The station was recently modernised and completely electrified, and is now fully connected with Germany's electric railway network.

With increasing traffic, operations became problematic, as the trains crossed a main road directly after leaving the station, and the tracks needed to pass over several small streams.

After being put to various other uses (including the housing of the Harbour Railway administration), the old station building was demolished in 1934, as part of the transformation of the Holstentorplatz.

The problematic layout of the Lübeck inner city, which is situated on an island, had already caused great difficulties for the construction and operation of the original station.

A suitable location was finally found in the Rethteich Meadows, a few hundred metres west of the inner city, near the St. Lawrence Church.

However, in the bombing of 29 March 1942, the passenger bridge took some hits, which partially burned out, and the station wing was rebuilt in simplified form.

From 1945 to 1990, Lübeck Hbf was a border station adjacent to what was, initially, the Soviet occupation zone, and later the German Democratic Republic.

From 14 May 1963 onwards, Lübeck Hbf's most significant attribute was that it had become an important station on the Vogelfluglinie from Hamburg to Scandinavia.

The branch line to Segeberg, which had its platform next to the train hall, had its passenger traffic withdrawn on 26 September 1964, and was closed on 31 December 1967.

Amongst other things, the passage to the station wing was closed, windows were bricked up, and the interior of the train hall was strengthened.

At the same time, an increasingly substantial decline of the station was due to the reluctance of Deutsche Bahn to invest in Lübeck.

The work involved the complete reconstruction of the reception building and train hall, and the basic restoration of the pedestrian bridge.

Seven businesses moved into premises on the pedestrian bridge, including a fast food restaurant, a bookshop, and a pretzel baker.

With the relocation of the travel center to the north wing of the building, establishing a passage to the main hall, construction was practically completed.

However, the initial response was that Lübeck was located in the zone boundary area, right on the border with East Germany, and Deutsche Bahn had a policy against it.

Some of the long-distance travellers at Lübeck Hbf take a train to Lübeck-Travemünde Skandinavienkai, to connect with one of the ferries to Sweden or Finland.