| Betzdorf (Sieg) | |
| Native Name Lang: | de |
| Former: | Erbach |
| Symbol: | rail |
| Symbol Location: | de |
| Type: | Junction station |
| Address: | Bahnhofstr. 1, Betzdorf, Rhineland-Palatinate |
| Country: | Germany |
| Coordinates: | 50.7895°N 7.8697°W |
| Line: |
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| Platforms: | 5 |
| Zone: | |
| Opened: | 10 January 1861 |
| Website: | www.bahnhof.de |
| Map Type: | Rhineland-Palatinate |
Betzdorf (Sieg) station is in the town of Betzdorf in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is on the Sieg Railway (Siegstrecke) and is the starting point of the Betzdorf–Haiger railway to Haiger/Dillenburg and the to Daaden.
The construction of the station began with the construction of the Köln-Deutz–Gießen railway and the branch line from Betzdorf to Siegen on 10 January 1861. As a result of the construction of the two lines, Betzdorf became a railway junction and railway town. It had a marshalling yard to serve the surrounding iron ore mines and it grew rapidly.
Its importance as a railway junction meant that the town and station suffered severe air raids during the Second World War, resulting in two thirds of the town being destroyed by bombing. In one raid, on 12 March 1945, 61 people were killed.[4] This attack was carried out by the US Eighth Air Force with B-17 bombers.
From the mid 1950s, almost all of Betzdorf’s railway tracks and facilities were closed, including the repair shop, the locomotive depot, the Deutsche Bundesbahn operations office, the marshalling yard, the track maintenance office, the signalling maintenance office, the station administration and the freight handling facilities, so now Betzdorf is only a junction for passenger services.
Betzdorf station has a total of six usable tracks, two mostly overgrown tracks as well as two overbuilt tracks. The entrance building is built between tracks 105 and 102.
The numbering begins on the north-east side, at today's car park.
The platforms of Betzdorf station are accessible by passengers via stairways and lifts.
The locomotive depot and carriage shed of the former railway repair facility, built shortly after 1861, are now heritage-listed.
The station’s address is Bahnhofstraße 1. There is a ticket office and a small shop in the entrance building. In addition, Hellertalbahn GmbH had its headquarters here.
One Regional-Express and four Regionalbahn services now (2016) stop at Betzdorf station. Long-distance services are not scheduled to the lines through Betzdorf station. Regional freight transport is regularly operated by the Kreisbahn Siegen-Wittgenstein between the Betzdorf–Haiger railway and Scheuerfeld station and the container terminal in Kreuztal. Long-distance freight trains sometimes are diverted from the East Rhine Railway via Betzdorf and Siegen to the Dill Railway, continuing towards south Germany.
Until the closure of the Asdorf Valley Railway (Asdorftalbahn), there were also passenger trains running from here to Freudenberg and Olpe/Dieringhausen.
| Line | Service | Route | Interval | Normal platform | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhein-Sieg-Express | Aachen – Düren – Cologne – Siegburg/Bonn – Hennef – Betzdorf (Sieg) – Siegen Status: December 2022 timetable | 60 min | 105 (towards Siegen) 106 (towards Cologne) | ||
| Westerwald-Sieg-Bahn | Siegen – Betzdorf (Sieg) – Au (Sieg) – Altenkirchen (Westerw) – Westerburg – Limburg (Lahn) Mon-Fri: one train pair from/to Kreuztal Status: December 2022 timetable | 60 min | 105 (towards Siegen) 106 (towards Au) 101 (extra peak services) | ||
| Rothaarbahn | Betzdorf – Siegen – Kreuztal – Hilchenbach – Erndtebrück – Bad Berleburg Work days: 2 × from Au (Sieg) Status: December 2022 timetable | 60 min | 107 | ||
| Betzdorf–Haiger railway | Betzdorf (Sieg) – Herdorf – Neunkirchen (Kr Siegen) – Burbach (Kr Siegen) – Haiger – Dillenburg Between Neunkirchen and Dillenburg every 120 mins Status: December 2022 timetable | 60 min | 102 | ||
| Daadetal-Bahn | Betzdorf (Sieg) – Alsdorf (Westerw) – Schutzbach – Niederdreisbach – Biersdorf – Daaden Status: December 2022 timetable | 60 min | 113 |
There are various bus routes from the nearby bus station operated by four transport companies connecting neighbouring communities and other districts. Most services serve to carry students to and from school, which is why they usually only run in the morning and the early afternoon (the German school day finishes at about 1.30 pm). Since the state border of North Rhine-Westphalia is not far away, buses connect with some communities and districts there.
Since December 2015, the trains of the Westerwald-Sieg-Bahn (RB 90) from Limburg/Altenkirchen via Au (Sieg) have continued via Betzdorf to Siegen/Kreuztal. For the RB 90 service towards Altenkirchen there are additional trains in the peak from Monday to Friday, which start at track 101, for which a new set of points was specially installed to allow trains to reverse on the track and run towards Au (Sieg). Moreover, the journeys on the Rothaar Railway (RB 93) via Kreuztal and Erndtebrück to Bad Berleburg now start in Betzdorf rather than Siegen, where they formerly started.[5] Since 2012, various media have repeatedly reported that there were plans that the previously dismantled track 107 would be restored for route RB 93 towards Erndtebrück; it has been occupied by a pedestrian link between the commuter parking area and the station. Instead of the pedestrian crossing, the already existing pedestrian subway between tracks 106 and 113 is being extended to the parking area. The start of construction of the track was delayed by a year to October 2016 and the rehabilitation of tracks 105 and 106 was interrupted in December 2016 by poor weather. Track 107 is now due to go into operation "in the spring" of 2017. Construction of the subway is "possible at any time" and was due to be "completed in February 2017".[6] [7] [8] [9]