Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof

Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof (German for Frankfurt (Main) main station), often abbreviated as Frankfurt (Main) Hbf and sometimes translated as Frankfurt central station,[1] is the busiest railway station in Hesse, Germany.[1] 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.

Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof
U Tram
Terminal station
LocationFrankfurt, Hesse
Germany
Coordinates50°6′25″N 8°39′45″E
Owned byDeutsche Bahn
Operated by
Line(s)
Platforms
  • 24 mainline (26 tracks on one level)
  • 4 S-Bahn (Tiefbahnhof)
  • 4 U-Bahn (3 for passengers)
  • 3 × 2 Tram
ConnectionsFrankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof underground
Construction
ArchitectHermann Eggert and Johann Wilhelm Schwedler
Architectural style
Other information
Station code1866
DS100 codeFF
Category1
Fare zone
Websitewww.bahnhof.de
History
Opened18 August 1888 (1888-08-18)
Passengers
493,000 daily
Services
Preceding station   DB Fernverkehr   Following station
towards Munich
ICE 11
via Stuttgart - Frankfurt - Erfurt - Leipzig - Berlin
reverses out
towards Hamburg or Berlin
ICE 12
reverses out
towards Stuttgart
ICE 15
via Halle (Saale) - Erfurt
reverses out
towards Wiesbaden
ICE 20
reverses out
towards Basel SBB
towards Stuttgart
ICE 22
reverses out
ICE 26
reverses out
towards Karlsruhe
ICE 31
reverses out
towards Frankfurt
towards Frankfurt
towards Essen
ICE 41
reverses out
towards Munich
towards Cologne
ICE 49Terminus
towards Wiesbaden
ICE 50
reverses out
towards Dresden
ICE 78Terminus
ICE 79
towards Paris Est
ICE/TGV 82
towards Marseille
ICE/TGV 84
towards Frankfurt
ICE 91
reverses out
towards Vienna
RailjetTerminus
towards Karlsruhe
IC 26
reverses out
IC/EC 31
reverses out
towards Frankfurt
towards Salzburg
IC/EC 62Terminus
DB Regio Bayern
TerminusRE 54
Main-Spessart Railway
toward Bamberg
RE 55
Main-Spessart Railway
DB Regio Mitte
toward Koblenz Hbf
RE 2
Left Rhine Railway
Terminus
TerminusRE 50
Kinzig Valley Railway
toward Fulda
RB 22
Main-Lahn Railway
Terminus
TerminusRB 51
Kinzig Valley Railway
RB 61
Dreieich Railway
toward Dieburg
Hessische Landesbahn
toward Königstein im Taunus
RB 12
Königstein Railway
Terminus
TerminusRB 58
Main-Spessart Railway
via Frankfurt Süd - Hanau
toward Laufach
VIAS
toward Neuwied
RB 10
RheingauLinie
Terminus
TerminusRB 82
Odenwald Railway
toward Eberbach
vlexx
RE 3
Rhein-Nahe-Express
Terminus
Location
Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof
Location within Frankfurt
Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof
Location within Hesse
Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof
Location within Germany
Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof
Location within Europe

History

19th century

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

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.[2] 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 Frankfurt 21, 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.

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.

There are also long-distance night trains from Frankfurt, e.g. to Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague, Amsterdam, Zurich, Paris and Rome.[3]

LineRouteInterval
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 FrankfurtHanau 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.

LineRoute
RE 2 Frankfurt Frankfurt AirportRüsselsheimMainz Bingen (Rhein) Koblenz
RE 3 Frankfurt – Frankfurt Airport – Rüsselsheim – Mainz – Bingen – Koblenz/Bad KreuznachSaarbrücken
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 FrankfurtFriedberg (Hess)GießenMarburg (Lahn)Treysa – Wabern (Bz Kassel) – Kassel
RE 50 FrankfurtFrankfurt SouthOffenbachHanauFulda
RE 54 Frankfurt – Maintal – Hanau Aschaffenburg Würzburg
RE 55 Frankfurt – Offenbach – Hanau – Aschaffenburg – Würzburg
RE 60 FrankfurtDarmstadtBensheimWeinheim (Bergstr)Mannheim
RE 70 FrankfurtGroß Gerau-Dornberg – Riedstadt-GoddelauGernsheimBiblis – Mannheim
RE 85 Frankfurt – Offenbach – Hanau – BabenhausenGroß-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 FrankfurtBad HomburgFriedrichsdorfWehrheimNeu-AnspachUsingenGrävenwiesbachBrandoberndorf
RB 22 Frankfurt – Frankfurt-Höchst – Niedernhausen (Taunus) – Limburg (Lahn)
RB 34 FrankfurtBad Vilbel – Niederdorfelden – NidderauAltenstadt (Hess)Glauburg-Stockheim
RB 40 Frankfurt – Friedberg (Hess) – Butzbach – Gießen – Wetzlar – Herborn (Dillkr) – Dillenburg
RB 41 Frankfurt – Friedberg (Hess) – Butzbach – Gießen – Marburg (Lahn) – CölbeKirchhain (Bz Kassel)StadtallendorfNeustadt – Treysa
RB 48 Frankfurt– Friedberg (Hess) – BeienheimReichelsheim (Wetterau)Nidda
RB 51 Frankfurt – Offenbach (Main) Hbf – Hanau – LangenselboldGelnhausenWächtersbach (– Bad Soden-Salmünster)
RB 58 Frankfurt – Frankfurt South – Frankfurt EastMaintal Ost – Hanau – Aschaffenburg
RB 61 FrankfurtDreieich-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 FrankfurtDarmstadt NordReinheim (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.

LineRoute
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 TraffiQ, with tram lines 11 and 12 (station Hauptbahnhof/Münchener Straße), 16, 17, 20, 21 and the Ebbelwei-Expreß. The lines U4 and U5 call at the subterranean Stadtbahn stop.

Preceding station   Frankfurt U-Bahn   Following station
Festhalle/Messe
toward Bockenheimer Warte
Willy-Brandt-Platz
toward Enkheim
Terminus
Willy-Brandt-Platz
toward Preungesheim

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

  1. "Getting here & travelling around: Rail". Frankfurt.de. City of Frankfurt am Main. Frankfurt central station is the most important rail transport hub in Germany.
  2. Groß 2012, p. 50.
  3. DB. "City Night Line: Alle Verbindungen auf einen Blick" [City Night Line: All connections at a glance] (PDF) (in German). Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 January 2012.
  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

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.

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