The station in Rastatt in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg is one of the key points connecting the North and South of Germany via the country’s high-speed Intercity-Express (ICE) service.

“Nothing is entering or leaving the station,” a spokesman for the federal police in the city of Offenburg said.

Passengers were asked to leave the platforms and the station building was evacuated.

An area in front of the station was also cordoned off.

It is unclear why the alarm was raised and no suspicious devices had yet been found.

Bomb disposal experts and sniffer dogs were operating at the scene.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Baden-Wuerttemberg said that there was no indication of a politically motivated attack.

The federal police said that local authorities had been made aware of the threat by telephone.

They gave no further details so as not to hamper an ongoing investigation into the incident.

Germany has been on high alert following three violent attacks in Bavaria, which neighbours Baden-Wuerttemberg, in recent months.

One of the attacks took place on a train, when a 17-year-old Afghan wielding a knife and axe lunged at passengers.