Frankfurt 21

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Frankfurt 21 was a project by Deutsche Bahn AG to rebuild the Frankfurt am Main rail hub . DB presented the project in 1996. In 2001 the planning was postponed due to a lack of funding. The follow-up project RheinMain plus emerged from the planning .

The west-facing, above-ground terminus station was to be replaced as part of the project by a through station running in an east-west direction at a lower level. The Frankfurt tracks are up to 230 m wide. The former freight yard , which was also included in the project, was 230 to 300 m wide.

The project was one of a series of Bahnhof 21 projects planned by Deutsche Bahn in the late 1990s.

concept

Meinhard von Gerkan's first draft, known as the “Planning Vision Frankfurt 21”, from mid-1996 envisaged the laying of six platforms about 20 m below street level. In between, two intermediate levels were planned at −6 and −12 m. The railway system should include six central platforms (twelve tracks ) for long-distance and regional traffic . The station was to be kept open at the top and the listed building parts of the main train station, including the three-aisled roof, were to be preserved. The depth of the system was determined by other traffic routes. The historic glass roof was to be preserved and its foundations initially supported with bored piles in order to then lower the platform hall . The girders were to rest on reinforced concrete viaducts that would extend down to some of the platforms.

The main station was to be connected to the Ostbahnhof via a two-tube, four-track tunnel . It was supposed to be connected there with the north and south Main lines towards Hanau . The tunnel tubes were supposed to run at a depth of around 50 meters in order to undercut the foundations of high-rise buildings and shafts of the Frankfurt U-Bahn . The design provided for a tunnel route that would have run from the Ostbahnhof via the Grossmarkthalle in order to then cross under the Main . In the further course, the tube would have crossed under Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse at the Alte Brücke , along the banks of the Main to Willy-Brandt-Platz on Kaiserstrasse , in order to then reach the main station. The tunnel was to end in the apron of the main train station, west of the Camberger Bridge. At the beginning of 1999 four single-track tubes were planned. For economic reasons, the tunnels were to be built in a covered semi-low position on the site of the main train station and a central park was to be created on the railway site. The routes of the lines U4 and U5 of the Frankfurt underground had to be relocated in the area of ​​the main station.

The two middle platforms of the S-Bahn station at the main train station were to be retained in their existing underground location immediately north of the long-distance and regional train tracks. The S-Bahn routes to the west and northwest should also be retained.

A three-kilometer-long and 180-meter-wide park with densely built-up perimeter buildings was to be created on the freed-up tracks at the main station . A “fair boulevard” was planned on the tracks of the freight station.

The concept drawn up by Gerkan, Marg and Partner attempted to combine the east-west connection of the Speck solution (1984) with the larger area gains of the Bohm design of 1989. The concept should be implemented without federal funding. The realization was initially planned for 2010. The planned construction time was given at the end of the 1990s as around ten years. Another source cites a construction period of 6 to 7 years.

The following essential measures were planned in the General Transport Plan 2000 of the Frankfurt Umlandverband :

  • The conversion of the main train station into a through station located about 15 meters below the surface in an east-west direction with 12 instead of 25 tracks. The listed station building would still have served as access to the tracks. A glass ceiling construction should cast daylight onto the platforms.
  • The construction of four approx. 4.5 kilometers long tunnel tubes from this underground station to the east, which were to run largely under the river bed of the Main , of which two each at the Frankfurt Ostbahnhof into the Frankfurt-Hanau railway and via the Offenbach main station into the Bebraer Bahn should flow.
  • Offenbach Ost station would have been upgraded to a central transfer station for Offenbach between local and regional traffic with long-distance traffic stops, while only regional trains would stop at Offenbach main station. The S-Bahn lines bypass Offenbach main station through the city center and only come into contact with the long-distance lines again in Offenbach-Ost.
  • The Main-Weser-Bahn from Gießen would no longer be via the Frankfurt Westbahnhof from the west to Frankfurt Central Station, but via a new branch to be built from Karben to the east past Frankfurt approximately at the level of the Frankfurt-Mainkur train station on the Frankfurt-Hanau Railway has been introduced in the direction of Ostbahnhof.
  • The connection to the south should continue to be made via the two existing Main bridges, but the connecting curve Ffm-Louisa should be expanded to two-track.

