Singen (Hohentwiel) station

Singen (Hohentwiel) station is an important regional railway junction and interchange station in the town of Singen in the south of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Three railways now meet there, but in the past five railways connected to it. The station is served by InterCity trains on the Stuttgart–Zurich route.

Singen (Hohentwiel)
The Station and forecourt in 2006
General information
Location	Bahnhofstrasse 2 Singen, Baden-Württemberg Germany
Coordinates	47°45′30.377″N 8°50′25.379″E
Elevation	434 m (1,424 ft)
Owned by	DB Netz
Operated by	DB Station&Service
Line(s)	Black Forest Railway (KBS 720) High Rhine Railway (KBS 730) Plochingen–Immendingen line (KBS 740) Randenbahn [de] (closed) Etzwilen–Singen railway (heritage railway)
Distance	45.1 km (28.0 mi) from Winterthur 149.1 km (92.6 mi) from Offenburg 384.1 km (238.7 mi) from Mannheim Hbf [1]
Platforms	2 island platforms 2 side platforms
Tracks	8
Train operators	DB Fernverkehr DB Regio Baden-Württemberg SBB GmbH
Construction
Accessible	Yes (4 low platforms)
Other information
Station code	5865[2]
DS100 code	RSI[1]
IBNR	8000073
Category	2[2]
Fare zone	2 (Verkehrsverbund Hegau-Bodensee [de])[3]
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1863 (1863)
Services
Preceding station DB Fernverkehr Following station Schaffhausen towards Zürich HB IC 87 Engen towards Stuttgart Hbf Radolfzell towards Konstanz Tuttlingen towards Stuttgart Hbf Preceding station DB Regio Baden-Württemberg Following station Schaffhausen towards Basel Bad Bf IRE 3 Radolfzell towards Ulm Hbf Engen towards Karlsruhe Hbf RE 2 Radolfzell towards Konstanz Radolfzell towards Konstanz RE 4 Engen towards Stuttgart Hbf Radolfzell towards Friedrichshafen Stadt RB 31 Terminus Preceding station Following station Engen towards Rottweil RE 43 Terminus Preceding station SBB Deutschland Following station Singen-Landesgartenschau towards Engen S6 Singen-Industriegebiet towards Konstanz Preceding station Schaffhausen S-Bahn Following station Gottmadingen towards Schaffhausen S62 Terminus
Location

Name

Deutsche Bahn officially call the station Singen (Hohentwiel), in reference to the Hohentwiel, the Hausberg of Singen, to distinguish it from Singen (Thür) located in Singen part of the town of Stadtilm, Thuringia. Because of its size and its significance for the district of Konstanz, the station is sometimes referred to as Singen Hauptbahnhof (lit. 'Singen mainstation') locally. In addition, the abbreviations Singen (Hohentw), Singen (Htw) and just Singen are used.

Railway lines

Singen is near the starting point of the Immendingen–Horb and Horb–Stuttgart line (Gäu Railway, Gäubahn) to Stuttgart Hbf. On this line, the city is a stop for InterCity services between Stuttgart, Singen, Schaffhausen and Zurich HB. In addition, trains on the Black Forest Railway (Badische Schwarzwaldbahn), connecting Singen Offenburg and Konstanz stop in Singen. The High Rhine Railway (Hochrheinbahn) provides connections to Waldshut and Basel Bad Bf towards west and to Radolfzell and Konstanz towards east. Singen is also the terminus of the Etzwilen–Singen railway line, which is a heritage railway since 2007.

History

Singen owes its development from a farming village into industrial town primarily to its role as a railway junction. The railway reached the village for the first time in 1863, when the Upper Rhine Railway was completed from Basel to Konstanz (Constance). Ten years later, the Black Forest Railway was completed from Offenburg to Konstanz, connecting with the Upper Rhine Railway in Singen. The Etzwilen–Singen railway to Switzerland completed the main lines connecting with Singen.

Large Swiss companies established their German branch factories in Singen, not least because of its good rail connection. The factory workers were now brought to work in Singen in great numbers by train. A local commuter railway, the Randen Railway (Randenbahn), was built in 1912, but it was closed in 1966.

The railway used to be one of the largest employers in Singen. The first station building was soon replaced by a more solid building, which still stands today with small changes. The goods yard, which formerly stood on the other side of the tracks with sidings connecting directly from the factories, soon became too small. Therefore, a new freight yard was built in 1927.

The section of the High Rhine Railway between Schaffhausen and Singen was electrified in 1989.

Intercity-Express service called Singen (Hohentwiel)

ICE trainsets 403 015 and 403 515 (ICE 3, class 403) were given the name of Singen (Hohentwiel) in Singen station on 7 June 2008.

Platforms

Platform	Length in m[4]	Height in cm[4]
1	487	38
2	334	55
3	334	55
4	476	55
5	476	55
6	110	38
7	152	38
8	125	38

Customs

Singen is, for customs purposes, a border station for passengers arriving from Switzerland using direct services without intermediate stops. Customs checks may be performed in the station or on board trains by German officials. Systematic passport controls were abolished when Switzerland joined the Schengen Area in 2008.

