Rhein-Main S-Bahn

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rhein-Main S-Bahn
 Rhein-Main S-Bahn
S-Bahn Rhein-Main Map.svg
Country Germany
Transport /
tariff association 		Rhein-Main
transport association
Lines 9
Route length 303 km
Stations 112
Long-distance train stations 8th
Tunnel stations 13
smallest clock sequence 15 minutes
Passengers approx. 150 million
Residents in the catchment area 3,400,000
Employee 590
vehicles BR 423 , BR 425 , BR 430
operator DB Regio AG, S-Bahn Rhein-Main (until December 31, 2016 DB Regio AG, Hesse region)
Power system 15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~ , overhead line

S-Bahn in Germany

Logo of the Rhein-Main S-Bahn

The S-web Rhein-Main is a rail-transport system for the Rhein-Main-Area whose line network radially on Frankfurt am Main is aligned. It has the inner city tunnel between Frankfurt Central Station and Ostendstrasse as a trunk route , to which external branches to the surrounding area connect at both ends. The network runs largely on railway lines built decades ago, some of which have been provided with new connecting curves and tracks. The S-Bahn is used by around 500,000 passengers every day.

Six outer branches in the west to north-east sector connect like a fan to the two tunnel exits at the main station. To the east of Konstablerwache there is a tunnel section, which branches after a tunnel under the Main on the south side of the Main to form a tunnel mouth each for outer branches to the east and south-east (Mühlberg) and to the south (local train station). A third tunnel mouth has been prepared for the north Main section to the east. Six outer branches in the east to south-west sector can also fan-out from this tunnel connection. With the current system of control and safety technology, the tunnel has a capacity for 24 trains per hour and direction, which means that six diameter lines are possible every quarter of an hour.

Lines S5 and S6 currently have only one outer branch and end in the east-south sector at the tunnel exit at the Südbahnhof, the outer branch towards south-south-west on the Riedbahn (line S7) does not yet have access to the main line. With the North Main S-Bahn to Hanau, which is currently in preparation , a fifth outer branch will be created in the east-south section.

The first construction phase of the main line, the connecting tunnel from Frankfurt Central Station to the city center ( City Tunnel ) , was put into operation on May 28, 1978. Today the S-Bahn is operated by DB Regio  AG and belongs to the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV).

In November 2011, following the tendering process for the S-Bahn network , the RMV signed a contract with Deutsche Bahn , which will continue to provide the transport services. The contract has a term of 15 years ( lines S2, S3, S4, S5 and S6 ) or 22 years ( lines S1, S7, S8 and S9 ) and includes the replacement of the 420 series vehicles with 91 new DB series vehicles 430 a.

history

Pre-run operation

As early as the early 1960s, plans began for an underground connecting railway (called the V-Bahn ) between Frankfurt Central Station and the Hauptwache , the central traffic junction in downtown Frankfurt . In 1962, the city of Frankfurt and the then German Federal Railroad (DB) decided to jointly plan .

In October 1968 the DB, the state of Hesse and the city of Frankfurt signed the financing agreements. On January 20, 1969 - in the presence of Federal Transport Minister Georg Leber , Frankfurt's Lord Mayor Willi Brundert and Federal Railroad President Heinz Maria Oeftering  - the start of construction of the Rhein Main S-Bahn was celebrated in Frankfurt Central Station. At the same time, work began on redesigning the network in the surrounding area for S-Bahn operations: in 1972 the crossbar between Bad Soden am Taunus and Niederhöchstadt ( Limesbahn ) was opened. This eliminated the headache in Frankfurt-Höchst . In the same year the Kelsterbacher Querspange was opened with the underground station Frankfurt Airport . The Frankfurt airport was therefore the first airport in the Federal Republic of Germany with S-Bahn station. In addition to the S-trains of thought there until the opening remote station 1999, the trains of long-distance traffic .

With the first delivery of the three-part electric multiple units of the 420 series in 1976, preliminary operations began: The 420 series trains were used as normal local trains to test operation and train the engine drivers .

City tunnel

Hauptbahnhof – Hauptwache

Workers repair a damaged tunnel at the main station in the direction of the Hauptwache.
1977 closed station in Frankfurt-Niederrad due to the construction of the S-Bahn
Train destination indicator at the Kaiserlei station in Offenbach (2004)

On May 28, 1978 the first section of the main line of the S-Bahn Rhein-Main with three underground stations in Frankfurt ( Frankfurt (Main) Hbf (deep) , Frankfurt-Taunusanlage , Frankfurt-Hauptwache ) was opened. The opening trip started in the above-ground hall of Frankfurt Central Station and initially headed west to the Galluswarte , where people turned their heads, and then continued through the new city tunnel to the Hauptwache. At that time there were the following lines:

At the main station the vehicles changed their lines in a full-cycle clutch. Due to the lack of a turning system and only two turning tracks, the possibilities were very limited, so that the vehicles changed the line at each turn. From this time there is still a track change in front of the station, which is only used in the event of a fault. The Frankfurter Verkehrsverbund (FVV) offered a cycle timetable with 20/40/60. In 1980 a new line was added in the course of further expansion:

  • S15 : Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache (1980–1983)

The opening was only possible with the construction of a new Main Bridge and the relocation of the Frankfurt-Niederrad station to the south in 1977. The station building erected in 1882 was shut down. A new transfer option to the tram and bus has been created here.

