Lindau-Insel station

Lindau-Insel station () (until May 15, 1936 "Lindau Stadt", until December 12, 2020 "Lindau Hauptbahnhof") is the largest station in the city of Lindau (Bodensee) and was its most important station until passenger service resumed at Lindau-Reutin station () on December 13, 2020. In the urban area there is also "Lindau-Aeschach" station and "Lindau-Reutin" freight yard. Formerly there were also "Lindau-Siebertsdorf" (called "Lindau-Zech" until 15 May 1936), "Lindau Langenweg", "Lindau Strandbad", "Schoenau", "Oberreitnau" and "Rehlings".
Location.
Lindau-Insel is a railway terminus and lies on the island of Lindau in the immediate vicinity of Lindau harbour. The current station building, which is protected as a monument, was built between 1913 and 1921 in the Art Nouveau style.
The station is about 500 metres long and is connected by a four-track line running over an embankment to the mainland. The embankment and the parallel Seebrücke road bridge, which is about 500 metres to the east, form the perimeter of the so-called Kleinen See (small lake), which lies between the suburb of Aeschach and the island. On the west side of the station there is a small marshalling yard and the former depot. Meanwhile, some workshops in the rear are still used for vehicle maintenance.
The railway lines separate the districts of Hauptinsel (main island) from the Hinteren Insel (rear island). However, a pedestrian bridge and the Thiersch road bridge run above the tracks. As part of the "Lindau 21" project, it is proposed that the terminal station be replaced by a through station on the mainland at Lindau-Reutin to simplify operations.
History.
Lindau is the terminus of the Allgäu Railway, running from Munich via Kempten. Its southeastern section from Oberstaufen to Lindau was completed on 1 September 1853. From 1869 to 1939 there was a ferry port for the carriage of freight wagons to Romanshorn and from 1873 to 1899 to Konstanz. In 1899, the Bodenseegürtel Railway was opened from Radolfzell via Friedrichshafen. The Vorarlberg Railway runs from Lindau via Bregenz, Dornbirn and Feldkirch to Bludenz and is operated by the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB). As a result, Lindau is also a border station. Formerly the ÖBB had its own ticket office in Lindau station; this was replaced by ticket machines, which still exist.
The route to Bludenz was electrified on 14 December 1954 and is still the only electrified line to Lindau. In Lindau station, tracks 1 to 3 are electrified. Even Swiss Federal Railways electric locomotives are scheduled to run to Lindau.
Operations.
Long-distance passenger services.
EuroCity line 88 (DB-designation) provides regular connections from Munich via Lindau to Zurich. In addition, a single pair of Intercity services run on German line 32 from Münster via Lindau to Innsbruck. EuroCity and Intercity trains change traction between electric and diesel locomotives in Lindau.
Formerly, Express trains of the ÖBB ran from Lindau, including direct links to Vienna. Today Austrian long-distance trains mostly start in nearby Bregenz. Since December 2010, a daily service operated with Railjet rollingstock has run from Lindau. Initially it runs as a Regional-Express service to Bregenz with a stop in Lochau-Hörbranz. It runs as a Railjet service from Bregenz to Vienna.
Regional services.
Regional services are operated from Lindau station by three companies in three different directions. "DB Regio Allgäu-Schwaben" runs towards Bavaria, "DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee" runs towards Baden-Wurttemberg and "ÖBB" runs towards Austria.
Interregio-Express (IRE) trains run every two hours to and from Friedrichshafen bound for Ulm or Stuttgart. These are supplemented by hourly Regionalbahn (RB) services which operate to and from Friedrichshafen.
Circulating to and from Hergatz among others are "Arriva-Länderbahn-Express" (ALEX, now operated by Netinera) services to and from Munich and the "Allgäu-Franken-Express" (a Regional-Express) to and from Nuremberg. Additionally a Regionalbahn service operates to and from Augsburg as well as individual Regional-Express services to and from Ulm via Kempten.
The ÖBB operates Regional (R) and Regional-Express (REX) services to Bludenz or St. Margrethen in Switzerland.
City buses.
Bus routes 1 and 2 of "Stadtbus Lindau" operate from the station forecourt to all part of the city of Lindau.