Herbesthal railway station

Herbesthal railway station
Bahnhof Herbesthal
Frontier station
Herbesthal railway station (ca 1900)
General information
LocationHerbesthal (Lontzen),
Prussia (1843–1871)
Germany (1871–1920)
Belgium (1920–1966)
Coordinates50°39′37.8″N 5°59′10.7″E / 50.660500°N 5.986306°E / 50.660500; 5.986306
Platforms7
History
Opened1843
Closed1966
Location
Herbesthal railway station (1843–1966) is located in Belgium
Herbesthal railway station (1843–1966)
Herbesthal railway station (1843–1966)
Location within Belgium
The footprint of the western part of the old station passenger and frontier administration building is marked on the ground. The position of the eastern end of the building is buried in undergrowth. A programme is ongoing to improve the site of the former station, and several trilingual information boards are already in place (2015).
A large mail sorting depot was placed next to the frontier station at Herbesthal, proudly identified on this 1907 postcard as Europe's first [international] mail sorting depot.
The mail sorting building is still (2015) there, but the confident architecture has been compromised by dilapidation: mail sorting ended here many decades ago.

Herbesthal railway station was the Prussian/German frontier station on the main railway from Germany into Belgium between 1843 and 1920. It opened to rail traffic on 15 October 1843,[1] and was thereby the oldest railway station frontier crossing in the world. It lost its border status on 10 January 1920, however, as a result of changes mandated in the Treaty of Versailles, which left Herbesthal more than 10 km (6.2 mi) inside Belgium.[2]

  1. ^ Leo Kever (9 March 2013). "Seit 1843 führt eine der wichtigsten Eisenbahnverbindungen über Herbesthal". Grenz-Echo AG, Eupen. Retrieved 17 October 2015.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Hans Schweers; Henning Wall (1993). Eisenbahnen rund um Aachen: 150 Jahre internationale Strecke Köln – Aachen – Antwerpen. Verlag Schweers + Wall, Aachen. ISBN 3-921679-91-5.