Hauptwache – Konstablerwache

In 1983 the main line was extended 600 meters to the east to the new Frankfurt-Konstablerwache station. Thereafter, the circulations were planned in line with one another, only the trains of the S6 went over in a semi-cyclical coupling to the new S14, which instead of the S15 went into the S-Bahn tunnel. From then on, the S15 ended in the main hall of the main station.

  • S14 : Wiesbaden Hbf - Mainz Hbf - Rüsselsheim - Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt-Konstablerwache
  • S15 : Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf (from 1983)

Konstablerwache – Südbahnhof

Relay signal box for the S-Bahn tunnel in Frankfurt; will i. d. Usually remote-controlled by the dispatcher from the Frankfurt operations center

In 1990, the extension of the city tunnel to the Frankfurt (Main) Süd train station with the intermediate stations Frankfurt-Ostendstraße and Frankfurt-Lokalbahnhof was opened. The four tracks of the Südbahnhof offered a lot of space to turn and there was now a second large parking facility in the city area next to the outer station. All S-Bahn lines, with the exception of the S15, which still ended at the main station, were extended to the Südbahnhof. The commissioning of the tunneling under the western track apron of the southern station made it possible to extend the S-Bahn south to the Frankfurt-Stresemannallee station as the provisional endpoint of the southern outer branches of the Rhine-Main S-Bahn system, the lines S5 and S6 became Stresemannallee extended.

S-Bahn lines 1990:

  • S1 : Wiesbaden Hbf - Hochheim (Main) - Frankfurt-Höchst - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd
  • S2 : Niedernhausen - Hofheim (Taunus) - Frankfurt-Höchst - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd
  • S3 : Frankfurt-Höchst - Bad Soden (Taunus) - Eschborn - Frankfurt (Main) West - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd
  • S4 : Kronberg (Taunus) - Eschborn - Frankfurt (Main) West - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd
  • S5 : Friedrichsdorf - Bad Homburg - Oberursel (Taunus) - Frankfurt (Main) West - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd - Frankfurt-Stresemannallee
  • S6 : Friedberg - Groß Karben - Bad Vilbel - Frankfurt (Main) West - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd - Frankfurt-Stresemannallee
  • S14 : Wiesbaden Hbf - Mainz Hbf - Rüsselsheim - Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd
  • S15 : Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf

Further extensions

Frankfurt – Hanau

The construction of a south Main S-Bahn line towards Hanau began in the late 1980s. In 1992, the first section to the newly built Frankfurt (Main) Mühlberg train station was opened, which is located in a separate branch of the Frankfurt City Tunnel. This is the first S-Bahn station in Frankfurt that was built without supports or pillars in order to give travelers an increased feeling of security. The extension from the existing route was carried out without a plan , so that there are no conflicts between train journeys on the Frankfurt Süd - Frankfurt Hbf and those on the Frankfurt Hbf - Frankfurt Mühlberg route. The section was served by lines S1 and S2.

  • S1 : Wiesbaden Hbf - Hochheim (Main) - Frankfurt-Höchst - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt-Mühlberg
  • S2 : Niedernhausen - Hofheim (Taunus) - Frankfurt-Höchst - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt-Mühlberg

In 1995 the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund was introduced. This brought about a change from the 20/40/60 cycle to the still valid 15/30/60 cycle.

In the same year the Offenbach City Tunnel was opened and the line to Offenbach Ost was extended. The tunnel runs largely under Berliner Straße through the center of Offenbach's city center and does not touch Offenbach Central Station. In the course of the tunnel, the S-Bahn runs to three stations: Offenbach-Kaiserlei , Offenbach-Ledermuseum and Offenbach Marktplatz . A few days later, the last section to Hanau was opened, here the S-Bahn line runs parallel to the long-distance railway.

The extension brought some changes to the existing S-Bahn lines: The S14 was renamed the S8 and no longer drove to the Frankfurt Südbahnhof, but went through the Offenbach City Tunnel via the Offenbach (Main) Ost station to Hanau Main station extended; the short shuttle trains between Frankfurt airport and Frankfurt main station, which previously ran under the name S15, have now become part of the new S8 line; the S1 was also led through the Offenbach City Tunnel and ended in Offenbach (Main) Ost; As from 1990 to 1992, the S2 was again led to the Frankfurt Südbahnhof.