All traffic down the Main to Mainz and Wiesbaden , into the Vordertaunus and into the Rhine Valley would have entered the main station from the west via the previous above-ground inlets, all traffic from the east and north-east through the tunnels from the east station and Offenbach.

The plans provided for a total of 62 hectares to be cleared of railway systems and thus made available for urban development . In the skyscraper master plan of the city of Frankfurt, skyscraper locations were provided for on the vacated site. With this, some properties have been upgraded, so that their sale would have contributed to the financing of Frankfurt 21. A new urban district called Parkviertel with six high-rise buildings, additional residential and office properties and a park was to be built on the track apron that would then become free .

history

background

Due to unilateral feed, trains from the other side of the city in the Frankfurt am Main railway junction have to cover multiple routes of 3 to 11 km.

An above-ground diameter line through the city was proposed as early as 1850, but was rejected. A first underground solution for local traffic was proposed in 1948, but was rejected due to technical problems (high groundwater level) and high costs.

Previous projects

Design by Speck (1984)

In October 1984, the railway engineer Georg Speck at the Technical University of Darmstadt, with the support of Professor Mühlhans, proposed in an elaboration to set up a through station for long-distance traffic at Frankfurt Central Station. Similar to the connecting line of the S-Bahn, which was designed for local traffic from 1961 and in the light of the new line program that matured in the 1970s, the author proposed a through station with four 425 m long platform edges 22 m under tracks 4-9 of the main station to put on. It was to be connected to the Ostbahnhof with an approximately 6 km long, double-track tunnel that could be driven at speeds of up to 160 km / h. In the east, the north Main line from Hanau and the Main-Weser railway from Gießen were to be connected. In the west, the lines from the Niederräder Bridge ( Mainbahn towards Mainz, Mannheim, airport), from the Taunus Railway from the direction of Höchst (Wiesbaden, Limburg) and from the Main-Neckar Railway were to be connected via a four-track ramp with a gradient of around 13 per thousand become. In the outskirts of the day and at night, goods traffic should also be guided through the tunnel.

The concept was intended to shorten travel times, reduce transport costs and make the node capable of handling increasing long-distance passenger traffic. By eliminating the need to change locomotives and reducing travel times, about 10 minutes should be saved in through traffic. In connection with the S-Bahn, the southern tracks 1 to 9 of the main train station were to be dispensed with, thus clearing an area of ​​around 8.5 hectares for railway systems. For the connection of the Main-Neckar-Bahn coming from Darmstadt, a largely underground connection line was to be built between Neu-Isenburg and Niederrad so that trains from Darmstadt could be brought into the main station from the west. At the price level in 1982, costs of 2.23 billion DM were determined, which was offset by an economic return of 3.18 billion DM. The economic benefit-cost factor was given as 1.83.

According to the author, the proposal was welcomed by the City of Frankfurt, the State of Hesse and the Frankfurt Area Association. On the other hand, the Deutsche Bundesbahn doubted the statements on economic viability and was reluctant to substantiate the proposals in supplementary reports. This later became the basis for the Frankfurt 21 project. In study and diploma theses at the Technical University of Darmstadt, the relocation of the marshalling yard and the main freight station as well as the urban use of the vacant areas were examined.

In 1991 the concept was no longer pursued by the Deutsche Bundesbahn due to high costs (estimated 1.5 to 2 billion D-Marks ). The city of Frankfurt was skeptical of this decision and feared severe long-term loss of its integration into the high-speed network.

Designed by Bohm (1990)

The Stuttgart engineer Hansjoerg Bohm, who, together with two colleagues, presented an urban planning concept similar to the later Stuttgart 21 in October 1990 , was commissioned by the city of Frankfurt in 1990 to investigate the possibility of a through station in Frankfurt. In September 1990, the proposal was rejected by the board of directors of the Deutsche Bundesbahn in a letter to the then Mayor of Frankfurt, Volker Hauff. The Bundesbahn wants to exclude tunnel variants that appear unsuitable from the outset to meet railway technical objectives. Instead, she wants to pursue the proposal for an east-west tunnel more intensively. As a result, a project group was set up at the Federal Railway Directorate, which recommended the project in its 1991 final report. It has clear advantages over a purely above-ground solution.

