Jena West station is to the west of the centre of the city of Jena

Jena

Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...

 in the German state of Thuringia

Thuringia

The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....

 at the 22.59 km mark (from Weimar station

Weimar station

Weimar station is the main station in the city of Weimar in the German state of Thuringia, located on the Thuringian Railway. It is an Intercity-Express stop on the line between Frankfurt am Main and Dresden. Weimar station is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 2 station. It is officially...

) of the Weimar–Gera railway between Weimar, Jena-Göschwitz station

Jena-Göschwitz station

Jena-Göschwitz station is a railway station in city of Jena in the German state of Thuringia. It is 152.21 metres above sea level and is located 32.22 km from Großheringen on the Saal Railway and 27.50 from Weimar station on the Weimar–Gera railway. It was opened and on 1 July 1876...

 and Gera Hauptbahnhof

Gera Hauptbahnhof

is the main station of the Thuringian town of Gera. Gera is one of the largest cities in Germany with no long-distance rail connections and no electrified lines. The station is a significant regional transport hub...

. This line is also called the Holzland Railway and it is part of the Mid-German Connection. The station is located in the suburb of Jena-Süd.

The station is 171.64 metres above sea level and was opened on 29 June 1876 simultaneously with the railway. It is classified by 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...

 as a category 3 station

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....

.

History

The original station building was opened with the line in 1876, but the building in its current form was built in 1878 by the Weimar-Gera Railway Company (Weimar-Geraer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft), apart from two changes described below. In 1908, the open staircase in the middle of the building was replaced by a new central building. In1981, the supervisory building was added on the platform side of the reception building. The station building was renovated in 2000 and attracted some retail outlets (shops selling magazines, flowers and model trains and several snack bars). The deportation of Jews

The Holocaust

The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...

, Sinti

Sinti

Sinti or Sinta or Sinte is the name of a Romani or Gypsy population in Europe. Traditionally nomadic, today only a small percentage of the group remains unsettled...

 and Romani during the Second World War is commemorated by a flower-decked plaque at the track-side entrance of the entrance building. In the second half of 2006 the platforms were repainted, new safety systems were installed and a passage was opened that connects platform track 2 with the Schott

Otto Schott

Friedrich Otto Schott was a German chemist, glass technologist, and the inventor of borosilicate glass. He was the son of a window glass maker, Simon Schott. From 1870 to 1873 Schott studied chemical technology at the technical college in Aachen and at the universities of Würzburg and Leipzig...

 glass works.

Since the operation of trains through the difficult terrain between Großschwabhausen and Jena West was difficult, especially in the early years of the Weimar–Gera line, it was necessary to use pusher locomotives to provide assistance. A shed was built at the station with accommodation for two pusher engines. Around 1926 the engine shed was closed down because the power of locomotives had increased significantly. It has since accommodated other activities, including a gymnasium. It is now used as a club and as the home of various cultural activities.

Freight facilities

In 1878 the first siding was established, which was followed by another one in 1889 and by one to Schott & Gen., now Jena Glass Company (JENAer Glas), in 1894. At first the freight had to transferred on a narrow-gauge track to the glass works, but it later converted into a standard gauge track. There was also a brewery connection, on which wagons (mostly carrying coal) were moved up to the terminal and were then transferred to a light railway with 600 mm gauge. This connection existed until the 1970s.

Importance

Jena West station is the busiest station on the Weimar–Gera line after Jena-Göschwitz station. It is the busiest of the Jena stations and it is currently used on average by about 5,000 passengers a day, so its ridership is higher than that of Jena Paradies station

Jena Paradies station

Jena Paradies station is the main railway station of the city of Jena in the German state of Thuringia. It is on the Saal Railway and is served by Intercity-Express trains on the Berlin–Munich route and regional trains to and from Naumburg, Saalfeld and Pößneck...

, which is an Intercity-Express stop on the Saal Railway

Saal Railway

The Saal Railway is a 153 kilometre-long double-track main line in the German state of Thuringia. It connects the Thuringian Railway at Großheringen with the Franconian Forest Railway at at Saalfeld and is part of the north-south main line, Munich–Nuremberg–Halle / Leipzig–Berlin...

, but has a comparatively low 3,500 passengers a day. Jena West station is heavily frequented by commuters and students on their way to the neighbouring cities of Erfurt

Erfurt

Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...

 and Weimar

Weimar

Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...

, which are about 30 and 15 minutes away respectively.

Nevertheless, in 2001 the station lost its 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:...

 services on the Aachen

Aachen Hauptbahnhof

Aachen Central Station is the train station for the city of Aachen, in the far west of Germany near the Dutch and Belgian border. It is the largest of the four currently active Aachen stations, and is integrated into the long-distance network.- History :...

 / Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof

is the Hauptbahnhof for the city of Düsseldorf in Germany, state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia.-History:The station was opened on 1 October 1891 opened as Düsseldorf Central Station...

–Paderborn

Paderborn Hauptbahnhof

is the main passenger station in the city of Paderborn in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the Hamm–Warburg line, part of the Mid-Germany Connection from Cologne or Düsseldorf to Thuringia and Saxony...

–Bebra

Bebra station

Bebra station is a railway station on the German passenger and freight rail network in the northern Hesse town of Bebra. It is a railway junction as well as an intercity stop on the Dortmund–Berlin–Stralsund route. The station was opened in 1846 and quickly became a major transport hub...

–Weimar–Jena West–Gera

Gera Hauptbahnhof

is the main station of the Thuringian town of Gera. Gera is one of the largest cities in Germany with no long-distance rail connections and no electrified lines. The station is a significant regional transport hub...

–Chemnitz

Chemnitz Hauptbahnhof

is the Hauptbahnhof of Chemnitz in Germany.-Station building :The station has a combination of terminating and through platforms. Platform tracks 1 to 9 terminate and tracks 10 to14 continue to the west of Chemnitz towards Zwickau, Nuremberg and Göttingen. Tracks 11 to 14 are reached by a passenger...

 route, its last long-distance service. It is now served by Regionalbahn

RegionalBahn

The Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.-Service:Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...

 and Regional-Express trains at regular intervals, operating on weekdays at intervals of 30 or 60 minutes each way.

Freight operations and sidings are now closed and all freight tracks were torn up in 2004.

Station name

The station was called Jena Weimar-Geraer Bahnhof, as distinct from Jena Saalbahnhof (Jena Saal station) on the Saal line, until 30 June 1924, when its name was changed to its current name at the request of the city of Jena.

Location and connections

The Jena Paradies station is situated about 600 metres to the east and the inner city of Jena is located about 800 metres from the station to the north-east. OVO bus route 102 runs between the two stations, as well as PVG Apolda route 280, which runs less regularly.

Three regional routes are operated by DB Regio

DB Regio

DB Regio AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates short and medium distance passenger train services in Germany, and operates light and heavy rail infrastructure in the United Kingdom.-Germany:...

 Southeast. Together these provise a service of two trains per hour in each direction between Weimar and Göschwitz on weekdays.

Line	Route	Frequency	Vehicle class
RE 1	Göttingen–Gotha Gotha station Gotha station is the main station of Gotha in the German state of Thuringia. It is served by InterCity trains and every two hours by Intercity-Express trains on the Thuringian Railway... –Erfurt Erfurt Hauptbahnhof is the central railway station of Erfurt in Germany. It is an important junctions of the German railways and is served by numerous local and long-distance rail services. Immediately north of the station, is Erfurt's city center. It had approximately 12.5 million passengers in 2006, that is an... –Weimar Weimar station Weimar station is the main station in the city of Weimar in the German state of Thuringia, located on the Thuringian Railway. It is an Intercity-Express stop on the line between Frankfurt am Main and Dresden. Weimar station is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 2 station. It is officially... –Jena West–Göschwitz Jena-Göschwitz station Jena-Göschwitz station is a railway station in city of Jena in the German state of Thuringia. It is 152.21 metres above sea level and is located 32.22 km from Großheringen on the Saal Railway and 27.50 from Weimar station on the Weimar–Gera railway. It was opened and on 1 July 1876... –Gera Gera Hauptbahnhof is the main station of the Thuringian town of Gera. Gera is one of the largest cities in Germany with no long-distance rail connections and no electrified lines. The station is a significant regional transport hub... –Gößnitz Gößnitz Gößnitz is a town in the Altenburger Land district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Pleiße, 12 km south of Altenburg, and 20 km northwest of Zwickau.... –Chemnitz Chemnitz Hauptbahnhof is the Hauptbahnhof of Chemnitz in Germany.-Station building :The station has a combination of terminating and through platforms. Platform tracks 1 to 9 terminate and tracks 10 to14 continue to the west of Chemnitz towards Zwickau, Nuremberg and Göttingen. Tracks 11 to 14 are reached by a passenger... /Zwickau Zwickau Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station of Zwickau in the German state of Saxony.-History :On 18 September 1845 Zwickau was connected by a branch line to the Leipzig–Reichenbach railway line...	120 min	BR 612 RegioSwinger The RegioSwinger is a tilting Diesel Multiple Unit passenger train used for fast regional traffic on unelectrified lines.- Development and Service :...
RE 3	(Erfurt–) Weimar–Jena West–Göschwitz–Gera	120 min	BR 612
RB 21	Weimar–Jena West–Göschwitz–Gera	120 min Mon–Fri additional services every 120 min between Weimar and Göschwitz for part of the day	BR 642