Kronberg Railway

Kronberg – Frankfurt-Rödelheim
Route number :	3615
Course book section (DB) :	645.4
Route length:	9.5 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Top speed:	120 km / h
Dual track :	Rödelheim – Niederhöchstadt
Legend 9.5 Kronberg (Taunus) terminus 8.3 Kronberg south Limes Railway from Bad Soden 5.8 Niederhöchstadt 4.2 Eschborn 2.5 Eschborn Süd ( regional bypass west , planned) A 66 A 5 Homburg Railway to Bad Homburg 0.0 Frankfurt-Rödelheim " Rebstock curve " to Frankfurt Hbf ( Taunusbahn ) Homburg Railway to Frankfurt

The Kronberger Bahn is a suburban railway opened in 1874 in the west of Frankfurt am Main and is now part of the Rhein-Main S-Bahn .

It branches off the Homburg Railway at Frankfurt-Rödelheim station and leads into the Vortaunus to Kronberg . In Niederhöchstadt in the urban area of Eschborn , the Limes Railway has also been branching off from the Kronberger Railway since 1970/72 .

The route has been used by the S4 line since 1978 and includes six stations including Rödelheim. The further course of the S4 from Rödelheim to the main train station follows the Homburg or Main-Weser railway .

history

The Cronberger Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft opened on November 1, 1874 passenger traffic on the 9.8 kilometer route from Frankfurt-Rödelheim station ; freight traffic , which has always remained insignificant, followed on March 1, 1875. The Prussian concession dates from June 26, 1872. The railway's task was to serve the then already heavy tourist traffic from Frankfurt to the Vordertaunus . Since numerous wealthy Frankfurt citizens had already established their (second) residence here, the commuter traffic, which is still growing today, began. So one soon ran through trains from Frankfurt to Kronberg.

On August 1, 1914, ownership of the company passed to the Prussian state , and the line became part of the Prussian State Railways and the Frankfurt Railway Directorate .

The special importance of the route is shown in the fact that the Deutsche Bundesbahn set up  hourly / half-hourly regular service here - as well as to Bad Homburg - from the 1954 summer schedule long before the Rhine-Main S-Bahn opened . The trains have been running electrically since September 27, 1970 . Since May 28, 1978, the line has been part of the  S4 line of the Rhein-Main S-Bahn with continuous traffic, initially to the Frankfurter Hauptwache .

Route expansion

The line received a branch on December 22, 1970, the Limes Railway , from Niederhöchstadt to Schwalbach am Taunus , which was extended on November 6, 1972 to Bad Soden am Taunus and is now used by the S3 Darmstadt –Bad Soden.

The route was initially entirely single-track ; In the course of the expansion to the S-Bahn, the Rödelheim – Niederhöchstadt section was gradually expanded to double-track, only the Niederhöchstadt – Kronberg section is still single-track (as one of the few S-Bahn lines in the Rhine-Main area).

Todays situation

Since the S4 has the same route as the S3 between Langen and Niederhöchstadt, it is often only viewed as “half” the S-Bahn route.

The Eschborn Süd stop for the development of the Eschborn banking and office area was put into operation in the course of the S-Bahn opening in 1978 and rebuilt to be barrier-free from 2007 to 2008 .

In addition, there was the Werk Braun works stop between Niederhöchstadt and Kronberg , which was only used during rush hour and could only be used by Braun GmbH employees . This was expanded at the end of the 1990s and added to the public timetable network under the name Kronberg Süd in 1999 and is now served by all trains.

literature

• Cronberger Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft: Memorandum on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary and nationalization. 1874-1914 . Kronberg 1914. ND: City of Kronberg: 100 years of the Kronberg Railway. Kronberg 1974.
• Kurt Eckert: Small and branch lines in the Taunus . Augsburg 1978.
• City of Kronberg: 100 years of the Kronberg Railway. Kronberg 1974.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (ed.): Official Gazette of the Royal Prussian and Grand Ducal Hessian Railway Directorate in Mainz of October 17, 1914, No. 56. Announcement No. 582, p. 349.