planning

On June 17, 1996, the head of the railway, Heinz Dürr , the Prime Minister of Hesse, Hans Eichel, and the Mayor of Frankfurt, Petra Roth, officially presented the project idea for a twelve-track through station to replace the existing terminus. The majority of the estimated project costs of four to five billion D-Marks were to be financed by the sale of 138 hectares (approx. 70.8 hectares at the freight yard and about 67.5 hectares at the main station). A first architectural concept envisaged largely preserving the existing station hall and building a large park up to 150 m wide in place of the previous track system. The 22 m deep tracks were to be bordered at the sides by three-story, viaduct-like galleries. Dürr described the project as “a beautiful vision”, which, however, is not yet a concept underpinned by figures. On the same day, the railway, the state and the city officially commissioned a feasibility study, which was funded by the railway to 60 percent and by the city and the country with 20 percent each. The estimated costs were around one million DM. The Munich 21 project was presented three days later in Munich .

At the end of 1997 an interim report by a commission came to the conclusion that the project was technically feasible. The financing, which was originally supposed to take place through the sale of unused railway land, turned out to be difficult. Since some of the land intended for sale belonged to the federal railway assets , their sale was ruled out in favor of the Frankfurt 21 project. Calculated additional revenues from shorter travel times through the tunnel and through station also increasingly melted together.

A traffic forecast from 1998 expected around 60,000 long-distance travelers to get on and off every day at the converted main train station in 2010. Around 34,000 more travelers were expected for the second long-distance train station in Frankfurt, at the airport . In long-distance traffic ( ICE , IC , IR ) 7 lines should run continuously at the main station and 7 should start or end at Frankfurt main station. Around 200 long-distance departures were planned every working day .

On September 16, 1998, the Hessian state government decided to contribute 740 million D-Marks to the project. After the board of directors of Deutsche Bahn, contrary to expectations, did not approve the financing of the project before the federal election at the end of September 1998 , the project stalled. According to media reports, there were differences of opinion regarding the financing of the project, as Deutsche Bahn assessed the expected real estate income more cautiously and the company therefore had to bear a higher own contribution. The Hessian state government feared that if the project failed, traffic could shift from Frankfurt to the south.

At the beginning of December 1998, the board of directors of Deutsche Bahn made the decision to continue work on Frankfurt 21. A framework agreement was to be concluded between Deutsche Bahn, the federal government , the state of Hesse , the city of Frankfurt am Main and the Rhein-Main transport association (RMV) to finance the project, which was then set at 2.9 billion Deutschmarks . On December 11, 1998, the city council of Frankfurt decided to contribute 120 million D-Marks to the project. At this point in time, the Federal Ministry of Transport had not yet made a decision. The results of the preliminary project were expected by the end of 1999. In the case of implementation, a subsequent regional planning procedure and a two to three-year plan approval procedure were expected. The start of construction was expected in 2004 and commissioning in 2012. In March 1999, the city council voted unanimously in favor of the project .

In May 1999, DB commissioned an auditing company to evaluate all options in connection with the project (immediate construction to complete abandonment) at short notice. In addition to the Frankfurt 21, Stuttgart 21, the Mottgers-Spange and the new Rhine / Main – Rhine / Neckar line were also part of the test package. In the late summer of 1999, the project was one of those that probably should not be implemented due to the federal government's austerity constraints.

On February 3, 2000, representatives of Hesse, the city of Frankfurt and Deutsche Bahn signed a financing agreement for the so-called preliminary project . In this context, in-depth decision-making bases in technical, financial and economic terms should be developed. The cost of five million D-Marks was to be borne 60 percent by the railways and 20 percent each by the state and the city. Among other things, the traffic forecasts were to be updated, the western connection of the main train station examined more closely and the inner city tunnel optimized. The results of the preliminary project should be available by the end of 2000. The study should be completed by the end of August 2000; The decision on the project was expected at the end of 2000. The state of Hesse urged a decision by year-end, as the project of the planned construction of a third and fourth track to Bad Vilbel would have been unnecessary as long-distance trains with the planned railway tunnel no longer on the Main-Weser Railway had been conducted . In the course of the preliminary project, the project costs of an estimated three billion DM should be reduced by a two to three-digit million amount if possible.

Among other things, the high costs, the traffic benefits and the lack of views of Frankfurt from underground traffic systems were criticized. The Frankfurt 22 initiative was committed to the project .