  • S1 : Wiesbaden Hbf - Hochheim (Main) - Frankfurt-Höchst - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Offenbach (Main) Ost
  • S2 : Niedernhausen - Hofheim (Taunus) - Frankfurt-Höchst - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd
  • S8 : Wiesbaden Hbf - Mainz Hbf - Rüsselsheim - Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Offenbach (Main) Ost - Hanau Hbf

Frankfurt – Langen – Darmstadt

In 1997 the S3 was extended to Darmstadt and the S4 to Langen , at the same time the S-Bahn service of the S3 between Frankfurt-Höchst and Bad Soden was stopped. Since the two lines now call at Stresemannallee station as planned, the terminus of the S5 and S6 has been moved back to the Südbahnhof.

  • S3 : Bad Soden (Taunus) - Eschborn - Frankfurt (Main) West - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd - Langen (Hessen) - Darmstadt Hbf
  • S4 : Kronberg (Taunus) - Eschborn - Frankfurt (Main) West - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) South - Langen (Hessen)
  • S5 : Friedrichsdorf - Bad Homburg - Oberursel (Taunus) - Frankfurt (Main) West - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd
  • S6 : Friedberg - Groß Karben - Bad Vilbel - Frankfurt (Main) West - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd

Bischofsheim – Wiesbaden

In 1999 a third S-Bahn connection to Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof was introduced: The S9 runs between Hanau Hauptbahnhof and Bischofsheim (Mainspitze) parallel to the S8 and then via Kostheimer Spange and Mainz-Kastel to Wiesbaden (initially without a stop in Wiesbaden Ost). This made it possible to travel to Wiesbaden with three lines on three different routes.

  • S9 : Wiesbaden Hbf - Mainz-Kastel - Rüsselsheim - Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Offenbach (Main) Ost - Hanau Hbf

Frankfurt – Riedstadt-Goddelau

The S7 as a new S-Bahn line between Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof and Riedstadt-Goddelau was introduced in 2002 - but it does not reach the city center due to the lack of capacity in the Frankfurt S-Bahn tunnel and the lack of a switch connection. In 2005, the renovation of the track layout in the Frankfurt-Stadion station (formerly Frankfurt-Sportfeld ) began, in the course of which the S7 can also reach the main station on the S-Bahn tracks and, if necessary, be guided into the main tunnel route. Since around the beginning of May 2007, a new connecting track has been used in the direction of Riedstadt-Goddelau, which means that the S7 in this direction can again stop at the Stadion station. Since the timetable change in December 2004, the S7 trains have been running every 28/32 minutes.

  • S7 : Riedstadt-Goddelau - Mörfelden - Walldorf - Frankfurt Stadium - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf

Offenbach-Dietzenbach / Rödermark-Ober-Roden

After a long planning period, the Rodgaubahn lines to Dietzenbach (S2) and Rödermark - Ober-Roden (S1) went into operation in 2003 . Since then, there has been a purely five-minute cycle to Offenbach (Main) Ost (only during peak hours) and a pure five-minute cycle to Frankfurt (Main) Süd. In the beginning there were long delays on these two routes, which were caused by signals that were not working properly. Due to the lack of capacity on the main line, the S2 booster trains used in rush hour traffic ended at Offenbach main station from Dietzenbach from December 2003 to June 2010 and at Frankfurt main station from Niedernhausen. After the signaling technology on the main line has been converted, these amplifier trains run continuously to Niedernhausen every 15 minutes.

  • S1 : Wiesbaden Hbf - Hochheim (Main) - Frankfurt-Höchst - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Offenbach (Main) Ost - Rödermark-Ober-Roden
  • S2 : Niedernhausen - Hofheim (Taunus) - Frankfurt-Höchst - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Offenbach (Main) Ost - Dietzenbach train station

New stations

From 1978 to 2008 a total of 7 stations were added to existing routes. On December 1st, 1998 the Stierstadt station served by the S5 (see stations in Oberursel ) and in 1999 the Kronberg Süd station served by the S4 (see stations in Kronberg (Taunus) ) opened. On January 11th, 1999 the S-Bahn station Messe was opened between Westbahnhof and Galluswarte (lines S3 – S6). This is located directly in the exhibition center and offers visitors optimal access. The Eppstein-Bremthal station served by the S2 was opened on January 14, 2001 and the Langen-Flugsicherung station, served by the S3 and S4, on October 20, 2002. The Frankfurt-Zeilsheim stop served by the S2 was opened on May 13, 2007, and the single-track Schwalbach Nord stop served by the S3 on October 31, 2008 .

