Hof Hauptbahnhof
Encyclopedia
Hof Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in Hof
in southern Germany
and is situated at the intersection of the Saxon-Franconian trunk line
(Magistrale) and the Munich
–Regensburg
–Leipzig
–Berlin
line. When it was opened it formed the boundary between the former Bavarian Ludwig South-North Railway
Lindau–Hof
to the Saxon-Bavarian Railway on the Saxon side from Hof–Leipzig.
Today the Deutsche Bahn
has classified Hof Hauptbahnhof as category
3 – a regional hub/long-distance stop.
, Bamberg–Hof
and Leipzig–Hof main lines all meet at Hof Hauptbahnhof, as does the Hof–Bad Steben
branch line. Long-distance services from Nuremberg via Hof to Dresden are also referred to as the Franconia-Saxony trunk line (Franken-Sachsen-Magistrale).
(K.Bay.Sts.B.) and the Royal Saxon State Railways
(K.Sächs.Sts.E.B.). The new Hauptbahnhof was connected to the city centre through the new Hof tramway system, which appeared in 1901. Today buses have replaced the trams. The station comprised two halves, each of which had all the necessary operating facilities (locomotive shed, coal
bunkers, locomotive depot (Betriebswerk), storage sidings, etc.). The southern side belonged to the Royal Bavarian State Railways; the northern half to the Royal Saxon State Railways.
The station building was designed in 1856 by the architect, Georg Friedrich Seidel (1823–1895), for the Royal Bavarian State Railways and was, like the entire station, laid out perfectly symmetrically. The border between the two railway administrations ran exactly through the middle of the station building, along the axis of symmetry. In this building there was a magnificent royal waiting room (Königssaal).
The symmetry of the station was given up on the founding of the Deutsche Reichsbahn
. The superfluous and duplicated buildings were knocked down over time or used for other purposes. Above the entrance on the station forecourt and in the main hall on the track side the royal coats of arms of Bavaria and Saxony are still to be found today. The royal waiting room has been fully preserved and restored. It belongs today to the station restaurant and is used for events and festivals.
Semaphore signals could still be seen in Hof Hauptbahnhof until 1974. On 22 September 1974 a new signal box went into service next to the station building. It was equipped with a modern relay interlocking system of the Siemens Sp Dr S 60 type with 2 train dispatcher
s (Fahrdienstleiter - Fdl Nord and Fdl Süd) and colour light signals. The signalling installations controlled from Hof include the Hauptbahnhof itself and the adjoining routes to Feilitzsch
, Oberkotzau
and Hof-Neuhof, as well as the stations of Hof-Neuhof and Oberkotzau (the latter only at night). The old signal box was largely knocked down. The old 'Signal Box 8' at the northern station approach (by the Kuhbogen bridge) is today the home of the Hof Model Railway Club (Modelleisenbahnhclubs MEC Hof).
Hof Hauptbahnhof is located between two bridges over the river Saale
. To the south the Moschendorf bridge crosses the river between Oberkotzau
and Hof in the district of Moschendorf; to the north the line switches from one side of the river to the other in the district of Unterkotzau at the Unterkotzau bridge between Hof and Feilitzsch
.
On the formation of the Deutsche Reichsbahn
this expense became unnecessary. During that time, however, Hof became an important hub within the railway network between Dresden
, Leipzig
, Nürnberg, Bamberg, Regensburg
and Pilsen and for regional traffic. This was due to the fact that several main lines converged here: the lines to Bamberg
(Ludwig South-North Railway
or Bamberg–Hof railway
), Marktredwitz
(Hof-Regensburg railway), Plauen
(Saxon-Bavarian Railway) and Cheb
(Eger) (Cheb–Oberkotzau railway
–Hof) as well as branches into the surrounding area. During that period long-distance trains called regularly at Hof.
After the Second World War Hof was cut off to the north and east by the Iron Curtain
and returned to being just the junction between two railway administrations. The Höllen Valley railway (Höllentalbahn
) was closed and eventually lifted, the line from Hof to Eger only used for goods traffic, and one of the two tracks on the Hof-Plauen railway was dismantled for war reparations
. All Deutsche Bundesbahn
(DB) trains (with the exception of the inter-zonal trains
from Regensburg/Munich
and Nuremberg to Leipzig and Dresden and the transit trains to Berlin
) began and ended in Hof. Locomotives on the interzonal and transit trains were exchanged in Hof. Trains to the German Democratic Republic
(GDR) were hauled by Deutsche Reichsbahn locomotives, whilst trains from the GDR were hauled by DB trains. Despite that there were no border controls at Hof; that took place on the train or at the border station of Gutenfürst.
