The old photograph shows the railway line and the north-west portal of the old railway tunnel in Donauwörth. Trains ran here until 1877 to the old Donauwörth station lying just past the tunnel.
The first train ran to Donauwörth in 1847. The station was located at that time in an area now occupied by a street called Promenade, one kilometre closer to the city centre than the present station. In 1861, a railway siding was built from this station to serve steam shipping on the Danube in the area of the modern Zirgesheimer Straße. The station was located directly next to a former 125 metre long railway tunnel. The tunnel is now usable by pedestrians and cyclists. During the Second World War, it was used for the manufacture of war munitions.[4][5]
The railway from Neuoffingen to Regensburg was opened in 1877. This crossed the existing line to Augsburg in Donauwörth. Therefore, the present Donauwörth station was built, from 1874 to 1877, in the southwest of the city and it was opened on 15 November 1877. In the Second World War Donauwörth station was destroyed in air attacks on 11 and 19 April 1945. It was reconstructed from 1948 to 1953.[6] In 2001, the station forecourt was redesigned as a bus station.
In Donauwörth, Regionalbahn services intersect on the Ries Railway to Aalen, the Danube Valley Railway from Ulm to Regensburg and the line from Augsburg to Nuremberg. Since the commissioning of the high-speed line from Nuremberg to Ingolstadt, some Intercity-Express services have been discontinued and replaced by Regional-Express services, creating a direct connection to Nuremberg. In the opposite direction the Allgäu-Franken-Express creates a through service to Lindau and Oberstdorf. The long-planned Fugger-Express was introduced on the Munich–Augsburg–Donauwörth–Aalen route at the timetable change on 13 December 2009. This means that almost all regional services to Augsburg continue to Munich.[7]
Through connection from/to Regensburg on Sat and Sun
(as of December 2022)
Facilities
The station has a ticket office, Service Store, book store and waiting room. Next to the station there is a car park for rail passengers and bike racks.
Project
The city of Donauwörth seeks to modernise and improve the accessibility of the station by the installation of lifts on all platforms. This is estimated to cost €3.2 to 3.7 million and sources of finance are not yet clear. Another project that has long been pursued, however, is the extension of the railway underpass to the south side of the station on Industriestraße. This would improve access to the Eurocopter plant.[8]
