Hückelhoven-Baal station

Hückelhoven-Baal station is in the Hückelhoven district of Baal in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on the Aachen–Mönchengladbach railway. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 5 station. With its construction as an interchange station on two levels, it became important as a hub for passenger services, but in recent years it has lost this significance due to the closure of the adjacent section of the Jülich–Dalheim railway. Meanwhile, the passenger station has been reclassified as a halt and it was renamed as Hückelhoven-Baal in 2002. Baal freight yard still exists.HistoryIn 1852, was the Aachen–Mönchengladbach line was opened by the former Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway Company and Baal station was at the 41.6 kilometre point, serving passengers and freight. This station was equipped with an entrance building, a ramp for handling freight, a small turntable and a small transfer table.The station is still commemorated at its original location by the street named Am Alten Bahnhof (“At the Old Station”) and the retaining wall of its old foundations. Today the Baal freight yard is still located at the site of the old station, along with the dispatcher’s signal box and the junction to the connecting curve to Ratheim, which have not been used since 2007.The tower stationIn 1911, the passenger station was relocated to the west for the opening of the Julich–Dalheim railway. In order to serve the two railways, a “tower station” (Turmbahnhof, that is a station with superimposed platforms on two levels) was built. The line to Dalheim was connected directly by a link at Baal freight yard/Baal West to the Aachen–Mönchengladbach line, which was especially important for freight from the Sophia-Jacoba colliery.