The station's name was reflected in 1875 when the villages of Eickel, Bicker, Crange, Holsterhausen and Röhlinghausen were merged under the name of Amt Wanne.

[4] With the opening of the line to Münster on 1 January 1870, Wanne station became a railway junction.

Wanne-Eickel Hauptbahnhof is a station of major traffic importance as a crossroads on the east-west Dortmund–Duisburg line and the north-south Münster–Essen line, which among other things, is the beginning of the Rollbahn (rolling railway) to Hamburg.

In 2003, Deutsche Bahn planned to rename it Herne-Wanne or Herne Hauptbahnhof.

However, these plans met with considerable resistance in the Wanne area, as well as from local politicians in Herne.