Köln Hauptbahnhof, Cologne

Köln Hauptbahnhof (english: Cologne Central Station), is an important railway station. It is a crucial local, national, and international transportation hub, serving many ICE, Thalys, and Intercity trains, as well as regional Regional-Express, RegionalBahn, and local S-Bahn trains. The station also hosts EuroNight and Nightjet night services. On an average day, around 280,000 travellers pass through the station, making it the fifth busiest station in Germany.

One of the notable features of Köln Hauptbahnhof is its frequent connections to Frankfurt, thanks to the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line that starts in southern Cologne. The station is conveniently located next to Cologne Cathedral, a major landmark and tourist attraction in the city.

The original Central Station (German: Centralbahnhof) was constructed in 1857 to the plans of Hermann Otto Pflaume on behalf of the RhE, which had acquired the BCE in the same year. The station was inaugurated on 5 December 1859, together with the Cathedral Bridge (German: Dombrücke, later the site of the Hohenzollernbrücke). The Central Station was both a terminus and a through station. It included four terminating tracks for the RhE running to the west and two through tracks connected to its line on the eastern side of the Rhine by the Cathedral Bridge.