In November 2016, the construction of a 4-kilometer-long new line between the Frankfurt Stadium and Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional train stations began to develop in the Gateway Gardens district of Frankfurt . The western part of the new line runs in an approximately 2-kilometer-long tunnel, which connects to the east of the S-Bahn tunnel of the Frankfurt airport loop in the area of Terminal 1 and which includes the new Gateway Gardens tunnel station . The new line went into operation on December 15, 2019. The existing line, which was made superfluous by the new section, was dismantled.

Modernizations

A step-by-step refreshment of the main line stations has been underway since the beginning of 2013. In recent years, these have been shown in an increasingly poor visual condition due to increasing vandalism and the removal of the ceiling panels, which is necessary for fire protection reasons. It all started with the Frankfurt Hbf (deep) station , whose walls were painted white and green instead of white and orange and whose columns were clad with mirrored mosaic stones. The program was continued in 2014 with the start of modernization at the Taunusanlage , which had previously also been severely deteriorated due to vandalism and penetration of groundwater. Here the walls were painted blue and green, depending on the platform side, the staircases were renewed and the ceiling was sealed.

In the years 2015 to 2018, the tunnel route between the main train station and Frankfurt Süd or Frankfurt-Mühlberg was open several times over a longer period (2015, 2016 and 2018 during the summer holidays, and also in a few years during the Easter holidays and on "bridging days" weekends) completely blocked to build a new electronic signal box for around 95 million euros. At the same time, several stations were fundamentally modernized and adapted to the current fire protection regulations.

The airport train station is to be renovated in the next few years. No plans have yet been published for Konstablerwache station .

From July 31 to August 18, 2006, the trunk line tunnel between the main train station and Konstablerwache was completely closed in order to exchange 30 points.

Introduction of night traffic

With the 2017/18 timetable change, continuous night traffic was introduced on weekend nights. Due to the nightly closings of the city ​​tunnel , the railways ran on modified routes at night in an initial phase.

  • S1: Wiesbaden Hbf - Hochheim (Main) - Frankfurt-Höchst - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt (Main) Süd - Offenbach (Main) Hbf - Rödermark-Ober-Roden
  • S3 : Frankfurt (Main) Süd - Langen (Hessen) - Darmstadt Hbf
  • S4 : Kronberg (Taunus) - Eschborn - Frankfurt (Main) West - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf
  • S5 : Friedrichsdorf - Bad Homburg - Oberursel (Taunus) - Frankfurt (Main) West - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf
  • S8 : Wiesbaden Hbf - Mainz Hbf - Rüsselsheim - Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt (Main) Süd - Offenbach (Main) Hbf - Hanau Hbf

After completion of the electronic interlocking in the city tunnel, full night-time operation began in August 2018.

  • S1 : Wiesbaden Hbf - Hochheim (Main) - Frankfurt-Höchst - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Offenbach (Main) Ost - Rödermark-Ober-Roden
  • S2 : Niedernhausen - Hofheim (Taunus) - Frankfurt-Höchst - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Offenbach (Main) Ost - Dietzenbach train station
  • S3 : Bad Soden (Taunus) - Eschborn - Frankfurt (Main) West - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd
  • S4 : Kronberg (Taunus) - Eschborn - Frankfurt (Main) West - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd - Langen (Hessen) - Darmstadt Hbf
  • S5 : Friedrichsdorf - Bad Homburg - Oberursel (Taunus) - Frankfurt (Main) West - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Frankfurt (Main) Süd
  • S6 : Friedberg - Groß Karben - Bad Vilbel
  • S7 : Riedstadt-Goddelau - Mörfelden - Walldorf - Frankfurt Stadium - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf
  • S8 : Wiesbaden Hbf - Mainz Hbf - Rüsselsheim - Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Frankfurt-Hauptwache - Offenbach (Main) Ost - Hanau Hbf

Lines

Since the end of 2003 the route network has been as follows:

