Altenkirchen (Westerw) station
Altenkirchen station is the station of the district town of Altenkirchen in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is at track-kilometre 65.1 on the Limburg–Altenkirchen railway and at track-km 61.1 on the Engers–Au railway, also known as the Holzbachtalbahn.
History
Altenkirchen station was opened on 1 April 1885 with the Altenkirchen–Hachenburg section of the Upper Westerwald Railway. It became a junction station with the opening of the Siershahn–Altenkirchen railway in 1887. When the Altenkirchen–Au railway was opened in on 1 May of the same year, Altenkirchen station became a transport hub for the Vorderwesterwald.After the Second World War, Uerdingen railbuses operated on the line from Engers via Siershahn and Altenkirchen to Au. Steam locomotives ran regularly on the line until 1975.
Passenger operations on the Holzbach Valley Railway ceased on 2 June 1984. Freight is still being handled in Altenkirchen.
On 23 May 1993, the line between Au and Altenkirchen was converted to a simplified form of signalling and train control known as Zugleitbetrieb and at the same time local rail services operated over the whole line from Au via Altenkirchen to Limburg.
With the takeover of operations by Vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft on 12 December 2004, the class 628 diesel multiple units, which had operated since 1986, were replaced by modern LINT DMUs and the request stops between Altenkirchen and Au became regular stops again.
Entrance building
The Altenkirchen entrance building Is a stately building made of crushed stone. It was built around 1883/84. The station has the address of Bahnhofstraße 1. The reception building is protected as a cultural monument under the Rhineland Palatinate Monument Protection Act.Station tracks
Altenkirchen station has a total of four tracks, two of which are platform tracks. Hessische Landesbahn trains run from platform 1 towards Limburg via Hachenburg and Westerburg. Platform 2 serves trains to Siegen via Au and Betzdorf. The two platform-free tracks are used by Hessische Landesbahn to store rolling stock.Operations
Passenger services
Altenkirchen station lies on the Oberwesterwald Railway –Altenkirchen –Westerburg–Limburg , which was operated between December 2004 and December 2014 by vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft and since December 2014 by Dreiländerbahn, a subsidiary of Hessische Landesbahn. Each day, the line is served by hourly RB 90 services under the Rhineland-Palatinate regular-interval integrated timetable on behalf of Zweckverband SPNV Nord. Additional services run on the Betzdorf–Altenkirchen section from Monday to Friday during the peak hour meaning that there are services at 30-minute intervals.The line was served from 1998, by older, refurbished Stadler GTW 2/6 railcars and since 2006 by newer Coradia LINT 27 and two-part LINT 41 railcars manufactured by ALSTOM LHB.
| Line | Route | Interval |
| Siegen – Eiserfeld – Niederschelden Nord – Niederschelden – Mudersbach – Brachbach – Freusburg Siedlung – Kirchen – Betzdorf – Scheuerfeld – Niederhövels – Wissen – Etzbach – Au – Geilhausen – Hohegrete – Breitscheidt – Kloster Marienthal – Obererbach – Altenkirchen – Ingelbach – Hattert – Hachenburg – Unnau/Korb – Nistertal-Bad Marienberg – Büdingen – Enspel – Rotenhain – Langenhahn – Westerburg – Willmenrod – Berzhahn – Wilsenroth – Frickhofen – Niederzeuzheim – Hadamar – Niederhadamar – Elz – Staffel – Diez Ost – Limburg | Hourly. Extra services in the peak between Betzdorf and Altenkirchen. |