Deferment

On September 20, 2001, Hesse’s Prime Minister Roland Koch , Frankfurt’s Lord Mayor Petra Roth and Railway Director Hartmut Mehdorn announced that the project, estimated at 1.5 billion euros, could not be financed and would therefore be postponed. The plans for the conversion of the main train station into an underground through station should, however, be continued. By 2010, improvements in local and long-distance transport should be implemented with investments of around 800 million euros. Among other things, the expansion of the S-Bahn to Bad Vilbel, the expansion of the S-Bahn to Hanau and the S-Bahn to Riedstadt were planned. In addition, the flows of long-distance, regional and freight traffic were to be unbundled and the Frankfurt main station rebuilt. In 2005 the project should be decided again.

A weak market development on the real estate market as well as difficulties in using the freed freight yard area made the revenue expectations of the financial contribution from property proceeds appear too high later.

According to information from Deutsche Bahn from 2006, the project is not financially viable.

A similar concept is to be implemented with the Stuttgart 21 project for Stuttgart from 2010 with completion in 2021. As part of the planned modernization of Munich's main train station , the station is to be converted into a mixed terminal and through station (projected as Munich 21 ).

Follow-up projects

In mid-April 2001, the Hessian Transport Minister Dieter Posch proposed a ten-point program entitled Frankfurt 2010 , which should be implemented before Frankfurt 21 . As part of a ten-point plan for 1.6 billion D-Marks, half of the investment sum proposed for Frankfurt 21 at the time, a similar transport benefit was to be achieved. As a justification, he stated that the capacity bottlenecks at the Frankfurt hub were so severe that the measures planned for Frankfurt 21 (then for 2015 at the earliest) could not be completed on time. Critics complained that the Frankfurt 21 project could delay or prevent it.

After the Frankfurt 21 project failed, the RheinMain plus concept was presented in 2003 , which provides numerous measures to improve rail traffic in the Rhine-Main area.

Currently (as of 2015), the construction of the Nordmainische S-Bahn , own tracks to Friedberg, an expansion of the tunnel trunk line, a quality package for the S-Bahn and the Gateway Gardens station are planned for the S-Bahn . As a further measure, the West regional bypass to the western bypass of Frankfurt city center is planned. What is important for long-distance and regional traffic is the desired significant increase in performance of the terminus station and its access routes through a four-track expansion between Main-Neckar Bridge and Südbahnhof , redesign of the main station apron for level-free routing of long-distance traffic from / to Südbahnhof and stadium on the southern tracks 1 to 6 , as well as the six-track expansion between the Gutleuthof junction and Stadion station with a third Niederräder Main Bridge.

On November 6, 2018, the 7 km long, double-track long - distance railway tunnel in Frankfurt am Main was surprisingly included in the urgent needs of the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030 . Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof would become a through station for part of the long-distance traffic.

