Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof

Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof
U Tram
Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof
Terminal station
Location	Frankfurt, Hesse; Germany
Coordinates	50°6′25″N 8°39′45″E / 50.10694°N 8.66250°E
Owned by	Deutsche Bahn
Operated by	DB Netz; DB Station&Service;
Line(s)	Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed; Main–Weser Railway; Kinzig Valley Railway; Frankfurt–Hanau; Taunus Railway; Main Railway; Main-Neckar Railway; Underground: Main-Lahn Railway; Homburg Railway; ;
Platforms	24 mainline (26 tracks on one level); 4 S-Bahn (Tiefbahnhof); 4 U-Bahn (3 for passengers); 3 × 2 Tram;
Connections	Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof underground
Construction
Architect	Hermann Eggert and Johann Wilhelm Schwedler
Architectural style	Renaissance revival (facade); Neoclassicism (extensions);
Other information
Station code	1866
DS100 code	FF
Category	1
Fare zone	: 5001
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	18 August 1888; 133 years ago
Passengers
	493,000 daily
show Services
	Mannheim towards Basel SBB
	Mannheim towards Frankfurt
DB Regio Bayern
DB Regio Mitte
Hessische Landesbahn
VIAS
vlexx
Location
	Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof Location within FrankfurtShow map of Frankfurt am MainShow map of HesseShow map of GermanyShow map of EuropeShow all

Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof (German for Frankfurt (Main) main station), often abbreviated as Frankfurt (Main) Hbf and sometimes translated as Frankfurt central station,^[2] is the busiest railway station in Hesse, Germany.^[2] The affix "Main" comes from the city's full name, Frankfurt am Main ("Frankfurt on the Main"). Because of its location in the middle of Germany and usage as a transport hub for long and short distance travelling, Deutsche Bahn refers to it as the most important station in Germany.

History[]

19th century[]

In the late 19th century, three stations connected Frankfurt to the west, north and south, the

Taunus station for the Taunusbahn (opened 1839), connecting Frankfurt to Wiesbaden
Main-Neckar-station for the Main-Neckar Railway to Darmstadt, Heidelberg and Mannheim (1848))
Main-Weser station for the Main–Weser Railway to Kassel (1852) and from 1860 on also used by the Frankfurt-Bad Homburger Eisenbahn.

Those three stations were placed beside each other on the then Gallustor (today: Willy-Brandt-Platz).

Building the new station[]

A postcard image of the Hauptbahnhof circa 1915

This situation was considered impracticable due to rising passenger figures in the 19th century, so plans were laid out as early as 1866. At first, a large scale station with up to 34 platforms was considered, then the number got reduced to 18. Post and baggage handlings had their own underground facilities, and the city council demanded the station to be moved further away from the city. In the end, in 1881, the German architect Hermann Eggert won the design contest for the station hall, his runner-up in the contest, Johann Wilhelm Schwedler was made chief engineer for the steel-related works. The new station was placed about 1 km to the west of the first three stations. The platforms were covered by three iron-and-glass halls.

The station opens[]

View through the platform hall of the station

Railway station platform 18

The station was built by the contractor Philipp Holzmann with construction starting in 1883.^[3] The Central-Bahnhof Frankfurt was finally opened on 18 August 1888. Right on the evening of the opening day, a train ran over the buffer stop and the locomotive was damaged. Over the course of the next few years, the area to the east of the new station, the Bahnhofsviertel, was built; it was completed around 1900. Until the completion of Leipzig Hauptbahnhof in 1915, Frankfurt station was the largest in Europe. As of 2014, the 24 platforms with 26 tracks on one level probably make it the world's largest one-level railway hall.

Later extensions[]

The 1957 signal box

In 1924 two neoclassical halls were added on each side of the main hall, increasing the number of platforms to 24. During World War II, the building was partly damaged (most notably the windows in the halls covering the platforms). In 1956 the station was fully electrified. One year later, Europe's then-largest signal box was commissioned, which, having been built in a contemporary style of the time has now become a listed building.

Starting with the construction of the B-Tunnel for the Frankfurt U-Bahn facilities in 1971, a subterranean level was added in front of the main building, featuring the city's first public escalator and including a large shopping mall, one station each for the U-Bahn and S-Bahn trains, an air raid shelter and a public car park. The subterranean stations were opened in 1978 and were built in the cut and cover method, which involved the demolition of the second northern hall and rebuilding it after the stations were completed.

