| Niederau | |
| Symbol: | rail |
| Symbol Location: | de |
| Address: | Bahnhofsplatz 1, Niederau, Saxony |
| Country: | Germany |
| Coordinates: | 51.1764°N 13.5606°W |
| Type: | Through station |
| Platforms: | 2 |
| Opened: | 15 May 1842 |
| Line: | Leipzig–Dresden railway (km 95.69) |
| Website: | www.bahnhof.de |
Niederau station is a regional station on the Leipzig–Dresden railway in Niederau in the German state of Saxony. The railway station, which was opened on 15 May 1842, for a long time had the oldest operating station building in Germany,[1] but Deutsche Bahn stopped using it and sold it after 2000.
After the opening of the Leipzig-Dresden Railway on 7 April 1839, Oberau station was the closest station to Meissen, but the inconvenient location of the station high above a cutting on the approach to Oberau Tunnel, made access difficult and so Meissen sought easier access to the line. These efforts were successful: the new Niederau station was completed on 1 April 1842 after half a year of construction and the station was opened on 15 May 1842. Simultaneously, a new direct access road was built from Meissen to Niederau, now called Niederauer or Meissner Strasse.[2]
For a while the traffic brought by carriage from Meissen made the station competitive for trains to Leipzig or Dresden with the Coswig–Meißen branch line, which opened on 1 December 1860 and allowed direct rail journeys from Meissen to Dresden. A line was completed from Borsdorf to Meissen in December 1868, creating a direct rail link between Meissen and Leipzig. Thus Niederau station lost its importance and traffic fell sharply.[3]
Freight operations in Niederau were abandoned on 1 July 1964.[4]
In 1988, one year before the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first German long-distance railway between Leipzig and Dresden, the station was completely restored.[5] At that time, the station building was the oldest on the network of Deutsche Reichsbahn[6]
In the early 2000s, Deutsche Bahn sold the railway station building.[7] It is now used as a residence.
The modular building of an electronic interlocking (ESTW-A) has been located on the eastern side of the line to the south of the former station building since 2000. This is operated from the electronic control centre (ESTW-Z) in Priestewitz.
The station is served by Regional-Express service RE 50, running between Leipzig and Dresden and Regionalbahn service RB 31, running between Elsterwerda-Biehla and Dresden (as of December 2014).
| Line | Route | Frequency (min) | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|
Saxonia | Dresden Hbf – Dresden-Neustadt – Radebeul Ost – Coswig (b Dresden) – Niederau – Priestewitz – Riesa – Oschatz – Wurzen – Leipzig Hbf | 60 | DB Regio Südost |
| Elsterwerda-Biehla – Elsterwerda – Großenhain Cottbus – Priestewitz – Niederau – Coswig (b Dresden) – Cossebaude – Dresden Hbf | 120 | ||
The peculiar two-part main station building is a result of its construction and usage history. The larger part, lying on the left as seen from the tracks, was built as a Restaurationsgebäude (restaurant building), while the building on the right was built as the station building. Later, they were both rebuilt in the Swiss chalet style. The building complex is a heritage-listed building.
Baroness von Werther, the owner of Oberau Castle, built the building and operated it at first as an inn. The half-timbered building was given a wood sheathing in 1862 and it was plastered with the appearance of Cyclopean masonry 15 years later. Also in 1877, the premises of the officials' apartments were renovated and a station restaurant was built in the new rooms. Subsequently the building was used both for residential and station purposes. To emphasize the latter function, it received a station clock and the station sign that broke up the previously empty space on the building's gable during a reorganisation in 1988.