Railway station Bochum

Since for reasons of costs of an estimated one million talers or more Bochum was not connected to and by the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn, Bochum had tried as early as in the 1840’s to get the Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn to build a Bochum branch to connect it to the not too distant Elberfeld-Witten-Dortmund line. This idea was supported by the City of Essen, which also had no connection to the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn.
The ca. 15km Witten – Bochum line opened on October 26, 1860, in 1862 was extended to Oberhausen and Duisburg by way of Höntrop, Steele, Essen and Mülheim, and, in the same, year also to Dortmund. The railway connection gave Bochum the economic upswing it always had wished for. It also meant Bochum now wanted a rather more impressive station. The city gave an interest guarantee, so that soon after the invitation to tender was issued on August 27, 1872, construction commenced.
After the removal of war damages and for reasons of cost and time – the 1949 German Catholic Convention was coming up – there was only small building, colloquially called “Catholics’ station” (Katholikenbahnhof) and later used as a railway training centre. This building was neither up to the city’s reputation nor to the planned transport structure in the Ruhr area, so a new one was due. The new site was shifted to the east by approximately 650m.
The new station was opened in 1957 (architect: Heinz Ruhl). The main part of the reception building consists of four storeys proper and is of 146.45m in length and 14.4m in depth. The facade facing the city centre is rhythmically broken down by the concrete skeleton pattern faced in lime stone and the 58 window axes of the three upper storeys. Determining the facade’s appearance, however, is the protruding, glassed reception concourse roofed by a striking, butterfly- shaped, bent reinforced concrete slab of a front width of 46.5m. The station is still one of the most striking buildings in Bochum and one of the most important German stations built in the 1950’s. A very recent renovation has more or less restored it to its original state.

You will find more information at route-industriekultur.de

Author: Route Industriekultur / editorial baukunst-nrw
Last changed on 25.09.2007

Categories:
Engineering » Transportation
Architecture » Public Buildings » Transportation (railway stations, airports)