Altenburg station

Geschichte

Altenburg station is on the Saxon-Bavarian Railway from Leipzig to Hof in the city of Altenburg in the German state of Thuringia. South of Altenburg, in Lehndorf, the line to Gera branches to the west. Passenger services on other lines have been closed to Zeitz and to Narsdorf.HistoryTerminal stationThe original Altenburg station was located elsewhere in today's Fabrikstraße . Its opening ceremony was held on 19 September 1842 and it was the first station in the Ernestine duchies. The Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg required the station to be built as close as possible to the Residenzstadt of Altenburg, which had the consequence that a further construction of the line to the south was not possible for topographical reasons and thus to the station was built as a terminal station. As a result, the line to Hof first ran a short distance to the north and then made a 180-degree turn into the valley of the Pleiße, which is located east of the city.Altenburg HauptbahnhofIncreasing traffic meant that the terminal station could no longer cope. In 1876, work began on a new station a little further to the east and the mainline was moved to a new route running south through a 375 m long tunnel. On 25 September 1878, the first train ran through the new tunnel. There are still remains of the former station in Fabrikstraße. The roof of Altenburg tunnel was removed for the electrification of the Leipzig–Hof line between 1957 and 1959.