Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe is a railway station in the city of
KasselKassel Kassel Kassel and of the district (Kreis) of the same name...
, in the
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
state of
HesseHesse is a state of Germany with an area of and just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden. Hesse's largest city is nearby Frankfurt am Main.Hesse contributes the largest share to the Rhine Main Area....
. It is the city's most important railway station, as it is connected to the
Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line
, with
InterCityExpressThe Intercity-Express — in Austria, Denmark and Switzerland: InterCityExpress ; abbreviation: ICE — is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...
services calling at the station.
When the
Deutsche BundesbahnThe 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 '...
began constructing the
Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line
, Kassel originally was not supposed to have a station on the line at all. However, out of political consideration, it was decided that
GöttingenGöttingen is a college town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
,
FuldaFulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
and Kassel should get stations on the line.
Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe is a railway station in the city of
KasselKassel Kassel Kassel and of the district (Kreis) of the same name...
, in the
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
state of
HesseHesse is a state of Germany with an area of and just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden. Hesse's largest city is nearby Frankfurt am Main.Hesse contributes the largest share to the Rhine Main Area....
. It is the city's most important railway station, as it is connected to the
Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line
, with
InterCityExpressThe Intercity-Express — in Austria, Denmark and Switzerland: InterCityExpress ; abbreviation: ICE — is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...
services calling at the station.
History
When the
Deutsche BundesbahnThe 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 '...
began constructing the
Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line
, Kassel originally was not supposed to have a station on the line at all. However, out of political consideration, it was decided that
GöttingenGöttingen is a college town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
,
FuldaFulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
and Kassel should get stations on the line. The first two were rather easy to connect, but Kassel posed a unique problem, namely its main station,
Kassel HauptbahnhofKassel Hauptbahnhof is a "DB" railway station in the city of Kassel, in the German state of Hesse. Situated in the central borough of Mitte, it is the city's second important railway station after the opening of Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe in 1991; and so it is the only Hauptbahnhof that is not the main...
, being a
terminal stationTerminal Station is a 1953 film English language 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:...
.
Options were discussed, among them the remodeling of Kassel's main station and the construction of an entirely new station, eventually deciding for the latter. On 13 November 1981 construction of the high speed rail line started on
HesseHesse is a state of Germany with an area of and just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden. Hesse's largest city is nearby Frankfurt am Main.Hesse contributes the largest share to the Rhine Main Area....
territory, and it was decided to erect the station in the Kassel borough of Bad Wilhelmshöhe, construction starting later that year.
On 29 May 1991 the rail line was opened, and the station was opened the same day. Due to
German reunificationGerman reunification is the process in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and Berlin was united into a single city-state. The start of this process is commonly referred to by former citizens of the GDR as die Wende...
, outlook for the station was good.
Trivia
- Due to its open construction and the stilted roof spanning the tram stop, the station is colloquially known as Palast der tausend Winde (German
German is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
for Palace of the Thousand Winds).
Operational usage
| In brief |
Trains
(daily): |
600
(not including tramway) |
All northbound and southbound
InterCityExpressThe Intercity-Express — in Austria, Denmark and Switzerland: InterCityExpress ; abbreviation: ICE — is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...
services call at the station, with the exception of
ICE Sprinter trains. An ICE connection also exists on the line to
ErfurtErfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and is the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nürnberg 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
AltenbekenAltenbeken is a municipality in the district of Paderborn, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Altenbeken is situated in the Eggegebirge, approx. 15 km northeast of Paderborn.-Division of the municipality:...
/
DortmundDortmund is a city in Germany, located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 587,830 makes it the 7th-largest city in Germany, and 34th-largest in the European Union....
. Regional services are offered to
Frankfurt Hbfis the central station for Frankfurt am Main. In terms of railway traffic, it is the busiest railway station in Germany.- Proto-history :In the late 19th century, three stations connected Frankfurt to the west, north and south, the...
, Hagen,
ErfurtErfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and is the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nürnberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...
,
Bad HersfeldThe festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld is the district seat of Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast of Kassel....
,
KorbachKorbach is the district seat of Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse, Germany. It is over a thousand years old and a former Hanseatic town. It is located on the German Framework Road.- Geography and geology :...
and Kassel Hbf where regional trains depart for
GöttingenGöttingen railway station, known in German as Bahnhof Göttingen, is an InterCityExpress stop on Germany's domestic long-distance rail network and the only passenger station of the city of Göttingen. Built in 1854 as the terminus of the Hannover Südbahn the station lies west of the medieval town...
and
HalleHalle is the largest city in the German State of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...
among others.
The station is also served by two lines of the new RegioTram system, the new light rail system of Kassel. These two lines terminate at Treysa or
MelsungenMelsungen is a small climatic spa in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany.- Geography :Melsungen lies on the river Fulda in the North Hesse Highland. Here the brooks Pfieffe and Kehrenbach flow into the Fulda...
respectively.
External links