When the GDR began to collapse in 1989 (the time of the so-called Wende
or political change) trains with refugees from the German embassy in Prague
arrived at Hof and were greeted there by German politicians.
After the Wende the importance of Hof Hauptbahnhof for railway traffic initially rose once more. The Hof–Plauen railway was rebuilt with two tracks again. In 1991 a rapid regional link was in operation between Hof and Nuremberg using tilting trains of Class 610
, which were also heavily used by passengers changing from Saxony and Thuringia. Interregio
connexions between Stuttgart and Dresden (via Nuremberg, Hof and Chemnitz, the Saxon-Franconian trunk line
) as well as Munich and Berlin (via Regensburg, Hof and Leipzig) were introduced and the pair of night trains from Munich to Berlin and Stuttgart to Dresden met daily in both directions at Hof and exchanged through coaches. In 2001 Hof was even an ICE stop after the link from Nuremberg to Dresden was upgraded to an ICE route with ICE-TD units. Thereafter the significance of Hof for rail traffic gradually receded again. After the withdrawal of the ICE-TD trains the Nuremberg–Dresden line was downgraded initially to an InterCity
route again, using Class 612
trains. In 2006 however these were replaced by regional trains that plied between Nuremberg and Hof as well as Hof and Dresden and forced passengers to change at Hof. Likewise, the Interregio line, Munich-Berlin, was reduced to a regional service (with changes at Regensburg, Hof and Leipzig, and frequent stops), which actually led to a growth in passenger traffic on the ICE line Munich-Nuremberg–Bamberg–Leipzig–Berlin, but meant long waits for passengers in north-east Bavaria, because to get to Munich or Berlin a longer journey to Nuremberg or Bamberg was now needed. Meanwhile a regional through express runs every three hours between Hof and Munich. Similarly, on the introduction of a shut-down of operations on the Marktredwitz–Regensburg route, the crossing point of the Munich–Berlin and Stuttgart–Dresden night train pairs was moved to Nuremberg.
Since the switch from an Intercity link to an Interregioexpress service, the journey time on the Nuremberg–Hof–Dresden route has been reduced by 39 minutes, even though Hof is now no longer officially a long-distance stop.
with its former marshalling yard. The marshalling yard was heavily used until the 1990s and also served the industrial lines of several firms based there (including haulage firms, a mineral oil
dealers with its own tank facilities and a scrap merchants). On the eastern side of the station, between the passenger station and the Saxon (northern) locomotive depot or Betriebswerk, is the railway post office hall, in which the post trains were made ready for dispatch. In addition, on the northern edge of the neighbouring station of Oberkotzau
there was a small shunting yard with five tracks, the remains of another former marshalling yard which, until the mid-1920s, was linked with the goods station in Hof by a third track between Hof and Oberkotzau. After being closed for several years, a Hof haulage contractor opened a container station in about 2000 in the Hof goods station, which has been expanded several times. In the goods station today there are still twelve tracks, a hump at the northern end and a headshunt
at the southern end, from which shunting is carried out. The marshalling sidings at Oberkotzau station, by contrast, were removed in 2000. Likewise, in the 1990s, the railway post hall was closed. Today only a branch of the Deutsche Post
, between the former railway post hall and the passenger station, remains in operation - a relict of the railway postal services.
was united with the southern, Bavarian, one. At the end of the steam age the southern facilities of the depot were knocked down and replaced by new ones. This successor to the Bavarian depot has been further modernised and extended over the decades, and is still in operation today. The Saxon facilities, by contrast, were closed in the 1970s and largely broken up after that. Only the former locomotive shed 3 has been preserved. It has been used for years as a bus garage.
Until the 1990s, classes 211 (V 100)
and 798 (railbus)
were stabled here at Hof and, later, the Class 628
as well. After that, it increasingly lost its importance and was even threatened with closure at times.
After modernisation, at a cost of €4M, and expansion during 2000 and 2001 as the depot for the tilting trains of classes 612 and 605 (the latter until its withdrawal in December 2003), the future of the depot was secured. Today the Betriebswerk is the main base for DB Regio Oberfranken
and the home for 45 Class 612 and 27 Class 628 units (as at 2007).
