Vaihingen station

Vaihingen station is a long-distance and the regional station at an important railway junction in the town of Vaihingen an der Enz in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 3 station.It is one of a few passenger stations in German that are designed to allow Intercity-Express trains to pass at 250 km/h. The ICE through tracks do not have platforms.LocationThe station is located about 2.5 kilometers from the centre of Vaihingen, between the town and the suburb of Kleinglattbach at about 250 metres above sea level.The station lies on the Mannheim–Stuttgart high-speed line (near the 78 km mark from Mannheim) and on the Württemberg Western Railway.StructureThe railway system consists of eight tracks, which are numbered in ascending order in a northeasterly direction. In the middle of these tracks are the two tracks of the high-speed line for trains running at up to 250 km/h (track 4 and 5). Close by on both sides are two passing tracks (3 and 6). In the northeast is a platform for stopping passenger trains (tracks 7 and 8) and another platform to the south (tracks 1 and 2).Trains to and from the new line can only stop at the platforms on tracks 2 and 7. Tracks 1 and 8 are used by regional trains running from Mühlacker to Bietigheim-Bissingen (track 1) or Bietigheim to Mühlacker (track 8). Fully grade-separated tracks prevent conflicts between high-speed and regional trains. To the east of the station the high-speed tracks run through the 2.8 km-long Markstein Tunnel and the track running towards Bietigheim crosses over the top of the tunnel, running to the north-east. Both regional tracks then run through the Nebenweg Tunnel. To the northwest of the station the regional track running towards Mühlacker passes under the high-speed tracks. At both ends of the station complex there are crossovers between the regional and high-speed tracks.