The town of Kleinen (the prefix "Bad", meaning "
Spa town", was awarded in 1915) was connected to the rail network in 1848, one year after the opening of the
Hagenow Land–Schwerin railway, with the extension to
Wismar. In planning the extension of the line from Schwerin to Rostock it was subsequently decided not to build the line directly from Schwerin, which would have required a crossing of
Lake Schwerin. As a result, Kleinen became, after
Hagenow Land, the second railway hub of
Mecklenburg. In 1870,
a line to Lübeck was opened via Grevesmühlen. The station was rebuilt around 1920. Before that the “home” platforms were located next to the entrance building and other platforms were reached by crossing the tracks. During the rebuilding, island platforms were built on either side of the station building, which are reached by a tunnel. In the first half of the 20th century, the most important routes through the station were the east–west route,
Hamburg–Lübeck–Bad Kleinen–Bützow and continuing to Stettin (now
Szczecin) and the route to the ferries in
Warnemünde and
Sassnitz. After the Second World War and the
division of Germany passenger and freight traffic from the south of
East Germany via
Magdeburg–Wittenberg to Rostock and Wismar became particularly important for the station. On 3 April 1975, the 300th
relay interlocking in East Germany was put into operation in the station. It replaced several
mechanical interlockings. In 1985, the railway station and the lines to Bützow–Rostock, Wismar and Schwerin–
Magdeburg were electrified. On 12 April 1986, a celebration was held at the station for the 1000th km of line electrified since 1981 as part of the
Free German Youth's “Youth Project" (
Jugendobjekt). The memorial plaque was a victim of the changes that occurred in the early 1990s. The electrification of the Magdeburg region mainly served the export of
potash through the port of Wismar. The station is famous for the occasion in 1993 when the police tried to arrest
Red Army Faction members
Birgit Hogefeld and
Wolfgang Grams. Grams and
GSG-9 officer
Michael Newrzella were shot and killed in a shootout on one of the platforms. Since the timetable change in December 2008, nearly all intercity trains no longer stop at Bad Kleinen. Until that time, most long-distance trains running on the line through the station had stopped at it. The track infrastructure (ballast bed and sleepers) at the station was renovated between 2011 and 2013. Since then, the station can be passed at 100 km/h. Work on the reconstruction of the station facilities began in autumn 2016. Barrier-free access and the construction of new platforms were planned. The station building, the engine shed and the other isolated buildings were completely demolished from January to March 2017. The demolition of the historic station ensemble disturbed the public. The renovations were completed in December 2018. ==Infrastructure ==