A major accident occurred at Betriebswerk Hof on 2 September 2001. The ICE-TD unit, number 605 009, fell from the lifting platform (Hebebühne) and was badly damaged. The vehicle was initially kept for spare parts but, after the withdrawal of Class 605, it was taken away to Chemnitz
for scrapping on the night of 18/19 April 2004 on a low loader.
Hof does not have the normal platform numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Instead the platforms are numbered 1a (southern stub track on the home platform), 1b (northern stub track on the home platform), 2 (home platform), 4 and 6 (second pair of platforms), and 8 and 10 (third pair). Even on the through platforms, the southern sections are indicated with an "a", and the northern sections with a "b" (2a/b, etc.). The missing numbers are, or were, allocated to operating tracks not used by scheduled passenger services.
and Saxon-Bavarian Railway. It was situated near Hof city centre and was thus laid out as a terminal station
. In the face of rising demand for a border station between Bavaria and Saxony, the old station rapidly proved inadequate. In 1880 it was replaced by the new Hauptbahnhof and closed.
The old station building stood on the site of the present-day town post office on Dr.-Konrad-Adenauer-Platz (lately Postplatz, formerly Bahnhofsplatz). The post office at first used the station building of the old station. At the start of the 20th century the station building was replaced by a new post office block, that still exists today. Directly behind the post office – on Hallplatz – is another large section of the original Einsteighalle (boarding hall) of the old station. Over the course of time the hall was slightly shortened. It serves today as a storage hall for vehicles of the volunteer fire service in Hof, the Freiwillige Feuerwehr Hof. In the yard of the former station on the edge of Hof's city centre there are still one or two former goods sheds. On the site of the first station the name of the restaurant, Alter Bahnhof opposite the post office recalls the existence of the old station as do plaques on the post office building and the Einsteighalle.
Hof, Germany
Hof is a city located on the banks of the Saale in the northeastern corner of the German state of Bavaria, in the Franconia region, at the Czech border and the forested Fichtelgebirge and Frankenwald upland regions....
in southern Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and is situated at the intersection of the Saxon-Franconian trunk line
Saxon-Franconian trunk line
Saxon-Franconian trunk line is a modern term for a double-track railway between the German cities of Dresden to Nuremberg. The line is 390 kilometres long and is currently electrified from Dresden to Reichenbach im Vogtland...
(Magistrale) and the Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
–Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
–Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
–Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
line. When it was opened it formed the boundary between the former Bavarian Ludwig South-North Railway
Ludwig South-North Railway
The Ludwig South-North railway , built between 1843 and 1854, was the first railway line to be constructed by Royal Bavarian State Railways...
Lindau–Hof
Hof, Germany
Hof is a city located on the banks of the Saale in the northeastern corner of the German state of Bavaria, in the Franconia region, at the Czech border and the forested Fichtelgebirge and Frankenwald upland regions....
to the Saxon-Bavarian Railway on the Saxon side from Hof–Leipzig.
Today the Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
has classified Hof Hauptbahnhof as category
German railway station categories
About 5,400 railway stations in Germany that are owned and operated by the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Station&Service are assigned into seven categories, denoting the service level available at the station....
3 – a regional hub/long-distance stop.
Lines
The Regensburg–HofRegensburg–Hof railway
The Regensburg–Hof railway is a main line railway about 180 km long which links the Upper Palatine regional capital of Regensburg via Schwandorf and Weiden in der Oberpfalz to Marktredwitz and Hof in Upper Franconia. Because the section from Regensburg to Wiesau runs parallel to the River...
, Bamberg–Hof
Bamberg–Hof railway
The Bamberg–Hof railway is a 127 kilometre-long main line that runs through Bavaria in southern Germany. The line runs from Bamberg via Lichetenfels, Kulmbach, Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg and Münchberg to Hof. The section from Hof to Neuenmarkt now forms part of the Saxon-Franconian trunk line.-History:The...
and Leipzig–Hof main lines all meet at Hof Hauptbahnhof, as does the Hof–Bad Steben
Hof–Bad Steben railway
The Hof–Bad Steben railway runs from Hof through the Franconian Forest to the Bavarian state spa town Bad Steben in southern Germany. The line was opened in two stages between 1887 and 1898.- Opening and history :...
branch line. Long-distance services from Nuremberg via Hof to Dresden are also referred to as the Franconia-Saxony trunk line (Franken-Sachsen-Magistrale).
