Considering that I spent three days in Düsseldorf, it's surprising that I only stopped in the…read morehauptbahnhof the one time when I arrived. It is a large station with 16 rail platforms plus four tram platforms and four Stadtbahn platforms. As such, it is Germany's sixth busiest station. The parts that I encountered were step free but I'm not sure if the entire station is such. I was able to roll my spinner suitcase easily from the train, through the station and out to the tram. Signage looked good and easy to read. Lots of food and some retail shopping opportunities here. And in 2021, masks are required throughout the train system. [Review 16340 overall - 151 in Germany - 1847 of 2021.]

This is the central train station in Dusseldorf, Germany. The station is very clean and modern…read more There is an Information Desk at the entrance. There are a lot of shops and places to get food. Signage is excellent, and all overhead announcements are in English in addition to German.

Fortunately I didn't miss my train at this station, but that mainly had to do with the train coming…read morenot too long after my previous train dropped me off. Mind you, as I discovered, when a train is cancelled, you can still basically get to where you want to go, it is just somewhat more complicated. Anyway, this was the interchange station we used to get to Arnhem, and even if we were going straight to Amsterdam we still would have had to change trains here. It is a larger station and Venlo, and even had a Starbucks, not that I actually went inside and got anything, namely because even though we had time to catch out train, it wasn't all that long.

Station Nijmegen is a pretty decent public transport hub. They have intercity trains here that head…read morein the direction of Amsterdam/schiphol as well as towards den Bosch/rosendaal. Plus all the regional busses connect here to the train network. There's also a pretty decent selection of shops to choose from if you're looking for a last minute book or food for in the train. It's also in a good location in respect to the historic center of Nijmegen if you're coming on a day trip or visit. It's fairly clearly signed and walking distance to all the sights.

Imagine being in a foreign country. Now imagine being there with your parents. Now imagine being…read morethe only person of the three who can speak the local language. You've got a train to catch, and there's some confusion as to whether you're in the right place. You want to go looking for the information you need, but you don't really want to leave your parents alone on the platform. So you bring them with you. You ask a few people, who seem less than interested in assisting you. Yes, it is odd for Americans to end up in Emmerich. It's not exactly the port of entry for many tourists. In fact, the only foreigners who regularly visit Emmerich are Dutch, and they're not there to see the sights; they're there to buy cheap gasoline. Having been dropped off by my brother's girlfriend's parents at the nearest to their house German city that had a direct train to Hamburg, our final destination, I felt like I really needed to prove to my parents that all those ridiculous German classes were worth something. So I struggled through it. And asked. And persisted. And asked more. And basically wouldn't take no for an answer. There's no real lesson in this. The train station is efficient, as are most German train stations, but it's also shabby. I won't say run down, but it could use some sprucing up. But who am I kidding? European train stations are often microcosms of their cities, which take on the personalities of their inhabitants, so all I'll say is that Bahnhof Emmerich is cold, unusually so.

I took the Schwebebhan (suspension railway) several times during my intracity excursions while…read morevisiting Wuppertal, the city in which this railway is located. Wuppertal is a semi quaint (in some sections) though fully modern European town/city. This quirky infrastructure definitely adds to the interesting, dare I say cool, feel to this location. The Schwebebhan began operation in 1901 and is comprised of 20 stations, according to my research it has a daily ridership of 82,000 in average (as of 2014). To the best of my knowledge it is the only railway of its type in the world and is defiantly a source of pride for the locals. It is also a terrific space saver because in many places it straddles the river that traverses the city it serves. Be sure to ask about the young Elephant who had an unfortunate incident while attempting to ride the Schwebebhan during a publicity stunt. This happened when the circus was in town in 1950. The elephant who became known as "Tuffi" fell through the bottom a car and landed in the river (Tuffi is Italian for "waterdive). The floors are certainly built stronger now (probably even surpassing baby elephant standards) especially since there was a "complete modernization"in 1997. If you find yourself in Wuppertal, Germany be sure to take a ride on this very interesting conveyance,especially if you want to get some place quickly and for only a couple of euros. If you ask any of the locals, they seem to become instant historians as this source of local pride seems to have that effect on people as it did with me. -KS.

Have to confess I envy the good people of Wuppertal... This is by far the best method of normal…read morepublic transportation I've experienced anywhere. It's been on my to do list for quite some time and now I finally to got to see it and ride it. Just completely unique! Certainly worth the effort to make a little sidetrack on my way from Düsseldorf to Koln to have this experience.

Yes, it's a very small station but when one train comes in at the same time as another, there's one…read morebottleneck at the door to get from the platform into the station hall. Some very unclever person didn't think that through. And worse, all of these people are in a rush to get to their train. Dumb design and I'm surprised no one got hurt today.

The lady behind the counter couldn't be bothered to help explain how to buy a ticket at the machine…read moreand which one to choose. She clearly was not there to help customers find their way and seemed annoyed by my questions. Why is she there???

Getting better! The train station here has been upgraded with a brand-new wooden roof, much larger…read morethan the original. Unfortunately, they demolished a gorgeous old building, which is typical of the city of Ede. I have yet to discover if they have also installed new bathrooms, always necessary when traveling, as sometimes you take more than two or three hours to get to your destination within Holland -- even with its excellent public transportation. Fortunately these days the trains are better equipped. Selfishly I would love to see an improvement at the station level as well. Parking is easy but a good five minute walk away. And free.

It's a train station... It functions as such... It's not well packed with shops that make me spend…read moremoney on things I didn't know I really needed.. It's okay... Its not an architectural miracle, it's not funny, clean or friendly for people passing... It's not super easy to figure out were is bus/taxi/train... What does it have? - 2 snack bars - 2 coffee place thingies - 1 newsstand (that is also 1 if the coffee place thingies) - 1 taxi rank with smokey taxies (yes all of them smell) - 1 flowers/plants shop And in wintertime: - 1 Oliebollen cart (fried sweet dough stuff that the Dutch love! ...I'm Dutch! Frisk kin' love Oliebollen!)

Fantastic architecture! This station is easy to maneuver and…read moreit has escalators to get up to the train platforms, and they all work!

It took me a bit to work out how to get out of this station, namely because they had those…read moreelectronic ticketing gates and all we had was a Eurail Pass. Fortunately there was a symbol on the pass to allow you to enter and leave these gates without having to hunt down somebody in authority that is willing to help you (especially since there wasn't anybody attending the gates). Mind you, I expected more from the Dutch, but such is life. Actually, I also got the same disinterest when I went to catch the train the next morning. On the other hand, this station did look like a space ship, which was pretty cool.