Cologne Hauptbahnhof, or main station, is one of Germany's busiest railway stations.  It is located directly next to the city's principal landmark, the towering Cologne Cathedral, on the western bank of the River Rhine at the end of the adjoining Hohenzollern Bridge (Hohenzollernbrücke). 

The station was built in 1859, with the great dome over platforms 2 to 7 added in 1894.  The entrance hall was replaced with a new building after the War and in the mid 1980s two metro (S-Bahn) stations were added below the mainline one.

London in 5 hours
Cologne is a central hub for long distance rail services, including inter-city expresses from and to Hamburg, Frankfurt, Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Paris and many other major European cities.  It's just 5 hours by train from London (via Eurostar /  Brussels).

Local transport
The main station also provides a direct rail link to Cologne-Bonn airport (11 minutes), and S-Bahn links around the city and down the Rhine to the former capital, the sleepy little town of Bonn.  You use the Cologne public transport website to plan your journey, but may need the tips on using this on the City centre to stadium page.

To the stadium
The metro does not run direct to the Rhein Energie Stadion from the main station.  You need to take the S16, 17 or 18 to Neumarkt and change there onto the U1.  You can also walk to Neumarkt or across the bridge to Deutz and pick up the U1 there (see City centre to stadium).

The station is right next to the cathedral

Mainline Services
Cologne main station offers direct connections to 9 of the other 11 cities hosting World Cup games - and the other two (Leipzig and Kaiserslautern) can be reached with just one change.  See German rail journey planner and below:

Cologne to / from other World Cup cities by rail:

     Map of station location

InterRail
Eurail
Rail discount cards