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Ludwigshafen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof

railway station in Ludwigshafen, Germany

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ319977 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ludwigshafen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof is a railway station at Ludwigshafen am Rhein in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. A combination of a wedge-shaped station and a two-level interchange, the station is at the junction on the lines from Mainz and Neustadt an der Weinstrasse to Mannheim. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 2 station. The Ludwigshafen station was built in 1847 as a terminal station in the centre of modern Ludwigshafen. The current station was built in 1969 to the west of the city centre, but has not proved to be a success due to its poor location

History

Terminus 1847–1969

The first station in Ludwigshafen was a terminus in Rheinschanze, now central Ludwigshafen, opened on 11 June 1847 on the Palatine Ludwig Railway to the coal pits of Bexbach, now Saarland. The station was located immediately next to the port of Winterhafen, which opened in 1845, so a direct access to the Rhine was possible. The station building was a two-storey building with a clock tower and single-storey wings on its south side. The original station building was rebuilt with three-story wings on both sides in order to cope with the opening of the line to Worms on 15 June 1853 and the bridge over the Rhine to Mannheim on 25 February 1867.

The early connection of Ludwigshafen to the rail network significantly promoted the rapid development of Ludwigshafen, but it also caused significant urban problems, as the station separated the neighbourhoods now called Nord and Mitte. A viaduct was opened carrying Ludwigsstraße over the railway in 1890.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Ludwigshafen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof” as railway station in Ludwigshafen, Germany. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ludwigshafen, Rhein and Hauptbahnhof.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1847, 1969, 1845, 1853—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Ludwigshafen, Rhein and Hauptbahnhof providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ludwigshafen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof”, the useful work is to connect “railway station in Ludwigshafen, Germany” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q319977. Authority coordinates are 49.478, 8.434. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1847, 1969, 1845 and 1853.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ludwigshafen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ludwigshafen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof primary sources, Ludwigshafen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof archive and Ludwigshafen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ludwigshafen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ludwigshafen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.