Between 2002 and 2006, the roof construction, which is a listed building, was renovated. This involved the exchange of aged steel girders, reinstallation of windows that were replaced by panels after World War II and a general clean-up of the hall construction.

The operational part of the station is being remodeled as well; the old signal box has been recently replaced with an electronic signal box. This was vital to improve capacity of the station. The new signal box became operational in late 2005 and will allow faster speeds into the station (up to 60 km/h) after the remodelling of the tracks.

Architecture[]

Façade

Architectural detail on the front of Frankfurt Am Main Hauptbahnhof

The appearance of the station is divided into perron (track hall) and vestibule (reception hall). Dominant in those parts built in 1888 are Neo-Renaissance features, the outer two halls, added in 1924 follow the style of neoclassicism. The eastern façade of the vestibule features a large clock with two symbolic statues for day and night. Above the clock, the word Hauptbahnhof and the Deutsche Bahn logo are situated.

The roof of the front hall carries a monumental statue of Atlas supporting the World on his shoulders, in this case assisted by two allegorical figures representing Iron and Steam.

Operational usage[]

The station's terminal layout has posed some unique problems ever since the late 20th century, since all trains have to change directions and reverse out of the station to continue on to their destination. This causes long turn-around times and places the passengers in the opposite direction of where they had been sitting. There have been several attempts to change this. The last project, called , was to put the whole station underground, connect it with tunnels also to the east, and so avoid the disadvantages of the terminal layout. This would be financed by selling the air rights over the area now used for tracks as building ground for skyscraper, but this soon proved unrealistic, and the project was abandoned.

Frankfurt is the third-busiest railway station outside Japan and the second-busiest in Germany after Hamburg Hauptbahnhof.^{[citation needed]}

Long distance services[]

As for long-distance traffic, the station profits greatly from its location in the heart of Europe; 13 of the 24 ICE lines call at the station, as well as 2 of the 3 ICE Sprinter lines. To ease the strain on the Hauptbahnhof, some ICE lines now call at Frankfurt Airport station and at Frankfurt (Main) Süd instead of Hauptbhanhof.