History
After the old Hof station north of the city centre was no longer able to handle the growth in traffic, the Bavarian and Saxon railway administrations built a common, large-scale, through station between 1874 and 1880 west of the city, which was both the boundary and border station between the Royal Bavarian State RailwaysRoyal Bavarian State Railways
As a nation-state, Germany did not come into being until the creation of the German Empire in 1871 from the various German-speaking states such as Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Baden and Württemberg. By then each of the major states had formed its own state railway and these continued to remain...
(K.Bay.Sts.B.) and the Royal Saxon State Railways
Royal Saxon State Railways
The Royal Saxon State Railways were the state-owned railways operating in the Kingdom of Saxony from 1869 to 1918...
(K.Sächs.Sts.E.B.). The new Hauptbahnhof was connected to the city centre through the new Hof tramway system, which appeared in 1901. Today buses have replaced the trams. The station comprised two halves, each of which had all the necessary operating facilities (locomotive shed, coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
bunkers, locomotive depot (Betriebswerk), storage sidings, etc.). The southern side belonged to the Royal Bavarian State Railways; the northern half to the Royal Saxon State Railways.
The station building was designed in 1856 by the architect, Georg Friedrich Seidel (1823–1895), for the Royal Bavarian State Railways and was, like the entire station, laid out perfectly symmetrically. The border between the two railway administrations ran exactly through the middle of the station building, along the axis of symmetry. In this building there was a magnificent royal waiting room (Königssaal).
The symmetry of the station was given up on the founding of the Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn was the name of the following two companies:* Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German Imperial Railways during the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the immediate aftermath...
. The superfluous and duplicated buildings were knocked down over time or used for other purposes. Above the entrance on the station forecourt and in the main hall on the track side the royal coats of arms of Bavaria and Saxony are still to be found today. The royal waiting room has been fully preserved and restored. It belongs today to the station restaurant and is used for events and festivals.
Train dispatcher
A train dispatcher is employed by a railroad to direct and facilitate the movement of trains over an assigned territory, which is usually part, or all, of a railroad operating division. In Canada the train dispatcher is known as the rail traffic controller...
s (Fahrdienstleiter - Fdl Nord and Fdl Süd) and colour light signals. The signalling installations controlled from Hof include the Hauptbahnhof itself and the adjoining routes to Feilitzsch
Feilitzsch
Feilitzsch is a municipality in Upper Franconia in the district of Hof in Bavaria in Germany....
, Oberkotzau
Oberkotzau
Oberkotzau is a municipality in Upper Franconia in the district of Hof in Bavaria in Germany....
and Hof-Neuhof, as well as the stations of Hof-Neuhof and Oberkotzau (the latter only at night). The old signal box was largely knocked down. The old 'Signal Box 8' at the northern station approach (by the Kuhbogen bridge) is today the home of the Hof Model Railway Club (Modelleisenbahnhclubs MEC Hof).
Hof Hauptbahnhof is located between two bridges over the river Saale
Saale
The Saale, also known as the Saxon Saale and Thuringian Saale , is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the Main, or the Saale in Lower Saxony, a tributary of the Leine.-Course:The Saale...
. To the south the Moschendorf bridge crosses the river between Oberkotzau
Oberkotzau
Oberkotzau is a municipality in Upper Franconia in the district of Hof in Bavaria in Germany....
and Hof in the district of Moschendorf; to the north the line switches from one side of the river to the other in the district of Unterkotzau at the Unterkotzau bridge between Hof and Feilitzsch
Feilitzsch
Feilitzsch is a municipality in Upper Franconia in the district of Hof in Bavaria in Germany....
.
Importance within German rail transport
The importance of Hof Hauptbahnhof to the German railway system has varied significantly during its history.To 1945
During the state railway ((Länderbahn) era, Hof was the intersection of the Bavarian and Saxon state railways, as mentioned above, which required frequent locomotive changes at Hof with the corresponding cost in staff and materiel as well as two separate groups of operating facilities.On the formation of the Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn was the name of the following two companies:* Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German Imperial Railways during the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the immediate aftermath...
this expense became unnecessary. During that time, however, Hof became an important hub within the railway network between Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Nürnberg, Bamberg, Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
and Pilsen and for regional traffic. This was due to the fact that several main lines converged here: the lines to Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...
