Halle and Eisenach via Erfurt. The Nordhausen-Erfurt Railway Company (Nordhausen-Erfurter-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) opened the Nordhausen–Erfurt railway on 17 August 1869. The Erfurt terminus was originally at the Nordhäuser Bahnhof (Nordhausen station) on the Schmidtstedter field; there existed from the outset a transfer railway to the station of the Thuringian Railway Company and from 1872 passenger trains continued through to its station. The Nordhäuser Bahnhof served freight traffic from then on and its entrance building is now used as a residential house. The Sangerhausen–Erfurt railway also originally ended at its own station, the Sangerhäuser Bahnhof, after the opening of the section to Erfurt on 24 October 1881. It was not far from the Nordhäuser Bahnhof and was integrated into the Thuringian station a few years later via the branch line of the Thuringian Railway to the Royal Salt Mine at Ilversgehofen. After that the Sangerhäuser Bahnhof was also exclusively used for freight transport. The three-storey entrance building of the first Erfurt station is still preserved and is now used by Deutsche Bahn AG. It is located west of today's Hauptbahnhof and has a white/olive colour scheme. Previously, with the low buildings on Bahnhofstraße (station street), its tower was widely visible. The building operated from 1847 to 1890 and later became the seat of the railway division (Reichsbahndirektion) of Erfurt. 1890–2002 station The second station building was built as an island station from 1887 to the plans of the railway construction inspector (Eisenbahnbauinspektor) Eduard Keil and the government architect Otto Erlandsen and put into operation in 1893. It is located 30 metres east of the first station building and consisted of a station entrance hall on the station forecourt with shops and the ticket offices as well as the actual entrance building, which was located between the tracks. The buildings were designed in the style of Historicism, with yellow veneer walls and red sandstone walls and ceilings. The tracks were located on an embankment, the former fortress wall. The station had a track on the south side of platform 5 and 6 for the through track for the main line from Bebra to Halle and on the north side of platform 1 and 2 for the track for the opposite direction. In 1912, an additional set of points was installed at platform 1, which made it possible to process two trains one after the other at platforms 1 and 2. In addition, there were