Meißen station

Meißen station S
Interchange station
The station building of 1928
Location	Meißen, Saxony Germany
Coordinates	51°09′47″N 13°28′57″E / 51.163056°N 13.4825°E / 51.163056; 13.4825Coordinates: 51°09′47″N 13°28′57″E / 51.163056°N 13.4825°E / 51.163056; 13.4825
Line(s)	Borsdorf–Coswig (km 95.29)
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	4036
DS100 code	DME
IBNR	8012326
Category	5
History
Opened	1 December 1860
Services
Preceding station   Dresden S-Bahn   Following station Meissen-Triebischtal toward Meißen Triebischtal S 1 Neusörnewitz toward Schöna

Meissen station is the largest railway station in the town of Meissen in the German state of Saxony. The station was opened in 1860 in the district of Cölln. Its entrance building, which was built in 1928, is a heritage-listed building and along with the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof it is considered an architecturally significant transport complex of the interwar period. After the ending of long-distance traffic in the 1960s, the station is now a station of the Dresden S-Bahn with only regional significance.

During the planning phase of Leipzig–Dresden railway, the Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company (Leipzig-Dresdner Eisenbahn-Compagnie), considered a route passing through Meissen, but, in 1835, it selected a route running further north via Riesa because of the more favourable topography. It proposed to connect the then important town of Meissen with a branch line. This meant that in 1839 the citizenry of Meissen needed to travel to Priestewitz station or Oberau station at the end of Oberau Tunnel to board trains, although from 1842 they could use Niederau station, which was around seven kilometres away. Two decades later, on 9 July 1860, the first sod was turned for the construction of the Coswig–Meißen branch line. The company opened it for passenger operations on 1 December 1860. At first, three pairs of trains a day ran from Meissen station to Dresden Leipziger Bahnhof (the company's station in Dresden). The trains on this 23 km long route stopped at Neusörnewitz, Coswig, Kötzschenbroda, Weintraube and Radebeul, taking 45 minutes.

The Borsdorf–Coswig railway was completed with the commissioning of the Nossen–Meissen section on 22 December 1868; the line now connected with the Leipzig–Dresden railway in both Borsdorf and Coswig. Meissen station was thus converted from a terminus into a through station and direct connections to Leipzig were now possible. Due to the unfavorable topography, this line never achieved the importance of the flatter line via Riesa; nevertheless, for a long time express trains also ran via Meissen.