Rail-free city center

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The entrance to the Bockenheimer Warte underground station , which opened in 1986, symbolizes the concept of a rail-free city center

The “rail-free inner city” was an urban development and transport concept from the 1980s in Frankfurt am Main . After the completion of the inner-city rapid transit network, it envisaged the closure of all tram routes in the inner-city districts and the use of the track areas that had become free to "upgrade" public spaces. The plan came about at the beginning of the 1980s and failed spectacularly when attempting to complete it in the autumn of 1986 due to opposition from the public and the approval authorities. The conflict at that time aroused nationwide interest and is one of the most violent transport policy conflicts in German post-war history.

prehistory

City and traffic planning in Frankfurt in the 1970s

In the mid-1970s, Frankfurt am Main suffered from an extremely bad reputation nationwide. The city was considered ugly, "ungovernable" and "uninhabitable". The reconstruction of the historic city center , which had been destroyed by the war , was implemented in modern forms, followed by urban planning suitable for cars and building speculation , which finally met with resistance from the population (“ Frankfurter Häuserkampf ”). The city's transport policy was oriented one-sidedly towards the needs of road traffic. In addition to the construction of numerous city highways, the removal of the tram from existing main roads should help to accelerate vehicle traffic. The future networks of underground and suburban trains , whose open construction pits at that time placed additional stress on the cityscape and traffic, should completely replace the tram in the medium term. According to the planning from the early 1960s, the first stage of expansion was intended to free the city center from "rail-bound surface traffic" (i.e. the tram).

The change of government in 1977

Dissatisfaction with urban planning policy led to a change of government in the 1977 local elections. The SPD under Lord Mayor Rudi Arndt , which has ruled since the end of the war , not only lost its absolute majority, the opposition CDU even managed to win one. Your candidate Walter Wallmann became the new mayor. During his tenure, Wallmann placed a focus on regaining an attractive city center. Projects such as the creation of the museum embankment , the reconstruction of the Alte Oper or the historic Ostzeile of the Römerberg were intended to both reconcile the city with its history and to give urban expression to the newly won role as a European metropolis.

The concept of the "rail-free city center"

In terms of transport policy, however, Wallmann took over the plans of his predecessors without any changes. The construction of the rapid transit system in the city center was nearing its temporary completion. The first two underground lines were opened in 1968 and 1974, followed by the S-Bahn city center tunnel in 1978 . With the commissioning of the third and last underground line, the abolition of the numerous tram lines running through the city center should be combined. In contrast to the purely technocratic planning of the previous governments, Wallmann's magistrate combined the removal of the tram with popular urban design goals: the rail-free city center , the title of the concept, which was soon to be advertised in brochures, was to become an attractive experience space for residents and visitors to Frankfurt. The track areas that were freed up should not be used for car traffic, but should be used to "upgrade" the streets and squares.

Fall 1986

The details of the "rail-free city center"

The tunnel-accessible P-railcar should take over the handling of the tram operation

With the opening of the east-west axis of the subway ( C-route, lines U6 and U7 ) planned for September 29, 1986 , all tram routes in the city center, the old town, the station district and the Westend were to be closed. Only a branch line to Konstablerwache was to be temporarily retained as a feeder for the S-Bahn and U-Bahn. All other tram routes in the city center should be closed:

During the planning, an area within a radius of 600 meters around a high-speed train station was considered sufficiently developed, so no replacement was planned for the tram routes in the city center that were to be closed. The six rapid transit stations within the ramparts were considered sufficient. The trams in the rest of the city, like the city buses, should only have a feeder function to the nearest underground station. The tram lines in the east and west of the city should only be connected via Sachsenhausen , which is south of the Main, i.e. via two Main bridges.

The Bockenheimer Landstrasse, the Goethe and Rathenauplatz, the Roßmarkt, the Braubachstrasse, the Theaterplatz and the Münchener Strasse were then to be redesigned into spacious, boulevard-like “adventure spaces”.

These “positive” aspects of the concept were put in the foreground in the run-up to the planned changeover. Anticipation should also be awakened for the new subway route, in addition to several information brochures published by the city and the Frankfurter Verkehrsverbund (FVV), a series of large celebrations that were prepared for the opening day of the subway should serve this purpose.

Resistance in the population

The "Save the Tram" alliance was formed against these plans . This alliance was made up of local transport fans, trade unionists, senior citizens 'councils, church institutions, the SPD and the Greens and formed the first organized citizens' initiative to preserve tram routes. Within a year, almost 60,000 people signed for the maintenance of the tram routes. Newspapers, radio and television devoted themselves to the conflict. None of the numerous previous line closures had attracted such attention. Even the recognized ex-zoo director Professor Bernhard Grzimek publicly sided with the tram and assessed the concept of the “rail-free inner city” as “anti-citizen”, and Dieter Hooge , who later became chairman of the DGB, found such an inner city unsocial and unattractive. In terms of local politics, it was noteworthy that the SPD now opposed the plans it had developed itself 20 years earlier, which was now only represented by the CDU, which was not involved at the time, but without taking into account the apparent will of the population.

The district president refuses permission

The District President Hartmut Wierscher (SPD), who was responsible for approving the shutdowns , announced at the end of August 1986 that he would not consent to the shutdown. Due to the pressure of the population, a closure would not be in line with the public transport interests. At least lines 14 (Gallusviertel / Mönchhofstraße - Fechenheim), 15 (Stadion - Bornheim / Inheidener Straße) and 18 (Enkheim - Hausen) should remain on the old town route.

