Hochdahl station is a through station in the district of Hochdahl of the town of Erkrath in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has two platform tracks and it is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 5 station.^[1]

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Hochdahl
Through station
General information
Location	Ziegeleiweg 3, Erkrath, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany
Coordinates	51°13′07″N 6°56′40″E
Line(s)	Düsseldorf–Elberfeld (KBS 450.8)
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	2798[1]
DS100 code	KHO
IBNR	8002868
Category	5[1]
Fare zone	VRR: 640[2] VRS: 1640 (VRR transitional tariff)[3]
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	10 April 1841[4]
Services
Preceding station Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn Following station Erkrath towards Mönchengladbach Hbf S8 Hochdahl-Millrath towards Hagen Hbf Erkrath towards Langenfeld S68 Hochdahl-Millrath towards Wuppertal-Vohwinkel
Location Hochdahl Location within North Rhine-Westphalia

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The station was opened with the section of the Düsseldorf–Elberfeld railway from Erkrath to Wuppertal-Vohwinkel built by the Düsseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company on 10 April 1841.^[5] The line between Erkrath and Hochdahl has a gradient of 3.33% and rises 82 m in about 2.5 km. For more than one hundred years, this was the steepest main line in Europe. For many years trains had to be hauled by cable, originally driven by a stationary steam engine. A few months later, haulage by cable attached to a stationary steam engine was changed to haulage by cable attached via pulleys; to a locomotive running downhill on an additional track. With the duplication of the remainder of the line in 1865, the steep section of line became three-track, until the electrification of the line in 1963. The third track was rebuilt in 1985, as part of the additional third track built for the planned S-Bahn line. In 1926, cable haulage on the incline was replaced by bank engines.

The station is served by Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn lines S 8 between Mönchengladbach and Wuppertal-Oberbarmen or Hagen every 20 minutes and several S 68 services between Wuppertal-Vohwinkel and Langenfeld in the peak hour.^[6]

It is also served by two bus routes operated by Rheinbahn every 20–60 minutes: O5 and 741.