Babenhausen station

Babenhausen (officially: Babenhausen (Hess)) station is a junction station at the intersection of the Rhine-Main Railway (Rhine-Main-Bahn) and the Odenwald Railway (Odenwaldbahn) in the town of Babenhausen in the German state of Hesse.

History
The station was built for the Rhine-Main Railway and put into operation on 25 December 1858. In 1868, the first section of the Odenwald Railway was opened to Groß-Umstadt. In 1876, the three-storey station building was erected, which still stands today. It was built in light-coloured sandstone. In 1904, a small restaurant was opened. The station building is listed as a monument under the Hessian Heritage Act.

In the 1920s, work began on rebuilding the station to deal with increasing traffic. The tracks were raised 5 metres and the level crossings over Aschaffenburger and Darmstadter Straße were closed. An underpass was built immediately next to the station building for today’s federal highway B 26. This work was completed in 1928/1929. In 1944, the railways was damaged several times in air raids.

In 1960, the Rhine-Main Railway was electrified. In 1968, a signalling centre was opened to the south of the tracks. In 2003, the ticket office was closed and shortly afterwards the restaurant and kiosk were also closed. The station building was sold in 2004 and has changed hands several times since. In 2009, the former ticket office was converted into a kiosk and now magazines, drinks and snacks are available there.

Infrastructure
Trains on the Rhine-Main Railway in normal service use the northern tracks in the station. The station is used to allow scheduled trains to pass on the normally single-track Odenwald Railway. The platform tracks are located on two islands located between the tracks and access to the platforms is only possible via an underpass. At the eastern end of the station the track of the Odenwald Railway to Hanau crosses the Rhine-Main Railway over a grade-separated crossing. For trains running to Dieburg there are additional passing loops, which are used for the overtaking of freight trains.

In the north-eastern part of the station there is a freight yard, which used to be a major yard. It formerly had considerable importance for U.S. Army units stationed there, but it is now only used to a limited extent, including for the loading of timber. The track that ran to the yard from the Hanau direction was closed in 2007.

Rail
The Rhine-Main Railway and the Odenwald Railway cross in Babenhausen. The following services stop here:

In general, there are good interchanges between trains every hour.

Buses
Babenhausen is also a major hub of regional bus services:


 * Linie K 53: Babenhausen – Schaafheim – Ringheim - Großostheim – Aschaffenburg
 * Linie K 54: Babenhausen – Schaafheim – Radheim - Mosbach – Wenigumstadt – Pflaumheim – Großostheim – Aschaffenburg
 * Linie K 65: Babenhausen – Hergershausen – Langstadt – Schaafheim
 * Linie K 66: Babenhausen – VDO – Jürgen-Schumann-Straße
 * Linie K 86: Babenhausen – Harreshausen – VDO – Rodgau-Dudenhofen (connection to Rhine-Main S-Bahn line S 2))
 * Linie 677: Darmstadt – Dieburg – Altheim – Babenhausen – Stockstadt/Main – Aschaffenburg (late night only; replacement for RB 75 on the Rhine-Main Railway)

Development plans
At the moment the station is in a neglected state. The station building is partly empty and the underpass is in need of renovation. An underpass under the B 26 and the construction of a park and ride facility is under discussion.