line
 Line course opening Length
(in km)		 Train stations
 Travel time
(in min)		 Average
speed
(in km / h)		 route
S1 Wiesbaden Hbf ↔ Rödermark-Ober-Roden 1978-2003 000000000000072.100000000072.1 000000000000032.000000000032 000000000000087.000000000087 000000000000049.720000000049.72 Taunus-Eisenbahn - Main-Lahn-Bahn - City-Tunnel Frankfurt - City-Tunnel Offenbach - Rodgaubahn
S2 Niedernhausen (Taunus) ↔ Dietzenbach Bhf 1978-2003 000000000000054.700000000054.7 000000000000027.000000000027 000000000000068.000000000068 000000000000048.260000000048.26 Main-Lahn-Bahn - City-Tunnel Frankfurt - City-Tunnel Offenbach - Rodgaubahn
S3 Bad Soden (Taunus) ↔ Darmstadt Hbf 1978-1997 000000000000049.000000000049.0 000000000000030.000000000030th 000000000000065.000000000065 000000000000045.230000000045.23 Limes Railway - Kronberg Railway - Homburg Railway - City-Tunnel Frankfurt - Main-Neckar Railway
S4 Kronberg (Taunus) ↔ Langen (↔ Darmstadt Hbf) 1978-1997 000000000000033.500000000033.5 000000000000022.000000000022nd 000000000000048.000000000048 000000000000041.880000000041.88 Kronberger Bahn - Homburger Bahn - City-Tunnel Frankfurt - Main-Neckar-Bahn
S5 Friedrichsdorf (Taunus) ↔ Frankfurt South 1978-1990 000000000000028.900000000028.9 000000000000017.000000000017th 000000000000039.000000000039 000000000000044.460000000044.46 Homburg Railway - City-Tunnel Frankfurt
S6 Friedberg (Hessen) ↔ Frankfurt South 1978-1990 000000000000039.100000000039.1 000000000000021.000000000021st 000000000000050.000000000050 000000000000046.920000000046.92 Main-Weser-Bahn - Homburg Railway - City-Tunnel Frankfurt
S7 Riedstadt-Goddelau ↔ Frankfurt Hbf 2002 000000000000035.200000000035.2 000000000000010.000000000010 000000000000036.000000000036 000000000000058.670000000058.67 Riedbahn
S8 Wiesbaden Hbf ↔ Mainz Hbf ↔ Offenbach Ost (↔ Hanau Hbf) 1978-1995 000000000000070.300000000070.3 000000000000028.000000000028 000000000000084.000000000084 000000000000043.860000000043.86 Mainbahn - Airport S-Bahn - City-Tunnel Frankfurt - City-Tunnel Offenbach - Kinzigtalbahn
S9 Wiesbaden Hbf ↔ Mainz-Kastel ↔ Hanau Hbf 2000 000000000000066.100000000066.1 000000000000025.000000000025th 000000000000077.000000000077 000000000000051.510000000051.51 Taunus Railway - Main Railway - Airport S-Bahn - City Tunnel Frankfurt - City Tunnel Offenbach - Kinzig Valley Railway

The line pairs S3 / S4 and S8 / S9 are each to be regarded as a line with an alternative route.

Former lines and former line course

line
 Line course comment
S 14 Wiesbaden ↔ Mainz ↔ Frankfurt Airport Regional Station ↔ Frankfurt Hbf ↔ Frankfurt South today part of the S8
S 15 Frankfurt Airport Regional Station ↔ Frankfurt Hbf today part of the S8 / S9, amplifier line of the S14
S 13 Goddelau-Erfelden ↔ Frankfurt Hbf today's S7
S 12 Frankfurt Hbf ↔ Langen ↔ Darmstadt today part of the S3 / S4
S 11 Frankfurt Hbf ↔ Dreieich ↔ Rödermark-Ober-Roden today's Dreieichbahn
S 9 Offenbach Hbf ↔ Rödermark-Ober-Roden today almost completely part of the S1
S 8 Frankfurt Hbf ↔ Frankfurt South ↔ Offenbach ↔ Hanau today almost completely part of the S8 / S9
S 7 Frankfurt Hbf ↔ Frankfurt Süd ↔ Maintal ↔ Hanau Forerunner of the North Main S-Bahn

With the exception of the S14 / S15, however, these are train services with normal regional trains, to which S-Bahn line numbers were assigned during the existence of the Frankfurt Transport Association . In the same way there was the R10 line to Dietzenbach at the start of the transport association, but it was shut down a few years later and is now part of the S2 line after reactivation and expansion.

A real former S-Bahn line, however, is the Sodener Bahn between Bad Soden am Taunus and Höchst, which was part of the S3 line and is now served by diesel railcars .

During the state horticultural show 2010 in Bad Nauheim , the trips of the S6 were partly extended beyond Friedberg to Bad Nauheim at the weekend.

Train stations

S6 deep in Frankfurt main station

The central node in the S-Bahn network of the Rhine-Main area is Frankfurt Central Station , where all lines converge. Except for the S7 line, all lines use the underground station. The S7 and some trains of the S2, S8 and S9 end in the main hall of the station. The northern lines (S3 – S6, coming from the Galluswarte ), the western lines (S1 – S2 coming from Griesheim ) and the western / south-western lines (S7 – S9 coming from Niederrad ) converge at the main station. The underground station has four tracks (two direction platforms), of which the two inner tracks are used by the western lines and the two outer ones by the northern lines.