The new mayor, Wolfram Brück , who was only elected to office on August 14, criticized the decision of the regional council as “politically motivated”, “factually incorrect” and “legally untenable” and continued to adhere to his closure plans. Now at the latest the conflict escalated and hit the headlines nationwide.

At the same time, the FVV, who was responsible for drawing up the timetable, presented its new winter timetable, which no longer contained the tram lines to be shut down, and had it printed out immediately. It included - contrary to the requirements of the regional council - a new route for line 11 (shortened to the route from Zoo to Fechenheim) and line 14 (via Sachsenhausen). When the regional council called for the preservation of the old town route, Brück threatened Frankfurt's exit from the FVV. The then SPD chairman of Frankfurt, who later became head of planning, Martin Wentz, commented on this with the words "Brück makes Frankfurt look ridiculous nationwide."

The escalation

The dispute reached its climax two days before the planned opening of the new metro line. Mayor Brück postponed the opening of the subway indefinitely and banned the big opening party in Leipziger Strasse and other opening ceremonies in Schillerstrasse and at the zoo. Although many business people had prepared for the celebrations and had invested a considerable amount, Brück threatened serious consequences if anyone celebrated that day. He even had this monitored by the police. Expensive bands and artists left the city without having achieved anything due to the canceled celebrations.

Again, the dispute made headlines nationwide. The summer timetable continued to apply with a few changes, which the passengers were informed about with red signs at the stops. The trams initially drove through the city center, the completed underground tunnel remained unused for the time being. In the area of ​​the Bockenheimer Warte, however, the special situation arose that the rails of the tram line 16 had already been partially removed, so that the line 16 had to use a different route between Bockenheimer Warte and the festival hall.

The late agreement

Only at the beginning of October did the CDU signal its readiness to maintain the old town route with line 11. In return, District President Wierscher decided not to keep three other lines. The FVV deliberately designed the route of line 11 to be unattractive with a terminal stop on the south side of the main station and a detour via the zoo loop to serve as a feeder to the U6 / U7. Line 14 has been running via Sachsenhausen since then.

The new subway was opened three weeks late on October 12, 1986, but without a celebration. One of the city's stipulations was that only line 11 was allowed to drive over the old town. A different route had to be chosen for diversions and even for push-in and push-out traffic. A supplement with the new route routes was enclosed with the winter timetables that had already been printed.

All other tram routes were shut down as planned, tram line 12 now used the branch line to Konstablerwache, as the old route over Vilbeler Strasse, Stephanstrasse and Schillerstrasse was cut. It now ended in Grosse Friedberger Strasse, for which a section of the route that had been closed since 1978 was reactivated.

In the period that followed, the FVV continued to try to shut down line 11. However, despite the remote terminus and the time-consuming detour via the zoo, between 5,000 and 10,000 people used the line every day.

consequences

Line 11, which remained on the old town, turned out to be more durable than originally planned. Three years after the scandal about the “rail-free inner city”, local elections were due again, which Brück and his party lost with a vote loss of 13%. The CDU sole government was followed by a red-green coalition under Volker Hauff , which made a change of direction in urban transport policy a central concern of its policy. Soon there was talk of a car-free city center instead of a rail, but this was also not realized due to foreseeable protests. The previously unattractive line 11 was upgraded to an east-west diameter line ( Fechenheim - Höchst ), now the longest tram line in the city , without using the “zoo loop” . Line 12 has been running an even longer route since 1999 and also uses the old town route on its way, the existence of which is no longer in question today.

The system question of the underground or tram is still very controversial in the local political debate, with the factions of the CDU and the Greens directly involved in 1986 taking opposing, but equally dogmatic positions. While the Christian Democrats are reluctant to follow the construction of new trams, which has since been pursued again, the Greens made the prevention of a subway route an election campaign issue in 2006 and enforced this in the black-green coalition agreement despite plans that were already well advanced.

literature

  • Stephan Kyrieleis: Rail-free city center - The tram has been disappearing from the city for 10 years . In: Sewage works - environmental newspaper for Rhein-Main . No. 23 , 1996, pp. 4 .
  • Wolfgang Schubert: The tram: Declared dead several times and still very much alive . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . Frankfurt am Main September 18, 1999.
  • Hermann Grub, Petra Lejeune: Urban Spaces in Transition - An exhibition of the Federal Republic of Germany - 9 cities show their spatial concepts - Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hameln, Karlsruhe, Cologne, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart . Ed .: Federal Ministry for Regional Planning, Building and Urban Development. CF Müller Verlag , Karlsruhe 1986, ISBN 978-3-7880-7245-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "The ungovernable city" was an attribute often related to Frankfurt in the 1970s, cf. about CDU Frankfurt: Frankfurt Magazine 3/2005 (PDF, 1.2 MB), page 17, or Gunter Mick: In Empire parlor  ( page no longer available , searching web archives )  Info: The link is automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / antikefan.party.lu  
  2. ↑ cf. for example Alexander Mitscherlich : The inhospitableness of our cities , 1965
  3. ↑ cf. for example Stefan Böhm-Ott: Skyline. The Frankfurt skyscrapers in their change in importance and valuation , 2001
  4. ↑ aufbau-ffm.de: Stadtbahnbauamt ( Memento from September 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )