Löhne station

Löhne
Through station
General information
Location	Bünder Str. 7, Löhne, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany
Coordinates	52°11′47″N 8°42′48″E / 52.19639°N 8.71333°E / 52.19639; 8.71333
Line(s)	Hamm–Minden (KBS 370, KBS 400) Löhne–Rheine railway (KBS 375) Elze–Löhne railway (KBS 372)
Platforms	8 (6 in operation)
Other information
Station code	3768[1]
DS100 code	HL[2]
IBNR	8000233
Category	4[1]
Fare zone	Westfalentarif: 62601[3]
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	21 November 1855[4]
Services
Preceding station National Express Germany Following station Herford towards Cologne/Bonn Airport RE 6 (Rhein-Weser-Express) Bad Oeynhausen towards Minden Preceding station WestfalenBahn Following station Kirchlengern towards Rheine RE 60 Bad Oeynhausen towards Braunschweig Hbf Herford towards Bielefeld Hbf RE 70 Preceding station Eurobahn Following station Herford towards Bielefeld Hbf RE 78 Bad Oeynhausen towards Nienburg (Weser) Preceding station Regionalverkehre Start Deutschland Following station Kirchlengern towards Hildesheim Hbf RB 77 Bad Oeynhausen Süd towards Bünde or Herford

Löhne (Westfalen) station is in the city of Löhne in the northeast of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It lies on the Hamm–Minden railway, which is part of the Cologne-Minden trunk line that was originally proposed by Friedrich Harkort as part of a line from Berlin to Cologne via Hanover.

In Löhne, line branch off to Rheine via Osnabrück (part of the Hanoverian Western Railway to Emden) and to Elze via Hamelin (continuing to Hildesheim) and, as a result, the station was long an important junction in northwestern Germany as an interchange station with its own marshalling yard.

Until the mid-20th century, Löhne station was a major hub for passenger and especially freight traffic in north-western Germany. The lines of the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (opened in 1847), the Royal Hanoverian State Railways (1855) and the Hanover-Altenbeken Railway Company (Löhne–Hildesheim–Vienenburg, 1875) met with each other here.

For many years, long-distance trains crossed here on their way from Berlin to Paris via Hanover and Cologne and Amsterdam to central Germany via Osnabrück and Hildesheim. The extensive rail facilities were built with many tunnels and flyovers so that a grade-separated crossing of the two main lines was possible. Even today, independent paths on the Hamm–Minden Railway and the Elze–Löhne and the Löhne–Rheine lines are possible.

The former significance of the station is lost today and it is only classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 4 station.^[1]

The station is served by the following Regional-Express and Regionalbahn lines:^[5]

• Regional services RE 6 Minden – Herford – Bielefeld – Hamm – Dortmund – Essen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf Airport – Düsseldorf – Neuss – Cologne – Cologne/Bonn Airport
• Regional services RE 60 Rheine – Osnabrück – Herford – Minden – Hannover – Braunschweig
• Regional services RE 70 Bielefeld - Herford - Minden - Hannover - Braunschweig
• Regional services RE 78 Bielefeld - Herford - Minden - Nienburg
• Regional services RB 77 Bünde - Löhne - Hamelin - Hildesheim

The station is covered by Der Sechser (“the six”) fares of the Zweckverband Verkehrsverbund OWL (Ostwestfalen-Lippe transport association) and the statewide NRW-tariff fares. The Niedersachsen-Ticket can also be used on the regional services to Lower Saxony.

The former marshalling yard has been demolished, but no use for the abandoned site has yet been found, so that it presents passengers with a large landscape of gravel. The site is difficult to access as it lies between the lines to Bielefeld and Osnabrück.

The station has a private ticket agency. A new parking area was opened at the back of the station in 2011.

The station acquired literary significance in Erich Maria Remarque's novel, All Quiet on the Western Front: during the movement of troops in the First World War, soldiers were always told by their superiors to change at Löhne. The station forecourt, which contains the central bus station, has since its redesign in the 1990s therefore been called Erich-Maria-Remarque-Platz.

• Garrelt Riepelmeier (2003). Bahnhof Löhne (Westf). Ein Eisenbahnknoten im Wandel der Zeit (in German). Hövelhof. ISBN 3-937189-02-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)