Other transfer hubs in Frankfurt city center are the Hauptwache (underground lines U1 – U3 and U8 and U6 / U7 ), Konstablerwache (underground lines U4 / U5 and U6 / U7, trams and buses), Südbahnhof (U -Bahn lines U1 – U3 as well as U8 and tram) and Galluswarte (tram). Stations heavily used by commuters and trade fair visitors are Taunusanlage and Messe . The southern (S3 – S6) and eastern (S1, S2, S8 / S9) lines branch off behind the Ostendstraße station .

S1 in Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof, used until 2015

There is a connection to long-distance traffic in Frankfurt at the main train station (all lines), at the airport regional train station (S8 / S9; walk to the long-distance train station), at the west train station (S3 to S6), as well as at the south train station (S3 to S6), next to it in Mainz Hbf ( S8), Wiesbaden Hbf (S1, S8 / S9), Darmstadt Hbf (S3 / S4), Hanau Hbf (S8 / S9) and Friedberg (S6). The Höchst (S1 / S2) and Frankfurt-West (S3 to S6) train stations are important regional traffic nodes with importance for the entire western and northern part of the conurbation.

Important bridges

New Niederräder bridge

The S-Bahn crosses three of the four largest rivers in the region using a total of nine bridges and a tunnel:

The fourth larger river in the region, the Kinzig , currently has no point of contact with the S-Bahn network. This will only change with the construction of the north Main S-Bahn line to Hanau, as the existing Frankfurt – Hanau die Kinzig line is located directly north of the Hanau West station , which is operationally part of Hanau Hauptbahnhof , on a bridge from 1926 crossed.

tunnel

The underground route in Offenbach is the backbone of the eastern lines (S1, S2, S8, S9).
South portal of the old Eppsteiner tunnel

There are six tunnels in the S-Bahn network:

  • All S-Bahn trains with the exception of the S7 run through the Frankfurt City Tunnel . The short commuter trains of the S1 and S8 that end at Frankfurt Central Station, as well as the S9 coming from Wiesbaden during off-peak periods, do not go into the tunnel either. After crossing under the Main, the tunnel branches off to the Frankfurt-Süd train station and in the direction of Offenbach am Main . It has seven underground stations and is about 6.4 kilometers long. In the Hauptwache - Konstablerwache section there are two more outer subway tracks. At Konstablerwache station, you can change to the U6 and U7 subways on the same platform in the direction of travel. The only railway tunnel he crosses next to the metro lines A to Main . A branch to the planned northern line to Hanau has been prepared.
    In 2010, the modernization of the train protection increased the capacity by 2 trains per hour to 24 trains. Since then, the interrupted amplifier lines of the S2 have been tied through, in Munich, however, it was possible to increase the output to 30 trains per hour. A similar increase in capacity in Frankfurt would have required the installation of line train control on the route and in the vehicles and was not done for cost reasons.
  • The Offenbach City Tunnel is 3.7 kilometers long and has three underground train stations, which are served by the S1, S2, S8 and S9 lines. Opening: 1995
  • On the Frankfurt airport loop there is a tunnel that crosses under several motorways and buildings and which has a three-track underground regional train station in the area of ​​Terminal 1 at Frankfurt Airport . Lines S8, S9 and regional trains stop here, as well as a pair of long-distance trains at night. Until the airport long-distance station opened in 1999, intercity trains also stopped here . With the timetable change on December 15, 2019, the originally 2.2 kilometer long tunnel was extended by around 2 kilometers to the east, with the new tunnel section including the Gateway Gardens tunnel station.
  • In Mainz, the S8 runs in the direction of Wiesbaden through the two old railway tunnels between the Mainz Roman Theater and Mainz Hauptbahnhof , and in the opposite direction it runs through the “New Mainz Tunnel”.
  • The (single-track) station Schwalbach, served by the S3 line, is located underground under the market square of the Limes city . The tunnel, which was built together with a parallel road tunnel, is about as long as the station itself.
  • Immediately north of Eppstein im Taunus station (line S2) is the 210-meter-long Eppsteiner Tunnel , built in 1877 , for which a new replacement tunnel was built in 2010 due to otherwise problematic renovation work.

future

The Ostbahnhof, so far a prominent example of urban decay in Frankfurt, would be the starting point for the new route.
Stump of the S-Bahn route for the S6 to Friedberg, just behind the Frankfurt-West train station, in Frankfurt-Bockenheim

The North Main Line to Hanau

To complete the originally planned network, the North Main S-Bahn via Maintal to Hanau is still missing . The plan approval procedure should be initiated by mid-2010. There are already building permits for individual structures - for example the removal of the level crossings in Hanau . In the summer of 2008 it was assumed that the construction would take from 2012 to 2016, but this could not be realized. The planning approval procedure for the Nordmainische S-Bahn was initiated in 2014 for all three sections. The first change to the plan for PFA 2 Maintal was made public in summer 2017. The objection period ran until August 25, 2017. The Nordmainische S-Bahn is to go into operation in 2028 and be integrated into the existing S5. The planned route is Usingen - Friedrichsdorf - Frankfurt - Hanau from 2028. In the area of ​​the city tunnel and at the Ostbahnhof, preliminary construction work has already been carried out.

