gewinnt Vergabe für Linienbündel Sinsheim Süd" (in German). Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar GmbH. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
10. "Mit den Öffentlichen zum Hoffenheim-Spiel" (in German). Rhein-Neckar blog. Retrieved 15 June 2012.