Essen Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in the city of Essen in western Germany. It is situated south of the old town centre, next to the A 40 motorway. It was opened in 1862 by the Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn. However, the station was not the first in Essen: as the station called Essen on the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn was opened in 1847. The station suffered extensive damage in World War II and was almost completely rebuilt in the 1950s and 1960s.