Ilmenau station is one of four stations in the Ilmenau municipality in the German state of Thuringia. The station is referred to locally as Ilmenau Hauptbahnhof (main station), but this has never been its official name. Location Ilmenau station is at an altitude of 478.46 metres. It is located southeast of the town centre. To the south, it is bordered by Langewiesener Straße (the road to Langewiesen, B 88). To the east is Neuhäuser Weg, to the west in the Ilmenau main street (B 4/B 88) Friedrich-Ebert-Straße. To the north, the station area is bordered by Bücheloher Straße (B 87). The southern part the station has been raised about two metres above ground level. This used material from the cuttings at Roda. Other stations in the town of Ilmenau are or were: Ilmenau-Pörlitzer Höhe, Ilmenau Roda, Ilmenau Bad (no scheduled services), Manebach (no scheduled services) and Grenzhammer (closed). History There are currently two platforms with 3 platform faces in Ilmenau station. Platform 1 (the "house" platform) is used for travel to Erfurt, while platforms 2 and 3 (sharing an island) are no longer used by scheduled services. Steam excursions to Rennsteig operate from platform 2, but platform 3 (a bay platform) is currently not used. Two other tracks were used for freight operations to the east of the three platform tracks. These were removed about 2002, but the loading ramp is still easily recognisable. Many tracks were also formerly operated in the north-eastern part of the station for marshalling and freight traffic. Three factory sidings branched off directly from the station: one ran to the slaughterhouse, another to the Porzellanfabrik Galluba & Hofmann (porcelain factory on Neuhäuser Weg) and the third ran for about two kilometres to the Graf von Henneberg Porzellan Ilmenau (another porcelain factory). It was laid down only in 1973 and included another freight yard with several tracks to the north of the station. The construction of a new freight yard started in the 1970s, which was located to the east of the station on Neuhäuser Weg. In 2006, there was a large open-air area with railway tracks and station lighting systems. It is planned to convert the area into a commercial area. Platforms Connecting lines Ilmenau station is located at line-kilometre 19.18 (distance calculated from Plaue) of the Arnstadt–Ilmenau railway, which was opened in 1879 and was extended to Themar in 1904. It runs through the