(Ludwig South-North Railway
Ludwig South-North Railway
The Ludwig South-North railway , built between 1843 and 1854, was the first railway line to be constructed by Royal Bavarian State Railways...
or Bamberg–Hof railway
Bamberg–Hof railway
The Bamberg–Hof railway is a 127 kilometre-long main line that runs through Bavaria in southern Germany. The line runs from Bamberg via Lichetenfels, Kulmbach, Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg and Münchberg to Hof. The section from Hof to Neuenmarkt now forms part of the Saxon-Franconian trunk line.-History:The...
), Marktredwitz
Marktredwitz
Marktredwitz is a municipality in the district of Wunsiedel, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 22 km west of Cheb, 50 km east of Bayreuth and 50 km south of Hof/Saale.The town celebrated the Horticultural Show 2006 in cooperation with Cheb....
(Hof-Regensburg railway), Plauen
Plauen
Plauen is a town in the Free State of Saxony, east-central Germany.It is the capital of the Vogtlandkreis. The town is situated near the border of Bavaria and the Czech Republic.Plauen's slogan is Plauen - echt Spitze.-History:...
(Saxon-Bavarian Railway) and Cheb
Cheb
Cheb is a city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic, with about 33,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the river Ohře , at the foot of one of the spurs of the Smrčiny and near the border with Germany...
(Eger) (Cheb–Oberkotzau railway
Cheb–Oberkotzau railway
The Cheb–Oberkotzau railway is a railway line in Bavaria, Germany, and the Czech Republic which was built as a main line. It begins in Cheb and runs via Františkovy Lázně , Aš and Selb to Oberkotzau...
–Hof) as well as branches into the surrounding area. During that period long-distance trains called regularly at Hof.
Passenger traffic since 1945
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
and returned to being just the junction between two railway administrations. The Höllen Valley railway (Höllentalbahn
Triptis–Marxgrün railway
The Triptis–Marxgrün railway is a branch line in Germany that runs through the states of Thuringia and Bavaria, and which was originally built and operated by the Prussian state railways. It ran from Triptis via Ziegenrück, Bad Lobenstein and Blankenstein to Marxgrün. The only section still in...
) was closed and eventually lifted, the line from Hof to Eger only used for goods traffic, and one of the two tracks on the Hof-Plauen railway was dismantled for war reparations
War reparations
War reparations are payments intended to cover damage or injury during a war. Generally, the term war reparations refers to money or goods changing hands, rather than such property transfers as the annexation of land.- History :...
. All Deutsche Bundesbahn
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
(DB) trains (with the exception of the inter-zonal trains
Interzonal traffic
The term inter-zonal traffic was used to describe the cross-border traffic between the four designated garrison zones in Germany between 1945 and 1973 that were created in 1945 by the victors of the Second World War.- History :...
from Regensburg/Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and Nuremberg to Leipzig and Dresden and the transit trains to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
) began and ended in Hof. Locomotives on the interzonal and transit trains were exchanged in Hof. Trains to the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(GDR) were hauled by Deutsche Reichsbahn locomotives, whilst trains from the GDR were hauled by DB trains. Despite that there were no border controls at Hof; that took place on the train or at the border station of Gutenfürst.
When the GDR began to collapse in 1989 (the time of the so-called Wende
Die Wende
marks the complete process of the change from socialism and planned economy to market economy and capitalism in East Germany around the years 1989 and 1990. It encompasses several processes and events which later have become synonymous with the overall process...
or political change) trains with refugees from the German embassy in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
arrived at Hof and were greeted there by German politicians.
After the Wende the importance of Hof Hauptbahnhof for railway traffic initially rose once more. The Hof–Plauen railway was rebuilt with two tracks again. In 1991 a rapid regional link was in operation between Hof and Nuremberg using tilting trains of Class 610
DB Class 610
The DB Class 610 is a Diesel Multiple Unit train type operated by the Deutsche Bahn in Germany. They were built from 1991 to 1992 by MAN and DUEWAG. The class has a tilting system and was inspired by Italian Pendolino trains.-General Information:...