Expansion to Friedberg

The S6 to Friedberg will have its own track structure in order to be independent of long-distance and regional traffic on the Main-Weser Railway . In the 1980s and 1990s it was planned to add a third track to the double-track line. Later the planning was changed to the effect that the S6 would build its own two tracks for its entire run to Friedberg for a line operation independent of long-distance, regional and freight traffic.

For the first construction section Frankfurt-West to Bad Vilbel, there was a first planning approval decision in 2004, which was changed by a supplementary planning approval decision from 2009. The complaints from residents of the route against the expansion were finally dismissed in November 2011 by the Hessian Administrative Court. A complaint against the non-admission of a revision of this judgment failed in January 2013, so that building law now exists. Then the client DB Projektbau GmbH began with the implementation planning. Once this was completed, construction could actually begin in autumn 2017. Commissioning was scheduled for December 2022 and will be postponed to the end of 2023. The 17-kilometer Bad-Vilbel - Friedberg section is to be expanded between 2023 and 2028.

Further planning in the actual S-Bahn network

There are other route plans in the S-Bahn network, such as an extension of the S1 from Rödermark-Ober-Roden to Dieburg . However, this plan was abandoned after a negative cost-benefit study, as was the extension of the S7 from Riedstadt-Goddelau to Biblis or the branch of the S7 to Groß-Gerau . Other plans that failed due to cost-benefit studies are the extension of the S2 to Rödermark-Ober-Roden, the S4 to Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof or Darmstadt Ost, and the extension of the S2 from Niedernhausen to Idstein.

In the mid-1990s, a S-Bahn line was also being planned, which was to be run from Frankfurt via Rüsselsheim to Darmstadt. Coming from Darmstadt, the train was supposed to turn off to Frankfurt in a curve still to be built (Schindberg curve) before Bischofsheim. This would have given the Darmstadt residents the long-desired direct connection to Frankfurt Airport. Furthermore, this would have created a fast connection between Darmstadt and Rüsselsheim, which would have saved the many commuters a significant amount of time. This project failed because of the community of Bischofsheim, which refused to build a curve in its area. There it was pointed out that it was also possible to change the direction of travel in Bischofsheimer Bahnhof.

According to information from the Darmstadt-Dieburger local transport organization, the realization of this route depends on the expansion of the Main-Rhine Railway and a consolidation of the frequency on this route. However, this is to take place in the form of an S-Bahn line of the S-Bahn RheinNeckar extended to Frankfurt .

In addition, additional stops are being planned on the existing lines in order to connect previously undeveloped existing or in the last decades newly developed settlement areas to the S-Bahn network. For example, new stops need to be built:

Due to the increasing volume of traffic and in order to be able to better connect the Oberrad district with the city center, there have been increasing demands for a number of years to have an S-Bahn station called Frankfurt-Oberrad on the site of the former Oberrader local train station on today's S-Bahn lines S1, S2, S8 and S9 to be erected.

Since 2014, there have been concrete plans to extend the S5 via Friedrichsdorf to Usingen , which requires electrification of the Taunusbahn to Usingen. This plan was decided in May 2015. The extension should - as it stands now - take effect when the timetable changes in 2022/23. The cost-benefit analysis of this project resulted in an exceptionally high value of 7. The local communal political bodies in the Hochtaunus district also request an extension of the S5 via Usingen to Grävenwiesbach (Hochtaunus district) and Brandoberndorf (municipality of Waldsolms in the Lahn-Dill district ) . However, this is only considered realistic for 2027, as the RMV will purchase new vehicles this year.

When, according to the status of the plans for the timetable change in December 2022, the four-track expansion of the Main-Weser Railway between Frankfurt and Bad Vilbel and the electrification of the Taunus Railway between Friedrichsdorf and Usingen (and thus the extension of the S5 to there) go into operation planned that the S5 should take over the function of the Nordmainische S-Bahn to Hanau (2028). Line S6 is to be routed in the corridor of the previous S3 to Darmstadt. The S3 and S4 should end in Frankfurt Süd or one of the lines in Langen.

Link to the tram

With the regional tangents East and West, a two-system light rail network is planned, which will use the existing S-Bahn network in sections.

