Wanne-Eickel Hauptbahnhof is a station of major traffic importance as a crossroads on the east-west Dortmund-Duisburg line and the north-south Münster-Essen line, which among other things, is the beginning of the Rollbahn (rolling railway) to Hamburg.
Following the merger of the cities of Herne and Wanne-Eickel in 1975 the name of the station remained as Wanne-Eickel Hauptbahnhof, although it is the largest station in the city of Herne on its current boundaries.