Achern station is the largest and most important of the four stations in the town of Achern in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located at kilometre 125.3 of the Rhine Valley Railway (Rheintalbahn), which connects Mannheim and Basel and is the starting point of the Acher Valley Railway (Achertalbahn), which runs to Ottenhöfen. The station has four platforms and it is classified by Deutsche Bahn (DB) as a category 4 station. It has also been the terminus of lines S32 and S4 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn since December 2004. Location Achern station is located on the northwestern edge of the town of Achern, about west of the town centre, at the southern edge of the Mittelmatten industrial estate. Bundesstraße 3 (federal highway 3) runs next to Achern station and the new Karlsruhe–Basel high speed line runs parallel to the Rhine Valley Railway past the station. History On 11 June 1844, the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway opened the Baden-Oos–Offenburg section of the Rhine Valley Railway running through Achern. A station was opened in Achern at the same time. There were demands from the opening of the Rhine Valley Railway, especially in the middle of the 19th century, for a connection from the line to the factories based in the Acher valley (Achertal), which adjoins Achern. There were plans from 1889 to build a narrow gauge railway, which were not carried out. Finally, in 1894, a railway committee (Bahnkomitee) was established, which now promoted a standard gauge railway from Achern via Oberachern and Kappelrodeck to Ottenhöfen im Schwarzwald. In mid-1895, the preparatory work for the Acher Valley Railway were completed and a year later final approval was given for its construction. On 1 September 1898, 45 years after the opening of the Rhine Valley Railway, the Acher Valley Railway was opened by Vering & Waechter, a railway construction and operating company, which became part of the German Railway Operating Company (Deutsche Eisenbahn-Betriebs-Gesellschaft or DEBG) on 1 April 1917. After its dissolution it was taken over by the Südwestdeutsche Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft (Southwest German Transport Company, SWEG). Achern station was connected to the electric railway network, as the Rhine Valley Railway was electrified in 1957. In the 1990s, the Rhine Valley Railway was straightened and it was moved about 100 metres to the west in the Achern area. The old station was abandoned and demolished and the current station was built