page_title: Elsterwerda railway station
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Elsterwerda railway station / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Memorial stone for the 1997 train catastrophy in Elsterwerda Deutsch: Gedenkstein am Elsterwerdaer Bahnhof für die Opfer der Brandkatastrophe vom 20. November 1997. Die Inschrift lautet: Bei dem Großbrand auf dem Bahnhof Elsterwerda am 20. November 1997 gaben die Kameraden der FF Elsterwerda Horst Mechelk und Horst Gautsch in treuer Pflichterfüllung ihr Leben. In Dankbarkeit die Bürger der Stadt Elsterwerda
context_page_description: Elsterwerda station is in the town of Elsterwerda in the German state of Brandenburg. It lies on the Berlin–Dresden railway. The station is known for a train crash in 1997, when a freight train with 22 petrol tankers derailed and exploded on the station premises.
context_section_description: Friedrich Jage, a  master mason and later an honorary citizen of Elsterwerda, built the then three-storey  station building according to the specifications of the Berlin-Dresden Railway Company (Berlin-Dresdener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) in "American"-style timber construction. The station was opened with the Berlin-Dresden railway on 17 June 1875 without a public opening ceremony. The first railway station master was a Mr Bruttloff. Excursion trains ran from Berlin to Dresden for an industrial exhibition on 10 and 17 July 1875. The 22 kilometre-long Riesa–Elsterwerda railway was opened on 15 October 1875.
  In the following years, the railway became one of the strongest economic enterprises of the city and due to the good rail connections several industrial companies settled in Elsterwerda and nearby Biehla, causing significant population growth. The population increased from 1,739 in 1871 to 2,537 in 1895 and 4,224 in 1910.
  A highlight of the station was a visit by Wilhelm II, German Emperor on a special train on 27 August 1888, which stopped for about ten minutes at the station.
  There was a proposal in March 1894 for the construction of a railway line from Elsterwerda to Kamenz, but this was never realised, like many other railway projects at that time.
  Because the station was a border station between Prussia and Saxony, the operation of the station was shared between Prussian and Saxon officials. According to a personnel list of 21 November 1912, 129 Prussian and 24 Saxon railwaymen were employed in the station’s freight facilities. It was later said in the town that the Prussian and Saxon officials threw inkwells during disputes.
  In 1914, there were plans to build a railway line from Burxdorf via Elsterwerda to Ortrand and preliminary talks were held to promote the sale of the shares of the proposed company. This project eventually failed at the end of the 1920s.
  The first air raids on Elsterwerda were carried out by the Allies in April 1945 and the town was attacked by low-flying aircraft. The station and its facilities were bombed on 19 April 1945. An ammunition train that was stopped in the station was hit, caused explosions that caused severe damage on the railway premises and to the centre of the town. The upper storey of the station building was badly damaged and it was not subsequently rebuilt.
  After the end of the Second World War,  clean-up and repair work on the railway premises soon began and so on 11 May 1945, the first train ran from the bridge over the Elbe in Niederwartha near Dresden via Elsterwerda to Berlin. As early as July 1945, 210 railwaymen were employed in Elsterwerda. Later, the administration of Elsterwerda station, which included the Elsterwerda locomotive depot and Elsterwerda-Biehla station, employed about 1,000 railway workers.
  After the reunification of Germany, there were radical changes at the Elsterwerda precinct and it lost its significance. The locomotive depot was closed and the operation of locomotives was moved to other locations. A similar fate also affected the track maintenance operations. Employees were dismissed or transferred. The station building was reconstructed from 1988 to 1991, receiving a completely different look. The new station layout was completed in March 1992.
  A siding runs from the station into the industrial area of Elsterwerda-West and there is also a container terminal.
caption: Memorial stone at Elsterwerda station
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