page_title: Wattenscheid station
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Wattenscheid station / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Bahnhof Wattenscheid - Gleis 1 (Richtung Bochum)
context_page_description: Wattenscheid station is on the Witten/Dortmund–Oberhausen/Duisburg railway. It is one of two stations in the formerly independent city of Wattenscheid, now a district of the city of Bochum in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The other station is Wattenscheid-Höntrop. In late 2007, Wattenscheid station was downgraded to a Haltepunkt. It is located just south of central Wattenscheid, next to the A 40 autobahn on the western edge of an industrial area.
context_section_description: A station named Wattenscheid has been at this location since 1874. It was on a line of the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, BME), which was nationalised in 1882. The current station building dates from 1956. The station at that time had more than ten tracks and was one of two rail terminals of the Fröhliche Morgensonne mine. A few hundred metres to the west lies the "Wf" interlocking, which was built in 1957. The freight tracks were dismantled with the closure of the mine.
  A passing loop without a platform running towards Dortmund was removed in early 2006 and a passing loop running towards Essen were removed at the end of 2007, leaving Wattenscheid station with only two tracks around a central platform. With the new 2007/2008 timetable the tracks were renumbered, with the remaining tracks 3 and 4 now renumbered as tracks 1 and 2. Since the two bridges east of the station were built for the outer tracks the platform length was reduced from 310 metres to 250 metres and it was widened so that the tracks could use the outer alignments.
  In 2008, Deutsche Bahn renewed the track, formation, signals and overhead lines in Wattenscheid, repaired the broken station clock and replaced the two existing ticket machines with a new one. Since 2008, the signal box has been closed, with signalling now worked remotely. Over the years, a fast food restaurant and a kiosk have opened in the station's empty rooms.
  Since 2009, further work has been underway to upgrade the line in the area of the station, with the complete dismantling of the old sidings and connections to factories, as well as  work on the overhead lines.
  Rehabilitation of the station and upgrading it for access for the disabled is planned from 2014.
  Deutsche Bahn confirmed on 17 June 2009 that the government of North Rhine-Westphalia was considering including Wattenscheid station in the Rhine-Ruhr Express program, which is scheduled to provide high-speed regional express services from 2023.
caption: The platform has been shortened and widened to meet the former passing loop.
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