Köln West station

Köln West station is located in the northwestern edge of the Innenstadt of Cologne in the district of Neustadt-Nord in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on Venloer Straße . The station is a stop for regional services on the Cologne ring railway . It is also served by lines 3, 4 and 5 lines of the Cologne Stadtbahn, which run through the Hans-Böckler-Platz/Bf. West underground station. The surface station has two platform tracks on a 303-metre-long island platform and eight tracks without platforms, which are used by intensive freight traffic.HistoryThe opening of Central Station (Centralbahnhof, now called the Hauptbahnhof) in 1859 required the building of a connecting line to the West Rhine Railway (Linke Rheinstrecke), running around the city to the west. The Prussian government built a new line of fortifications around Cologne and the new district of Neustadt (new town) inside the fortifications from 1881, requiring the reorganisation of the railway lines. On 9 January 1883, the City Council approved the relocation of the line on an embankment, which was built further from the centre than previously. This embankment ran on the inside of the new inner ring of fortifications through the new town and underpasses were built for all roads running to exits in the fortifications. Along the new line two stations were built under the direction of Ernst Dircksen: Cologne West (Köln West, spelt Cöln West until 1914) and Cologne South (Köln Süd). Both stations were opened in 1891. The front of the station building, which largely corresponds to its original appearance has been preserved until today, but there was formerly a waiting room located on the embankment, which spanned the platform area and the passenger tracks.