The station was opened on 15 May 1847 on the trunk line of the former Cologne-Minden Railway Company. under the name of Essen CM. It and Essen-Bergeborbeck are the oldest stations in modern Essen. A railway association was founded in 1841 by the community of Essen to persuade the Cologne-Minden Railway Company to move its proposed route further south to run through Essen. Even the offer of a subsidy of 2,000 Prussian thalers failed to persuade the CME to change its route because it wanted to avoid hills where possible, running roughly along the course of the Emscher. As a result of this rejection, the city of Essen later spent over 16,000 thalers to establish a road connecting to Altenessen station. Until the establishment of Essen BM station in 1862, Altenessen station served as Essen station. The freight sector was of particular importance to the station, especially the transport of coal from numerous mines in the two communities. In 1872, the station was renamed Altenessen.
A nearly two-kilometre long line the station connected via Helene junction to Essen-Stoppenberg was opened on 27 April 1874. A line opened in 1880, connecting this station to Essen BM, which was renamed Essen Hauptbahnhof in 1897. In addition, connections existed to Essen-Nord and Essen-Segeroth station, which since 1868 had also been called Essen CM and Essen-Altenessen Rheinisch station. After the incorporation of Altenessen in Essen in 1915, the Altenessen station was renamed Essen-Altenessen in 1920. The station was built as a "wedge" station with central station building between the Cologne-Minden line and the line to Stoppenberg. By 1887 the tracks were at ground level, with a nearby level crossing over Essen-Horster Strasse, now Altenessener Strasse. The approximately 170–180 trains running per day meant that the crossing was closed for up to seven hours each day. That made it necessary to rebuild the station, the street and the line. Altenessener Strasse was lowered by 2.64 meters, while the rail lines were raised and three bridges were built. The bridge over Altenessener Strasse and Lierfeldstraße on the line to Stoppenberg was opened on 30 September 1901. The bridge over Altenessener Strasse on the main line was opened on 10 November 1901.
In the Second World War there was a slave labour camp of the railway division of Essen/Ruhr at the station for 27 French prisoners. Heavy air raids in October 1944 destroyed the railway tracks, stopping train operations run through Altenessen. Several bombs also hit the station. The station was renovated in 1999, following the demolition of the station building.
Current services
Today the station serves only as a stop for local traffic on the route between Oberhausen and Gelsenkirchen. It is served every hour by Regional-Express service RE3, Rhein-Emscher-Express Regionalbahn lines RB32 and RB35 and lines U11 and U17 of the Essen Stadtbahn. The station is also a hub for urban transport. It is served by tram line 106, bus line 140, 162/172 and 183 and Essen Stadtbahn lines U11 and U17.