Line	Route	Interval
ICE 4 ICE-Sprinter	Hamburg-Altona – Hamburg Dammtor – Hamburg – Hannover – Frankfurt – Darmstadt	One train pair
ICE 11	Hamburg-Altona – Berlin – Leipzig – Erfurt – Frankfurt – Mannheim – Stuttgart – Augsburg – Munich	Every two hours
ICE 12	Berlin Ost – Wolfsburg – Braunschweig – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Frankfurt – Mannheim – Karlsruhe – Freiburg – Basel (– Interlaken Ost)	Every two hours
ICE 13	Berlin Ost – Braunschweig – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Frankfurt	Individual services
ICE 15 ICE-Sprinter	Berlin – Halle – Erfurt – Frankfurt	Every two hours
ICE 20	(Kiel –) Hamburg – Hannover – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Frankfurt – Mannheim – Karlsruhe – Freiburg – Basel – Zürich (– Chur)	Every two hours
ICE 22	(Kiel –) Hamburg – Hannover – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Frankfurt – Frankfurt Airport – Mannheim – Stuttgart	Every two hours
ICE 22	(Munich East – Nuremberg – Würzburg – Hanau –) Frankfurt – Fulda – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Göttingen – Hannover – Bremen – Oldenburg(Oldb)	One train Sun – Fri
ICE 26	(Stralsund –) Hamburg – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Gießen – Frankfurt – Heidelberg – Karlsruhe	Every two hours together with IC line 26
ICE 31	Hamburg-Altona – Hamburg – Bremen – Osnabrück – Münster – Dortmund – Hagen – Wuppertal – Solingen – Cologne – Bonn – Koblenz – Mainz – Frankfurt Airport – Frankfurt – Hanau – Würzburg – Nuremberg – Ingolstadt – Munich	Individual services
ICE 41	(Dortmund –) Essen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf – Köln Messe/Deutz – Frankfurt Airport – Frankfurt – Aschaffenburg – Würzburg – Nuremberg – Munich	Hourly
ICE 49	(Dortmund – Hagen – Wuppertal – Solingen –) Cologne – Siegburg/Bonn – Montabaur – Limburg Süd – Frankfurt Airport – Frankfurt	Individual services
ICE 50	Dresden – Leipzig – Erfurt – Eisenach – Fulda – Frankfurt – Frankfurt Airport – Wiesbaden	Every two hours
ICE 78	Amsterdam – Arnhem – Duisburg – Cologne – Frankfurt Airport – Frankfurt	Every two hours
ICE 79	Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid – Liège-Guillemins – Aachen – Köln – Frankfurt Airport – Frankfurt	Every two hours
ICE/TGV 82	Frankfurt – Mannheim – Kaiserslautern – Saarbrücken/– Karlsruhe – Strasbourg – Paris Est	Every two hours
TGV 84	Frankfurt – Mannheim – Karlsruhe – Baden-Baden – Strasbourg – Mulhouse-Ville – Belfort-Montbéliard – Besançon Franche-Comté – Chalon-sur-Saône – Lyon-Part-Dieu – Avignon – Aix-en-Provence – Marseille-Saint-Charles	One train pair
ECE 151	Frankfurt – Mannheim – Karlsruhe – Baden-Baden – Freiburg(Breisgau) Hbf – Basel Bad Bf – Basel SBB – Olten – Lucerne – Arth-Goldau – Bellinzona – Lugano – Chiasso – Como – Monza – Milan	One train
ECE 52	Milan – Stresa – Domodossola – Brig – Visp – Spiez – Thun – Bern – Olten – Basel SBB – Basel Bad Bf – Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf – Karlsruhe – Mannheim – Frankfurt	One train
ICE 91	(Dortmund – Essen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf – Köln – Bonn – Koblenz – Mainz – Frankfurt Airport –) Frankfurt – Würzburg – Nürnberg – Regensburg – Passau – Linz – Vienna	Every two hours
IC 26	Westerland – Hamburg – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Gießen – Frankfurt – Heidelberg – Karlsruhe	One train pair
IC 31	(Kiel –) Hamburg – Osnabrück – Bremen – Münster – Dortmund – Wuppertal – Cologne – Koblenz – Mainz – Frankfurt (– Würzburg – Nuremberg – Regensburg – Passau)	Every two hours together with ICE line 31
IC/EC 62	Frankfurt – Darmstadt – Heidelberg – Stuttgart – Augsburg – München – Salzburg – Linz or – Graz or – Villach – Klagenfurt	Four train pairs
RJ 63	Frankfurt – Munich – Salzburg – Linz – Vienna – Budapest	Sat and Sun
RJ 66	Budapest – Vienna – Linz – Salzburg – Munich – Frankfurt	Fri and Sat

Local services[]

With regard to regional traffic, Frankfurt Hbf is the main hub in the RMV network, offering connections to Koblenz, Limburg, Kassel, Nidda, Stockheim, Siegen, Fulda, Gießen, Aschaffenburg, Würzburg, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Dieburg, Eberbach, Worms and Saarbrücken with fifteen regional lines calling at the main station.

