Regensburg Hauptbahnhof is located on the southern edge of the old city (Altstadt) in the immediate vicinity of Schloss St. Emmeram.

Regensburg was connected to the railway network relatively late; although the first line in Bavaria opened in 1835, it took until 1859 for the Bavarian Eastern Railway (Königlich privilegirte Aktiengesellschaft der bayerischen Ostbahnen) to link this east Bavarian metropolis with Nuremberg and Munich, the first line to be built going via Amberg.

The first station building was built between 1859 and 1864 at the southern end of Maximilianstraße to plans by architect Heinrich von Hügel, its great length, twin towers and five-arched portal reflecting the influence of the Italian renaissance.

At a cost of 24 million DM it replaced eight old signal boxes that had been repaired at the end of the Second World War.

The following is a summary as of December 2020: The platform announcements which inform travellers of the arrival and departure of trains at Regensburg Hauptbahnhof and also welcome alighting passengers were digitalised in July 2008.