Passau Hauptbahnhof

Passau Hauptbahnhof
Through station
Platforms and the south side of the main building
General information
Location	Passau, Bavaria Germany
Coordinates	48°34′26″N 13°27′03″E
Line(s)	Regensburg–Passau (KBS 880) (KBS 931) Wels–Passau (KBS 150 (Austria)) Passau-Neumarkt-Sankt Veit (KBS 946) Passau–Freyung (KBS 12888) Passau–Hauzenberg (closed) (KBS 881)
Platforms	8
Construction
Architectural style	Neo-classical
Other information
Station code	4872
DS100 code	NPA (DB) Pa (ÖBB)
Category	3
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1860
Passengers
ca. 6,500
Services
Preceding station DB Fernverkehr Following station Plattling towards Hamburg-Altona ICE 39 Terminus Plattling towards Dortmund Hbf or Hamburg-Altona ICE 91 Linz Hbf towards Wien Hbf Plattling towards Rostock Hbf IC 17 Schärding towards Wien Hbf Preceding station ÖBB Following station Regensburg Hbf towards Amsterdam Centraal or Hamburg-Altona Nightjet Wels Hbf towards Wien Hbf Terminus Regional-Express Wernstein towards Linz Hbf Regionalzug Preceding station DB Regio Bayern Following station Vilshofen (Niederbay) towards München Hbf RE 3 Terminus Preceding station Following station Neustift (b Passau) towards Mühldorf (Oberbay) RB 46 Terminus
Location Passau Location in Bavaria Passau Location in Germany Passau Location in Europe

Track layout

North side and main entrance

Passau Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station at Passau in Bavaria, Germany. Built in 1860, it has eight platforms, of which three are bay platforms and three are through tracks. The ca. 130 m long station building is built in the classic style.

Present-day services

Today the station is a stop for ICE and IC long-distance trains, as well as local trains operated by Deutsche Bahn (DB AG) and the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB). From Passau, regional services run to Munich, Regensburg and on the Rottalbahn to Mühldorf am Inn and the Austrian Western Railway to Wels and Linz.

Because Passau was on the trunk route (Magistrale) from Frankfurt am Main via Nuremberg and Linz to Vienna, many long-distance trains transited through it, such as the Ostende to Vienna Express (since the early 20th century) or the TEE Prinz Eugen between Hamburg and Vienna (since the 1960s), which gave its name later to the equivalent IC and then ICE trains.

Former railway lines

From the Hauptbahnhof in Passau two railway lines branch off that have since been closed. The Ilztalbahn to Waldkirchen and Freyung, with its former branch into the Czech Republic and to Eging am See and Deggendorf, and the line to Hauzenberg with its branch to Obernzell, that ran as far as Wegscheid in former times. These routes, which had not been worked by timetabled services for 25 years, were used until 2002 by the Passauer Eisenbahnfreunde (Passau Railway Society) for special trains, as well as by the goods trains of various companies. After 2002 the routes became impassable due to flood damage. Meanwhile, societies have been formed to support the lines to Freyung and Hauzenberg and they hope to reactivate these routes.

Former track layout

West of the main passenger terminal on the site of the former marshalling yard is a large freight station that serves the cross-border goods traffic between Germany and Austria as well as the cross-loading of goods to ships that ply the river Danube. To the east, the remaining storage sidings and locomotive shed were dismantled in order to create the "new centre of Passau" Neue Mitte Passau.

Station rebuilding

It was planned to convert the station to a barrier-free zone from 2008 to mid-2011 with a subsidy from the Free State of Bavaria of €2M towards the overall cost of €12.5M. The two island platforms as well as the home platform were to have been reached by a lift, and platforms 5 and 6 over the so-called Poststeg ("post office walkway") which would have considerably shortened the distance to the Central Bus Station in the new centre of Passau. In addition the home platform was to have been raised by about 76 cm (30 in) and the underpass widened.

These plans were however changed during the course of 2008, because they would not have coped with the very high number of tourists at the station, especially those using the Danube crossings.

Joint DB/ÖBB use

Since 1951 the station has been used by the ÖBB and DB jointly as an internal station. For that reason there were two separate pedestrian underpasses under the tracks, separated by a wall, that enabled border and customs checks to be carried out. Since the entry of Austria into the EU in 1995 and the associated scrapping of these checks, this wall has been removed apart from a small section. On this section of wall there is a memorial tablet for the two policemen, Klaus März and Georg Schachner, who were murdered on 11 November 1993 in an Intercity from Linz to Passau near Schärding.

Above the tracks since 1975 stands the first "bridge post office" in Germany.

Train services

The station is served by the following services:

Line	Route		Operator
ICE 39	Passau – Regensburg – Nürnberg – Frankfurt Flughafen – Koblenz – Duisburg – Hamburg – Hamburg-Altona		DB Fernverkehr
ICE 91	Wien – Linz – Passau – Nürnberg –	Erfurt – Berlin – Hamburg-Altona
		Frankfurt Flughafen – Koblenz – Köln – Dortmund
IC 17	Wien – Linz – Passau – Regensburg – Erlangen – Jena Paradies – Leipzig – Berlin – Berlin-Spandau		DB Fernverkehr, ÖBB
NJ Amsterdam/Hamburg-Austria	Wien – Linz – Passau – Regensburg – Würzburg –	Göttingen – Hamburg – Hamburg-Altona	ÖBB
		Münster – Deventer – Amsterdam
RE 3	Passau Hbf – Vilshofen – Osterhofen – Plattling – Landshut (Bay) Hbf – Freising – München		DB Regio
REX Passau-Linz	Passau Hbf – Schärding – Wels Hbf – Linz Hbf		ÖBB
RB 46	Passau Hbf – Pocking – Mühldorf (Oberbayern)		Südostbayernbahn
R Passau-Linz	Passau Hbf – Schärding – Wels Hbf – Linz Hbf		ÖBB