Gelsenkirchen Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in the German city of Gelsenkirchen. It connects the city to the regional and long-distance rail service of Deutsche Bahn and other railway companies in Germany.

History The Gelsenkirchen railway station was opened in 1847 with the Cologne-Minden railway. The station has since been rebuilt twice. The first time was in 1904, because the capacity of the old station was no longer sufficient. Since then the station has been a Hauptbahnhof (lit. Central Station). As part of this construction project, the tracks, which were located at ground level at the time, were raised. This allowed for traffic to Bochum to freely pass through. The second new development was carried out from 1982 to 1983. In preparations for the 2006 FIFA World Cup the station underwent extensive renovations.

On 4 August 1914, English civilian Henry Hadley was fatally shot by a German officer while their train was standing at the station. Dying the next day, shortly after war was declared, he is sometimes described as the "first British casualty" of World War I.

Operational usage The station has connect to the InterCity trains towards Norddeich Mole via Münster and Luxembourg via Cologne. To the week-end, even some ICE-trains connecting Munich or Hamburg stop here. It is also an important connection point for RegionalExpress and RegionalBahn lines to Hamm, Düsseldorf, Münster and Essen and has a S-Bahn line of the Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn calling at the station. The Stadtbahn station below the Hauptbahnhof offers local connections by tram to GE-Buer/Horst, Bochum and Essen. Lines Long-distance In the 2026 timetable, the following long-distance service stopped at the station:

Line Route Frequency Cologne – Düsseldorf – Duisburg – Essen – Gelsenkirchen – Recklinghausen – Münster – Osnabrück – Hannover – Wolfsburg – Berlin One train pair Westerland – Niebüll – Itzehoe – Hamburg – Bremen – Osnabrück – Münster – Gelsenkirchen – Essen – Düsseldorf – Cologne 1 train pair ( –) or ( –) Emden – – Münster – Recklinghausen – Wanne-Eickel – Gelsenkirchen – Oberhausen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf – Cologne Every 2 hours Münster – Recklinghausen – Gelsenkirchen – Essen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf – – Frankfurt Airport – Mannheim – Stuttgart – Ulm – Augsburg – Munich – Salzburg – Klagenfurt – Graz 1 train pair

Regional

Wanne-Eickel is served by the two Regional-Express and three Regionalbahn lines, as well as the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn. In the 2026 timetable, the following regional services stopped at the station:

Line Line name Route Rhein-Haard-Express Düsseldorf – Duisburg – Essen – Gelsenkirchen – Wanne-Eickel – Recklinghausen – Münster (Westf) – Osnabrück Rhein-Emscher-Express Düsseldorf – Duisburg – Oberhausen – Gelsenkirchen – Wanne-Eickel – Herne – Dortmund – Hamm Niers-Haard-Express Mönchengladbach – Krefeld – Essen – Gelsenkirchen – Wanne-Eickel – Recklinghausen – Haltern – Münster (Westf) Rhein-Emscher-Bahn Duisburg – Essen-Altenessen – Gelsenkirchen – Wanne-Eickel – Castrop-Rauxel – Dortmund Emscher-Niederrhein-Bahn Gelsenkirchen – Oberhausen – Duisburg – Krefeld – Mönchengladbach Glückauf-Bahn Gelsenkirchen – Wanne-Eickel – Bochum Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn Essen – Gelsenkirchen – Wanne-Eickel – Herne – Dortmund

See also Rail transport in Germany Railway stations in Germany

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