Operations

Singen (Hohentwiel) has been part of the Verkehrsverbund Hegau-Bodensee (Hegau-Bodensee Transport Association, VHB) since its inception in 1996.

Long-distance services

Cisalpino service operated with a class ETR 470 set in Singen station (2004)

Singen station is served by Intercity services at hourly intervals from Stuttgart via Singen and Schaffhausen to Zürich. Every two hours, it is served by Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) services hauled by Taurus locomotives of the Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB). In the other hour, it is served by Deutsche Bahn InterCity 2 services. From this there is a connection in Singen to an IC to Zurich, which also runs with SBB cars. Individual IC 2 services run from Singen to Konstanz instead of Zürich.^[5]

Furthermore, on weekends two pairs of Inter City services, operating as the Bodensee (Lake Constance), connect Konstanz with Dortmund and Emden.^[5]

A pair of IC services called Schwarzwald ("Black Forest") was operated from Hamburg to Konstanz, replacing one of the hourly cycle of regional services, until its discontinuation in December 2014 and it was then replaced by another regional train between Offenburg and Konstanz.

Line	Route		Frequency
IC 87 / RE 87	Stuttgart – Böblingen – Horb – Rottweil – Tuttlingen – Singen	– Konstanz	Hourly
		– Schaffhausen – Zürich

Regional services

Regionalbahn service to Schaffhausen in Singen station

In regional transport, Interregio-Express and Regional-Express services stop in Singen, giving through connections to Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Basel, Konstanz and Ulm via Friedrichshafen.

The S6 of the Bodensee S-Bahn connects Singen to, among other places, Engen as well as Radolfzell, Konstanz and other municipalities on Lake Constance. This service was previously operated as the Seehas, named after a mythical "lake hare".^[6]

The S62 (nicknamed Rhyhas) of Schaffhausen S-Bahn links Singen with Schaffhausen.^[7] A connecting service runs from Schaffhausen to Jestetten.

Line	Route	Frequency	Operator
IRE 3	Basel Bad Bf – Rheinfelden (Baden) – Bad Säckingen – Waldshut – Schaffhausen – Singen (– Radolfzell – Friedrichshafen Stadt – Friedrichshafen Hafen / Ulm)	Every 60/120 minutes	DB Regio Baden-Württemberg
RE 2	Karlsruhe – Baden-Baden – Achern – Offenburg – Villingen (Schwarzw) – Singen – Radolfzell – Konstanz	Every 60 minutes
RE 4	Stuttgart – Böblingen – Herrenberg – Eutingen im Gäu – Horb – Rottweil – Tuttlingen – Singen – Radolfzell – Konstanz	One train pair at weekends
RE 43	Singen – Engen – Tuttlingen – Rottweil	Some trains	SWEG
RB 31	Singen – Radolfzell – Überlingen – Friedrichshafen Stadt	Several trains	DB Regio Baden-Württemberg
S6	Engen – Mühlhausen (b Engen) – Singen – Radolfzell – Allensbach – Konstanz	Every 30 minutes	SBB GmbH
S62	Schaffhausen – Herblingen – Thayngen – Bietingen – Gottmadingen – Singen	Every 30 minutes	SBB GmbH

(as of 2022)

Defunct and heritage railway lines

Formerly the Randen railway Randenbahn) ran from Singen to Beuren-Büßlingen. Most of this railway line is now dismantled.

The Etzwilen–Singen railway (Etzwilerbahn) ran via Rielasingen to Etzwilen in Switzerland. Since 2007, the latter is a heritage railway operated by heritage trains^[8] and draisines.^[9]

Freight traffic

Freight is handled at a container terminal in the industrial area, which provides connections to Italy.

See also

• Rail transport in Germany

References

1. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland [German railway atlas] (in German) (Updated ed.). Cologne: Schweers + Wall. 2020. p. 111. ISBN 978-3-89494-149-9.
2. "Stationspreisliste 2024" [Station price list 2024] (PDF) (in German). DB Station&Service. 24 April 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
3. "VHB-ZONENPLAN" (PDF) (in German). Verkehrsverbund Hegau-Bodensee [de]. 13 December 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
4. "Bahnsteiginformationen zum Bahnhof Singen (Hohentwiel)" (in German). Deutsche Bahn. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
5. "Neu: Umsteigefreie IC-Verbindungen Konstanz–Stuttgart von Ende 2017 an" (Press release) (in German). Deutsche Bahn. 13 January 2016. Archived from the original on 26 February 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
6. "Seehas".
7. "NEU: SBB GmbH betreibt den Rhyhas von Singen – Schaffhausen" (in German). 2022-12-12. Retrieved 2023-12-28.
8. "Museumsbahn Sonderfahrten [Heritage railway tours]" (in German). Retrieved 2024-02-04.
9. "Schienenvelo [Draisines]" (in German). Retrieved 2024-02-04.

External links

• Singen (Hohentwiel) station – Deutsche Bahn