The original station of the
Badische Hauptbahn (
Baden mainline) from
Heidelberg, opened in 1840, was a terminal station at the current
Tattersall tram stop to the north of the current station. Plans for a bridge over the
Rhine to
Ludwigshafen (now the
Konrad Adenauer Bridge), however, soon made it necessary to move the station. The station building, some of which still survives, was built between 1871 and 1876. From around 1900, consideration was given to extending or relocating the station. In 1915 it was decided to expand the existing station. In 1927, the front of the station was demolished and rebuilt closer to the street, doubling the area of the station. During this restructuring, there was debate on whether the facade should be restored to its original form. Ultimately, it was rebuilt in a simplified form. Due to the substantial destruction during
World War II and the subsequent reconstruction of the facade it was simplified again and rebuilt without decorative elements, but reminiscent of its previous form. In the summer 1939 timetable the station is shown as having 94 arriving and departing regular long-distance trains per day.
Deutsche Reichsbahn ranked it as the 14th most congested node of its network. Between 1977 and 1982 a new
relay interlocking system (class SpDrS60) was installed, replacing the
electro-mechanical interlocking at the eastern end of the station and three push button interlockings in the rest of the station area. In the mid-1980s, the new signal box controlled of line with 721 appliances (including 250
sets of points and
derails as well as 66 main signals). On 2 June 1985, the
Western Entrance to the Riedbahn (Ried Railway) to Mannheim was opened. This avoided the need for trains running from Frankfurt via Mannheim to Stuttgart and Karlsruhe to reverse in Mannheim Hauptbahnhof. With a total of 269 arrivals and departures of scheduled long-distance trains each day in Mannheim Hauptbahnhof in the timetable for the summer of 1989, it was the tenth most important node in the
Deutsche Bundesbahn network. With 308 such arrivals and departures each day in the timetable for the summer of 1996, it had become the sixth most important node in the Deutsche Bahn network. In 1995, a parking garage was built under the station forecourt and the station building was comprehensively renovated and redesigned between 1999 and 2001. The platform-side buildings were extended and had their symmetry restored, while the entrance hall received a glass dome. The blend of tradition and modernism is considered successful. With 332 arrivals and departures in the 2004 timetable, the station had become the fifth most important node in the Deutsche Bahn network. On 18 July 2007, the new central bus station was officially opened adjacent to the station. The nine parking bays used by long-distance buses operated from the bus station are currently served by more than 30 bus routes, according to the operator,
Mannheimer Parkhausbetriebe GmbH.
Train collision in 2014 On 1 August 2014, a freight train passing through Mannheim Hauptbahnhof crashed into the side of long-distance passenger train
EuroCity 216 (from
Graz to
Saarbrücken) when both trains entered the station. Five cars of the EuroCity derailed, two of which overturned; two freight cars and the freight locomotive also derailed. Of the 250 passengers on the EuroCity, 34 were injured, plus four seriously (as stated in the EUB report; numbers vary among sources). Investigators determined that the freight train had failed to heed a main signal which commanded 'halt' (a red light). This happened because the driver assumed to not have reached the station yet, so he expected the signals to be on the left side, like the previous ones; but in stations, signals are placed to the right. Therefore, he took the "proceed" signal for the EuroCity as meant for him. When he passed the main signal at danger, the
PZB safety system was triggered and forced the freight train to stop immediately. Instead of contacting the train controller for instructions, which is mandatory, the driver restarted the train on his own. He assumed that the PZB action was due to the missing acknowledgement of the distant signal ('expect halt') at the same location, but even then permission to continue must be asked for. He then passed two more signals ("
Schutzsignale") at danger (red 'halt' aspect, not guarded by PZB) and hit the EuroCity. The accident caused a damage of 2.3 million Euros. In September 2016, the driver was convicted for intentionally endangering railway operations and for bodily injury caused by negligence, because he had continued after the forced braking without permission from the traffic controller. He received six months in prison on
probation and 100 hours of community service. ==Planned developments==