The station in Bad Bentheim, Lower Saxony, gained some celebrity status in 2016 - for a reconstruction measure of the most beautiful sign citizen quality. At that time, the platform was significantly increased, which meant that the doors of the building to the tracks could no longer be opened. Travelers had to climb through a window to get into the station.
The city conceded a lot of ridicule, but took it with humor. "It has to get worse before it gets better," commented Volker Pannen, mayor of Bad Bentheim. And how to make a virtue out of necessity, the city proved in late 2018 at the reopening of the station, where the "famous window" and the snappiest headlines were issued.
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Stations of the Year: Where traveling is funThe pro-rail alliance paid tribute to the humorous treatment of ridicule - and selected the station from Bad Bentheim to Germany's station of the year 2019. The ability to laugh at itself impressed the jury. "From the object of ridicule to the role model in Germany - that's what Bad Bentheim has achieved with its completely successful train station in just a few years," says Dirk Flege, Managing Director of the lobby association.
Just arrived on the way to Essen & have seen the construction work in #BadBentheim. Something went wrong pic.twitter.com/79mDAYRThH
- Matthias Herbst (@Matthias_Autumn) August 30, 2016The jury also justified the award with its customer-friendly design: there is a bike station, a bright seating area with comfortable benches, consumer-friendly information about trains and buses, and a light-flooded station café.
"After extensive refurbishment work, the station is now a place where travelers and commuters alike feel comfortable," states a statement. As soon as you enter the building from the imperial era you feel that you are welcome.
Special price for Cuxhaven
Cuxhaven received a special prize for civic engagement. The reason is stated: "In the city on the North Sea citizens saved their station with unprecedented commitment and the creation of a cooperative from the sinking."
Since 2004, the Pro-Rail Alliance has been honoring the best stations nationwide every year. Last year, Eppstein in the Taunus and Winterberg in Hochsauerland made the race. The reason for this was that the two winners from Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia were "public railway stations" and had services on offer which were usually found in city halls.
The station in Lutherstadt Wittenberg won in 2017 together with the historic border railway station Bayerisch Eisenstein. And due to a successful renovation in 2018, the Marburg train station was awarded.