Oberursel’s station has been awarded the title “Station of the Year” by the organisation “Allianz pro Schiene”, a collection of 20 non-profit organisations that have come together to promote environmentally friendly and safe railway travel.
The station, with the recently restored listed building, won in the category for towns with a population of less than 100,000.
On Monday, 23rd September, 2013 the certificate and brass plaque were officially handed over during a ceremony at the station, in which members of the jury explained why the station had won.
The certificate for Station of the Year being presented in Oberursel (from left to right): Dieter Harms (ACE Auto Club Europa), Dirk Flege (Managing Director, Allianz pro Schiene), Mayor Hans-Georg Brum, Christian Schultz (Deutsche Bahnkunden-Verband) and Station Manager Heiko Scholz (Deutsche Bahn)
It was the combination of both the S-Bahn and U-Bahn with their new platforms, but also the variety of services available inside the building that were obviously important, however the jury also pointed out that they visited the station outside the normal opening hours, for example to see what it was like in the evenings, stressing that they would not give the prize to a station that was simply closed down at the end of the day.
Members of the public who were present were asked during the presentation what they would improve at the station. “More toilets” was one of the suggestions, to which one member of the committee commented “you can never have enough toilets” – a sore point considering that the town closed the free toilets between the U-Bahn platform and the Nassauer Straße last December.
Another person asked when a station clock would be added to the area near the building, commenting that the only clocks at present were on the platforms.
Unveiling the brass plaque at the new subway (from left to right): Karin Schunda (Architect, monogruen), Heiko Scholz, Dirk Flege, Dr. André Zeug (Chairman of DB Station & Service AG), Hans-Georg Brum, Dieter Hams, Christian Schultz, Prof. Knut Ringat (Managing Directory of Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund GmbH)
And although he did not comment on those points, Mayor Hans-Georg Brum did try to make light of some of the criticism that the re-development on the area has come in for, specifically the new building containing doctors’ surgeries on the other side of the road.
“Some people say the area is turning into a concrete jungle” he said, commenting “I think the concrete jungle has gone down very well.”
Those who have had to move their businesses at the station elsewhere to make room for the redevelopment may beg to differ.
Station of the Year 2013 – The brass plaque
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