Montabaur station

Montabaur station is a station at the 89.1 kilometre point of the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed railway and on the Limburg–Siershahn railway (Lower Westerwald Railway) in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The station, which is served by regional and long-distance passenger services and freight traffic, is on the outskirts of the town of Montabaur. It is aligned parallel with Autobahn 3 (A3), which runs immediately to the north.

The construction costs amounted to €23.6 million.

Station infrastructure


The new line runs through the area of the station on a roughly 15 metre-high embankment. The station's tracks are divided into an area for high-speed line operations (with the German operating points code of FMT) and an area serving regional operations on the Lower Westerwald Railway (operating points abbreviation FMTN). There is only an indirect connection between the two parts: the eastern catch point from the northern Intercity-Express (ICE) platform track (4), has a connection to platform track 5 (the regional platform); this involves a reversal.

Five tracks are available for passenger transport. Next to track 1 and between tracks 4 and 5, there are two 405 m long and 76 cm high platforms, which both have a 200-metre-long section under cover. The platform face on track 5 is divided into platform 5a to the west and 5b to the east, with mid-platform exit tracks that cross, permitting trains to run in both directions. Track 5 is used exclusively by regional trains and tracks 1–4 are only used by ICEs. Tracks 2 and 3 are the main tracks used by non-stopping trains on the high-speed line. In addition, there are seven tracks available for freight.

The tracks are elevated and are crossed by an underpass between the platforms. A two-storey station building was built at the side facing towards the town. The main entrance to the station on the southern side is accessed by a staircase and a lift, while the passage to the northern entrance hall is at ground level. Information and emergency call boxes are installed at both entrances.

The circulatory area houses a Deutsche Bahn travel centre with two ticket offices, toilets, a waiting room and lockers. In other commercial areas there is a snackbar, a drugstore, a barbershop and an ATM of the Sparkasse Westerwald (savings bank). In addition, there is the so-called Schaufenster der Region ("showcase of the region") with presentations of local companies and an information office of the town. A total of 700 m² was created for marketing areas. The station hall and the station forecourt are covered by a Wi-Fi hotspot.

An underpass is connected by two escalators, stairs and a lift to give access to both platforms. There is also a telephone box for information and emergencies as well as seating. The platform for tracks 4 and 5 features a lounge for platform service employees. The station basement also houses a Federal Police station, located behind the main staircase. The station building is closed at night from 0:45 to 4:10.

Montabaur station is one of four stations in Germany, along with Limburg Süd, also located on the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed railway, and Allersberg (Rothsee) and Kinding (Altmühltal) on the Nuremberg–Munich high-speed railway, which are planned to be passed at 300 km/h.

West of the station, at kilometer 87.1, is the eastern end of the Dernbach tunnel, and to the east of the station is the Himmelberg tunnel.

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Operations
The 2007 timetable (commencing on 10 December 2006) included around 80 trains stopping in Montabaur on each working day:
 * 15 trains operate on weekdays from platform 1 towards Frankfurt (Frankfurt Airport and Frankfurt Central Station). The travel time over the approximately 80 to 90 km of line is about 30 to 40 minutes.
 * Two daily trains also run to Wiesbaden (77 km) from platform 1 in 30 minutes.
 * 22 trains run from platform 4 towards Cologne. Most ICEs require about 30 to 40 minutes to cover the approximately 90 km of track.
 * Trains are operated by DreiLänderBahn from platform 5a to Limburg (Lahn) station in about 45 minutes.  Twelve pairs of trains operate each way on weekdays and six pairs operate on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
 * The DreiLänderBahn trains take about 17 minutes to run in the opposite direction to Siershahn from platform 5b.

The ICE services (38 trains on weekdays) take nine minutes to cover the 21.4 rail km to Limburg Süd station. Critics call this connection, which is authorised to operate at speeds of up to 300 km/h, the "fastest S-Bahn in the world".

The station is conveniently located near the Montabaur junction (No. 40) of autobahn 3. 350 park-and-ride parking spaces were available at its opening. This number had grown to 900 by August 2006 and another 130 paid parking spaces are under the bus station.

Three taxi stands have been established at the station. 15 bus routes operate from the adjacent bus station, including a free passenger shuttle bus for the ICE services, which runs to about two km south of the district town centre.

Rail infrastructure
The tracks run on an embankment at a height of 14 metres in an east-west direction, parallel to the A 3, which runs immediately to the north. The through tracks, 2 and 3, run on slab track with UIC-60 (60 kg/m) rails. The three platform tracks and the freight tracks, however, run on ballast. All four long-distance tracks (1–4) are equipped with the Linienzugbeeinflussung automatic train protection system.

East and west of the station are sets of points leading to the platform tracks. Operations over the points toward the platform tracks can be run at 100 km/h. The main through tracks are protected by catch points against side-on collisions from trains running from the platform tracks.

Near the station is one of five electric sub-stations on the high-speed line as well as a sub-centre of the electronic interlocking system, which is controlled by the electronic control centre in Frankfurt am Main. The sub-centre controls the high-speed line from the Idstein crossover to the approach to Siegburg/Bonn station and monitors and controls the Limburg-Staffel–Siershahn railway in the vicinity of Montabaur station. Transfer of control of the whole Limburg-Staffel–Siershahn line to the interlocking is planned.

Criticism
The stations of Limburg Süd and Montabaur, which are approximately 20 km apart, have been criticised in the past as being the result of political blackmail. After Limburg Süd station had already been agreed in the late 1980s, Rhineland-Palatinate had demanded a station in Montabaur before it would allow a smooth approval process for the new line. Federalism in Germany grants the states of Germany mostly powers to delay federal infrastructure projects but few powers to build infrastructure on their own, so the state arguably had little other recourse to force the federal government to construct an ICE station in their state.