Line	Route
RE 2	Frankfurt – Frankfurt Airport – Rüsselsheim – Mainz – Bingen (Rhein) – Koblenz
RE 3	Frankfurt – Frankfurt Airport – Rüsselsheim – Mainz – Bingen – Koblenz/Bad Kreuznach – Saarbrücken
RE 4	Frankfurt – Frankfurt-Höchst – Mainz – Worms – Ludwigshafen – Germersheim – Karlsruhe
RE 9	Frankfurt – Frankfurt-Höchst – Mainz-Kastel – Wiesbaden-Biebrich – Wiesbaden-Schierstein – Niederwalluf – Eltville
RE 14	Frankfurt – Frankfurt-Höchst – Mainz – Worms – Ludwigshafen Mitte – Mannheim
RE 20	Frankfurt – Frankfurt-Höchst – Niedernhausen (Taunus) – Limburg (Lahn)
RE 30	Frankfurt – Friedberg (Hess) – Gießen – Marburg (Lahn) – Treysa – Wabern (Bz Kassel) – Kassel
RE 50	Frankfurt – Frankfurt South – Offenbach – Hanau – Fulda
RE 54	Frankfurt – Maintal – Hanau – Aschaffenburg – Würzburg – Bamberg
RE 55	Frankfurt – Offenbach – Hanau – Aschaffenburg – Würzburg/– Bamberg
RE 60	Frankfurt – Darmstadt – Bensheim – Weinheim (Bergstr) – Mannheim
RE 70	Frankfurt – Groß Gerau-Dornberg – Riedstadt-Goddelau – Gernsheim – Biblis – Mannheim
RE 85	Frankfurt – Offenbach – Hanau – Babenhausen – Groß-Umstadt Wiebelsbach (– Erbach (Odenw))
RE 98	Frankfurt – Friedberg – Gießen – Marburg – Treysa – Wabern – Kassel
RE 99	Frankfurt – Friedberg – Gießen – Wetzlar – Dillenburg – Haiger – Siegen
RB 10	Frankfurt – Frankfurt-Höchst – Wiesbaden – Rüdesheim (Rhein) – Koblenz – Neuwied
RB 12	Frankfurt – Frankfurt-Höchst – Kelkheim – Königstein (Taunus)
RB 15	Frankfurt – Bad Homburg – Friedrichsdorf – Wehrheim – Neu-Anspach – Usingen – Grävenwiesbach – Brandoberndorf
RB 22	Frankfurt – Frankfurt-Höchst – Niedernhausen (Taunus) – Limburg (Lahn)
RB 34	Frankfurt – Bad Vilbel – Niederdorfelden – Nidderau – Altenstadt (Hess) – Glauburg-Stockheim
RB 40	Frankfurt – Friedberg (Hess) – Butzbach – Gießen – Wetzlar – Herborn (Dillkr) – Dillenburg
RB 41	Frankfurt – Friedberg (Hess) – Butzbach – Gießen – Marburg (Lahn) – Cölbe – Kirchhain (Bz Kassel) – Stadtallendorf – Neustadt – Treysa
RB 48	Frankfurt– Friedberg (Hess) – Beienheim – Reichelsheim (Wetterau) – Nidda
RB 51	Frankfurt – Offenbach (Main) Hbf – Hanau – Langenselbold – Gelnhausen – Wächtersbach (– Bad Soden-Salmünster)
RB 58	Frankfurt – Frankfurt South – Frankfurt East – Maintal Ost – Hanau – Aschaffenburg
RB 61	Frankfurt – Dreieich-Buchschlag – Rödermark-Ober Roden – Dieburg
RB 67	Frankfurt – Darmstadt – Bensheim – Heppenheim (Bergstr) – Weinheim (Bergstr) – Mannheim
RB 68	Frankfurt – Darmstadt – Bensheim – Heppenheim – Weinheim (Bergstr) – Heidelberg
RB 82	Frankfurt – Darmstadt Nord – Reinheim (Odenw) – Groß-Umstadt Wiebelsbach – Erbach (– Eberbach)

The subterranean S-Bahn station is the most important station in the S-Bahn Rhein-Main network, used by all Frankfurt S-Bahn lines, except line S 7, which terminates at the surface station.

Line	Route
	Frankfurt (Main) Hbf – Walldorf (Hess) – Mörfelden – Groß Gerau-Dornberg – Riedstadt-Goddelau

In brief
Total number of tracks:	120
Number of passenger tracks above ground:	25 main tracks, 2 branch) 3 tram stops (2 tracks each)
below ground:	4 S-Bahn tracks, 4 U-Bahn tracks (3 in use)
Daily trains: (excluding Stadtbahn & tramway)	342 long-distance 290 regional
Passengers (daily):	460,000

Other services[]

Tram connections are offered by , with tram lines 11 and 12 (station Hauptbahnhof/Münchener Straße), 14, 16, 17, 20, 21 and the . The lines U4 and U5 call at the subterranean Stadtbahn stop.

Preceding station		Frankfurt U-Bahn		Following station
toward				toward
Terminus				toward

Future expansion[]

Construction of a railway tunnel with four platforms below the existing station was proposed in 2018 under the project name Fernbahntunnel Frankfurt am Main (Long-distance railway tunnel Frankfurt am Main).^[4] As being listed as "urgent need" in the Federal Infrastructure Plan 2030, government funding for the scheme is secured. A study to determine feasibility of construction is expected to be completed by early 2021.^[5]

Crime[]

In 2019, the Federal Police recorded 4,787 crimes at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, more than at any other German train station.^[6] They include the murder of an eight-year-old boy on 29 July.^[7]^[8]

References[]