literature

  • Volker Rödel: The main train station in Frankfurt am Main. The rise, fall and rebirth of a metropolitan railway station. Workbooks of the State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen 8, Stuttgart 2006, pp. 133–145.
  • General traffic plan of the UVF (Umlandverband Frankfurt) 2000. Chapter 8.4, excursus: Project 'Frankfurt 21'. P. 236–245 and map attachment 16.
  • We'll get underground soon enough ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 467 kB) - Critique of Frankfurt 21 in the Frankfurter Rundschau of November 21, 2001.
  • "Frankfurt 21". City expansion towards the city. Urban planning study by Gerkan, Marg and Partners, 1996.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Deutsche Bahn AG, Airport Frankfurt / Main AG, Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund GmbH, City of Frankfurt am Main (ed.): Transport hub Frankfurt Airport: For the future of the Rhine-Main region . S. 4, 6, 7 (ca.1998).
  2. ↑ a b Meinhard von Gerkan : Renaissance of the train stations as the nucleus of urban planning. In: Renaissance of the railway stations. The city in the 21st century. Vieweg Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-528-08139-2 , pp. 16-63, especially p. 62.
  3. ^ Deutsche Bahn AG: Annual Report 1998, p. 49.
  4. ↑ Frankfurt 21 - a vision . In: Management of the working group "ICE new line Cologne-Rhein / Main", City Planning Director Lars Möller (Ed.): New stations on the new ICE line Cologne-Rhine / Main . An exhibition of the working group “ICE new line Cologne-Rhein / Main” in cooperation with DBProjekt GmbH Cologne-Rhein / Main. Cologne 1996, p. 29-32 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e Wolfgang Schubert: Central station should go underground . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , June 18, 1996.
  6. ↑ a b c d Frankfurt 21 and Munich 21 are examined for feasibility . In: The Railway Engineer . tape 47 , no. 8 , 1996, pp. 39 .
  7. ^ A b c d e Meinhard von Gerkan : Architecture for Transportation. Architecture for traffic. Birkhäuser-Verlag, Basel, 1997, ISBN 3-7643-5611-1 , pp. 186-193.
  8. ↑ a b c d e Realize message "Frankfurt 21" . In: Railway technical review . 48, No. 1/2, 1999, p. 3.
  9. ↑ a b c d Report on financing “Frankfurt 21” . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , Issue 1/2, 1999, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 2.
  10. ↑ a b c Profile: Frankfurt 21 . In: tunnel . No. 7 , 1996, ISSN  0722-6241 , p. 30-31 .
  11. ^ Association of German Architects u. a. (Ed.): Renaissance of the railway stations. The city in the 21st century. Vieweg Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-528-08139-2 , pp. 164-169.
  12. ↑ a b Georg Speck: From Denis and Souchay to Frankfurt 21 . To understand the railroad in Frankfurt a. M. Frankfurt am Main November 1996, p. 16-18 .
  13. ↑ General traffic plan 2000 of the surrounding area Frankfurt (UVF)
  14. ↑ a b c d Christian Siedenbiedel: Always one step faster . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 253 , October 31, 2006, ISSN  0174-4909 , p. 49 (similar version online ).
  15. ↑ a b Edmund Mühlhans, Georg Speck: Problems of the terminal stations and possible solutions from today's perspective . In: International Transport . tape 39 , no. 3 , 1987, ISSN  0020-9511 , pp. 190-200 .
  16. ↑ a b Georg Speck: ... and then always straight ahead. A proposal for the railroad in Frankfurt am Main. Ed .: Specialized in railway engineering, including track-bound local transport of the Technical University of Darmstadt. October 1984, p. Foreword, 2–7, 9, 11, 15, 18, 20, 23, 24, 29, 39, 40, 44 .
  17. ↑ Dieter Schubert: Planner suggestion: New city via the station tunnel . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung , No. 242, October 19, 1990, p. 19.
  18. ↑ File number: Vst.Pi 1001 Bpb ​​Ffm 1.1 from 13.09.1990
  19. ↑ Elmar Waller response: remote train tracks beneath the earth: Stuttgart idea is imitation in Frankfurt and Munich . In: VDI news . July 5, 1996, ISSN  0042-1758 , p. 4 .
  20. ↑ Message Frankfurt 21 technically feasible . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , Issue 12, 1997, p. 550.
  21. ↑ Message Frankfurt 21 delayed . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , Issue 12, 1998, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 506.
  22. ↑ a b Consulting firm examines the "Frankfurt 21" project . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 122 , May 29, 1999, pp. 73 .
  23. ↑ Announcement Billion Holes . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 10, year 1999, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 401
  24. ↑ a b Notification of preliminary project Frankfurt 21 . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 3/2000, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 98 f.
  25. ↑ Report from Frankfurt Studies . In: mobile . Issue 3/2000, p. 10.
  26. ↑ Decision on the Frankfurt 21 project at the end of the year . In: The Railway Engineer . tape 51 , no. 4 , 2000, pp. 66 .
  27. ↑ Tunnel project is postponed . In: Railway technical review . tape 50 , no. 10 , 2001, p. 567 .
  28. ↑ a b Report on the “Frankfurt 2010” immediate program . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 6/2001, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 244.
  29. ^ "Frankfurt 2010" instead of "Frankfurt 21" . In: Eisenbahn-Kurier , No. 345, June 2001, ISSN  0170-5288 , p. 4.
  30. ^ Deutsche Bahn AG: Frankfurt RheinMain plus . The project. The railway junction. The rail infrastructure. (Status 2009) ( Memento from January 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). 32-page brochure dated June 2009, (PDF file, 1.63 MB), p. 4 f.
  31. ^ Georg Speck: The way to the long-distance railway tunnel Frankfurt (Main) . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . No. 2 , February 2019, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 104-107 .
  32. ↑ The end of the terminus as we know it. In: fnp.de. November 8, 2018. Retrieved November 11, 2018 .
  33. ^ Association of German Architects u. a. (Ed.): Renaissance of the railway stations. The city in the 21st century. Vieweg Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-528-08139-2 , p. 263.