, which were also heavily used by passengers changing from Saxony and Thuringia. Interregio
InterRegio
The InterRegio is a train service seen in some European countries. Mostly they are trains that run "from region to region", as best described by Swiss Federal Railways.-Switzerland:...
connexions between Stuttgart and Dresden (via Nuremberg, Hof and Chemnitz, the Saxon-Franconian trunk line
Saxon-Franconian trunk line
Saxon-Franconian trunk line is a modern term for a double-track railway between the German cities of Dresden to Nuremberg. The line is 390 kilometres long and is currently electrified from Dresden to Reichenbach im Vogtland...
) as well as Munich and Berlin (via Regensburg, Hof and Leipzig) were introduced and the pair of night trains from Munich to Berlin and Stuttgart to Dresden met daily in both directions at Hof and exchanged through coaches. In 2001 Hof was even an ICE stop after the link from Nuremberg to Dresden was upgraded to an ICE route with ICE-TD units. Thereafter the significance of Hof for rail traffic gradually receded again. After the withdrawal of the ICE-TD trains the Nuremberg–Dresden line was downgraded initially to an InterCity
Intercity (Deutsche Bahn)
Intercity is the second-highest train classification in Germany, after the ICE. Intercity services are loco-hauled express services, usually over long-distances. There are Intercity routes throughout Germany, and routes generally operate with a two-hour frequency, with multiple routes giving a more...
route again, using Class 612
DBAG Class 612
The DBAG Class 612 is a two car, diesel multiple unit operated by the Deutsche Bahn for fast regional rail services on unelectrified lines.-General Information:...
trains. In 2006 however these were replaced by regional trains that plied between Nuremberg and Hof as well as Hof and Dresden and forced passengers to change at Hof. Likewise, the Interregio line, Munich-Berlin, was reduced to a regional service (with changes at Regensburg, Hof and Leipzig, and frequent stops), which actually led to a growth in passenger traffic on the ICE line Munich-Nuremberg–Bamberg–Leipzig–Berlin, but meant long waits for passengers in north-east Bavaria, because to get to Munich or Berlin a longer journey to Nuremberg or Bamberg was now needed. Meanwhile a regional through express runs every three hours between Hof and Munich. Similarly, on the introduction of a shut-down of operations on the Marktredwitz–Regensburg route, the crossing point of the Munich–Berlin and Stuttgart–Dresden night train pairs was moved to Nuremberg.
Since the switch from an Intercity link to an Interregioexpress service, the journey time on the Nuremberg–Hof–Dresden route has been reduced by 39 minutes, even though Hof is now no longer officially a long-distance stop.
Goods traffic
On the western side of the station is the goods stationGoods station
A goods station is, in the widest sense, a railway station which is exclusively or predominantly where goods of any description are loaded or unloaded from ships or road vehicles and/or where goods wagons are transferred to local sidings.A station where goods are not specifically received or...
with its former marshalling yard. The marshalling yard was heavily used until the 1990s and also served the industrial lines of several firms based there (including haulage firms, a mineral oil
Mineral oil
A mineral oil is any of various colorless, odorless, light mixtures of alkanes in the C15 to C40 range from a non-vegetable source, particularly a distillate of petroleum....
dealers with its own tank facilities and a scrap merchants). On the eastern side of the station, between the passenger station and the Saxon (northern) locomotive depot or Betriebswerk, is the railway post office hall, in which the post trains were made ready for dispatch. In addition, on the northern edge of the neighbouring station of Oberkotzau
Oberkotzau
Oberkotzau is a municipality in Upper Franconia in the district of Hof in Bavaria in Germany....
there was a small shunting yard with five tracks, the remains of another former marshalling yard which, until the mid-1920s, was linked with the goods station in Hof by a third track between Hof and Oberkotzau. After being closed for several years, a Hof haulage contractor opened a container station in about 2000 in the Hof goods station, which has been expanded several times. In the goods station today there are still twelve tracks, a hump at the northern end and a headshunt
Headshunt
A headshunt is a short length of track, provided to release locomotives at terminal platforms, or to allow shunting to take place clear of main lines.- Terminal Headshunts :...
at the southern end, from which shunting is carried out. The marshalling sidings at Oberkotzau station, by contrast, were removed in 2000. Likewise, in the 1990s, the railway post hall was closed. Today only a branch of the Deutsche Post
Deutsche Post
Deutsche Post AG, operating under the trade name Deutsche Post DHL, is the world's largest logistics group. With its headquarters in Bonn, the corporation has 467,088 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide and generated revenue of € 51.48 billion in 2010...