^ "Tarifinformationen 2021" (PDF). Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund. 1 January 2021. p. 137. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Getting here & travelling around: Rail". Frankfurt.de. City of Frankfurt am Main. Frankfurt central station is the most important rail transport hub in Germany.
^ Groß 2012, p. 50.
^ "Das Ende des Kopfbahnhofs, so wie wir ihn kennen". fnp.de. 8 November 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
^ "Knoten Frankfurt; Fernbahntunnel inkl. Station unterhalb des Hbf Frankfurt/Main, Machbarkeitsstudie". ted.europa.eu. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
^ Frankfurter Hauptbahnhof mit den meisten Strafthaten
^ Germany train incident: Eritrean on trial for boy's death
^ Frankfurt rail attack: Boy's killer given life in psychiatric ward

Sources[]

Bundesbahndirektion Frankfurt am Main (1988). Abfahrt 1888, Ankunft 1988: 100 Jahre Hauptbahnhof Frankfurt am Main. Darmstadt: HESTRA-Verlag. ISBN 3-7771-0215-6.
Groß, Lothar (2012). Made in Germany: Deutschlands Wirtschaftsgeschichte von der Industralisierung bis heute. 1: 1800 - 1945. Books on demand. ISBN 978-3-8482-1042-8.
Rödel, Volker (2006). Der Hauptbahnhof zu Frankfurt am Main. Aufstieg, Fall und Wiedergeburt eines Großstadtbahnhofs [The main station to Frankfurt am Main. Rise, Fall and Rebirth of a City Train Station]. Arbeitshefte des Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege Hessen 8. Stuttgart.
Schomann, Heinz (1983). Der Frankfurter Hauptbahnhof. Ein Beitrag zur Architektur- und Eisenbahngeschichte der Gründerzeit [The Frankfurt central station. A contribution to the architectural and railway history of the Wilhelminian era]. ISBN 3-421-02801-X.
Setzepfandt, Wolf-Christian (August 2002). Architekturführer Frankfurt am Main [Architecture Guide Frankfurt am Main]. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag. p. 33. ISBN 3-496-01236-6.

External links[]

Coordinates: 50°06′25″N 8°39′45″E / 50.10694°N 8.66250°E / 50.10694; 8.66250

[1] "Tarifinformationen 2021" (PDF). Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund. 1 January 2021. p. 137. Retrieved 8 April 2021.

[Frankfurt.de-2] Jump up to: ^a ^b "Getting here & travelling around: Rail". Frankfurt.de. City of Frankfurt am Main. Frankfurt central station is the most important rail transport hub in Germany.

[FOOTNOTEGroß201250-3] Groß 2012, p. 50.

[fnp-2018-11-08-4] "Das Ende des Kopfbahnhofs, so wie wir ihn kennen". fnp.de. 8 November 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2020.

[5] "Knoten Frankfurt; Fernbahntunnel inkl. Station unterhalb des Hbf Frankfurt/Main, Machbarkeitsstudie". ted.europa.eu. Retrieved 5 October 2020.

[6] Frankfurter Hauptbahnhof mit den meisten Strafthaten

[7] Germany train incident: Eritrean on trial for boy's death

[8] Frankfurt rail attack: Boy's killer given life in psychiatric ward

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show v t Railway stations in Frankfurt am Main
IC and ICE	Frankfurt Central (Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof) Frankfurt Airport Long-Distance (Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Fernbahnhof) Frankfurt South (Frankfurt (Main) Südbahnhof) Frankfurt West (Frankfurt (Main) Westbahnhof)
RB and RE	Frankfurt Airport Regional (Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Regionalbahnhof) Frankfurt East (Frankfurt (Main) Ostbahnhof) Höchst Mainkur Niederrad
S-Bahn	Frankfurt Central Underground (Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof tief) Berkersheim Eschersheim Frankfurter Berg Galluswarte Gateway Gardens Griesheim Hauptwache Höchst Farbwerke Konstablerwache Lokalbahnhof Louisa Messe Mühlberg Nied Ostendstraße Rödelheim Sindlingen Stadium (Frankfurt (Main) Stadion) Stresemannallee Taunusanlage Zeilsheim

show v t Rhine-Main S-Bahn
Services
Routes	Frankfurt City Tunnel Offenbach City Tunnel Frankfurt Airport loop South Main S-Bahn Homburg Railway Kronberg Railway Limes Railway Main Railway Main-Lahn Railway Main-Neckar Railway Main–Weser Railway Offenbach-Bieber–Dietzenbach railway Mannheim–Frankfurt railway Rodgau Railway Taunus Railway

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