Weiden West

Sometimes I post pictures simply because of the angle. Like this one.

Cologne Weiden-West is one of the newer stations in the Cologne traffic system. It has both the terminal station for the LRV line one and is a stop along the S-Bahn line Cologne-Düren, which runs parallel and right next to, but is operationally completely separate from, the Cologne-Düren high-speed line. As you can see, it is right about kilometer eleven.

In addition to the two stops, the area also has an enormous car park. The idea is that people from west of Cologne travel here by car or S-Bahn, then use tram or S-Bahn to get into the city center. It is also very important for sports fans, because line one leads directly to the RheinEnergieStadion, the stadium where Cologne's premier league team (1. FC Köln) plays. The expected additional traffic during games is also the reason why the station has four platforms, which is complete overkill during normal operation.

(By the way, for people who know this area by car only: This is basically opposite from the Porta central management, known to drivers on the A4 motorway because it wishes us all a good journey in huge letters.)