, between the former railway post hall and the passenger station, remains in operation - a relict of the railway postal services.
Bahnbetriebswerk Hof
After the end of the Länderbahn era, the northern, Saxon BetriebswerkBahnbetriebswerk
A Bahnbetriebswerk is the equivalent of a locomotive depot on the German and Austrian railways. It is an installation that carries out the maintenance, minor repairs, refuelling and cleaning of locomotives and other motive power. In addition it organises the deployment of locomotives and crews...
was united with the southern, Bavarian, one. At the end of the steam age the southern facilities of the depot were knocked down and replaced by new ones. This successor to the Bavarian depot has been further modernised and extended over the decades, and is still in operation today. The Saxon facilities, by contrast, were closed in the 1970s and largely broken up after that. Only the former locomotive shed 3 has been preserved. It has been used for years as a bus garage.
Until the 1990s, classes 211 (V 100)
DB Class V 100
These DB Class V 100 diesel locomotives were produced in the late 1950s by the Deutsche Bundesbahn for non-electrified branch lines as a replacement for steam locomotives...
and 798 (railbus)
Uerdingen railbus
The Uerdingen railbus is the common term for the multiple units which were developed by the German firm of Waggonfabrik Uerdingen for the Deutsche Bundesbahn and private railways after the Second World War. These vehicles were diesel-powered, twin-axle railbuses of light construction...
were stabled here at Hof and, later, the Class 628
DB Class 628
The DB Class 628 is a twin-car, diesel multiple unit operated by the Deutsche Bahn AG for local passenger rail services.- Design :...
as well. After that, it increasingly lost its importance and was even threatened with closure at times.
After modernisation, at a cost of €4M, and expansion during 2000 and 2001 as the depot for the tilting trains of classes 612 and 605 (the latter until its withdrawal in December 2003), the future of the depot was secured. Today the Betriebswerk is the main base for DB Regio Oberfranken
DB Regio Oberfranken
DB Regio Oberfranken is a business area with the German national railway company, Deutsche Bahn, with its headquarters in Hof . It is responsible for the majority of regional and local railway services in the Bavarian province of Upper Franconia .- Trains :Because there are no electrified railways...
and the home for 45 Class 612 and 27 Class 628 units (as at 2007).
A major accident occurred at Betriebswerk Hof on 2 September 2001. The ICE-TD unit, number 605 009, fell from the lifting platform (Hebebühne) and was badly damaged. The vehicle was initially kept for spare parts but, after the withdrawal of Class 605, it was taken away to Chemnitz
Chemnitz
Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...
for scrapping on the night of 18/19 April 2004 on a low loader.
Track numbering in the Hauptbahnhof
The "Old Station"
Today, sections of the original Hof station have survived. The station was opened in 1848 as part of the Ludwig South-North RailwayLudwig South-North Railway
The Ludwig South-North railway , built between 1843 and 1854, was the first railway line to be constructed by Royal Bavarian State Railways...
and Saxon-Bavarian Railway. It was situated near Hof city centre and was thus laid out as a terminal station
Terminal Station
Terminal Station is a 1953 film by Italian director Vittorio De Sica. It tells the story of the love affair between an Italian man and an American woman. The film was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:...
. In the face of rising demand for a border station between Bavaria and Saxony, the old station rapidly proved inadequate. In 1880 it was replaced by the new Hauptbahnhof and closed.
The old station building stood on the site of the present-day town post office on Dr.-Konrad-Adenauer-Platz (lately Postplatz, formerly Bahnhofsplatz). The post office at first used the station building of the old station. At the start of the 20th century the station building was replaced by a new post office block, that still exists today. Directly behind the post office – on Hallplatz – is another large section of the original Einsteighalle (boarding hall) of the old station. Over the course of time the hall was slightly shortened. It serves today as a storage hall for vehicles of the volunteer fire service in Hof, the Freiwillige Feuerwehr Hof. In the yard of the former station on the edge of Hof's city centre there are still one or two former goods sheds. On the site of the first station the name of the restaurant, Alter Bahnhof opposite the post office recalls the existence of the old station as do plaques on the post office building and the Einsteighalle.
External links
- Virtual tour of the Hauptbahnhof
- There is a relevant English-language forum at Railways of Germany