Virtual Railfan Tour - Monday - Hamburg Altona

German ICE trains. In the foreground is a ICE 1 loco hauled first generation intercity train. Behind is an new ICE-T EMU tilting train.

Most trains with Hamburg as destination do not originate or terminate at Hamburg Hbf. They go on through the main station to Hamburg Altona which is a terminus station located a few minutes west of the main station. There are storage yards where domestic and international passenger trains can be cleaned and stabled between runs.

One reason for seeing Hamburg Altona is to see the different station layout at this terminus station. Another was to see why there seemed to be so many problems here. During 2018, DB was experiencing very serious delays on intercity and international trains heaving the Hamburg main station, reason being that these were leaving Altona quite late. 

General layout at Altona. The line from the Haubtbahnhof comes in from the east (right). The green tracks are the S-bahn

Detail of the Altona terminus

Stub end platform at Hamburg Altona terminus. This ramp is used for loading vehicles onto flatcars, similar to the Swiss HUPAC (Piggyback) trains.

Platforms at Hamburg Altona. There may once have been a structure here to explain the odd track configuration between the platforms.

ICE-T train leaving Hamburg Altona

ICE 1 arrives from Hamburg Hbf. The Altona storage tracks are to the left of the main approach

Locomotive and coaches, hauled by an older class 101 

Local train Schleswig Holstein

Local switching at Altona is providd by an older Class 362 diesel siderod switcher. This one is buried behind a Czech national railways (České dráhy - CD) EuroCity train to Prague and can't do any more work until the EC train leaves.

Czech Vectron on the Hamburg - Prague EuroCity train. České dráhy leases these engines on a ten year lease to provide these EuroCity services.

Kids zone on the Czech EC train

Paul Churcher video of the Prague train leaving Hamburg Altona. It will fill at Hamburg Hbf in a couple of minutes time.

YouTube video of train movements in Hamburg Altona

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