Regional bypass West

Two-system light rail vehicles are to be used in the west of Frankfurt: Starting in Bad Homburg or at the Frankfurt Northwest Center , the so-called Regional Tangente West (RTW) via Eschborn Süd, Sulzbach (Taunus) , Frankfurt-Sossenheim , Frankfurt-Höchst, Frankfurt Airport and Frankfurt- Run from the stadium to the Isenburg center in Neu-Isenburg or Dreieich - Buchschlag . The West Regional Tangent is intended to operate as a mixed operation of dual-system light rail vehicles on mostly existing light rail and railway / S-Bahn routes, which makes its implementation - despite the large total length of the route - quite inexpensive. Its primary task is to strengthen the tangential traffic, to spare passengers and time-consuming detours through Frankfurt city center and to reduce the congestion of the Frankfurt City Tunnel. The realization is planned for the end of 2023.

Regional tangent east

In the long term, the West regional bypass will also be followed by a East regional bypass. This is to connect Neu-Isenburg-Zentrum with Bad Vilbel via Offenbach, Frankfurt-Fechenheim and Frankfurt-Enkheim . Above all, the infrastructure of the Frankfurt tram should also be used. However, the realization of the regional bypass east is even less likely than that of the regional bypass west.

S-Bahn-like suburban trains

Train crossing on the Königsteiner Bahn in Kelkheim station (2004)

S-Bahn-like traffic was already introduced on several regional routes without overhead lines during the times of the Frankfurter Verkehrsverbund , i.e. high frequency, continuous weekend traffic as well as trains connected to Frankfurt Central Station during off-peak times . The operators were and are the DB Regio and the Hessische Landesbahn (HLB), formerly Frankfurt-Königsteiner Eisenbahn (FKE). The FVV ran these lines with their own line letters ( K , T and N ) or as an S-Bahn line (S9, S11). This affected the following routes (sorted by today's RMV line number):

  • Sodener Bahn (11): Frankfurt-Höchst - Bad Soden
    From 1979 to 1997 the Sodener Bahn was part of the S-Bahn line S3. The line was electrified for this purpose. Due to insufficient utilization, the S-Bahn service was abandoned and the line was taken over by the FKE. It only runs as a connecting line.
  • Königsteiner Bahn (12): Frankfurt Hbf - Frankfurt-Höchst  - Königstein
    From Höchst original route of the FKE. Starting in 1987, initially as line K , with the acquisition of new vehicles and the adaptation of the route and signaling technology, dense regular traffic was introduced. Since 2003, all trains have run continuously to Frankfurt Central Station.
  • Taunusbahn (15): (Frankfurt Hbf -) Bad Homburg  - Friedrichsdorf  - Usingen  - Grävenwiesbach (-  Brandoberndorf )
    The     Friedrichsdorf – Grävenwiesbach line, which is about to be closed, was bought by the Hochtaunus transport association , modernized and handed over to FKE for operation in 1992. The line was referred to as T until the RMV was founded . From 1999 the disused part was reactivated up to Brandoberndorf. The stations have S-Bahn-like standards such as high platforms (since 1992) or train destination displays (since 2007). In the rush additional trains to Frankfurt main station.
  • Niddertalbahn (34): (Frankfurt Hbf -) Bad Vilbel  - Nidderau  - Glauburg-Stockheim
    Since the modernization work was completed in May 2008, almost all trains run to the main station on weekdays and around a third of the trains on Saturdays, previously only a few were tied through. FVV in the route carried the line letter N .
  • Dreieichbahn (61): (Frankfurt Hbf -) Dreieich-Buchschlag  - Rödermark-Ober-Roden (-  Dieburg )
    The Dreieichbahn operated by DB Regio was designated as S-Bahn line 11 in the network map of the Frankfurt transport association . The Dreieichbahn has been running to the main station every hour since summer 2016.

On other lines such as the Horlofftalbahn (48, HLB) or the Odenwaldbahn (82/85, Vias ) additional trains also run to and from Frankfurt main station during rush hour; but they have a weaker cycle density. While all services are now also provided on the aforementioned lines by railcars, only individual pairs of trains on line 34 in rush hour traffic and, because of the operational link in Bad Vilbel, two of the three pairs of trains that are tied through on line 48 as a wagon train with double-decker cars and a locomotive 245 series .

Difficulties and accidents

Passenger safety

In order to guarantee the safety of passengers and staff and to counteract vandalism, uniformed security escorts from DB Sicherheit travel with the S-Bahn from 8 p.m. until closing time.

In addition, mobile patrols from the security and stewards service (SOD) of DB Sicherheit drive along in some of the vehicles at any time of the day, but especially in the evening hours, in order to counteract crime. For the same reason, these also patrol the stations of the Rhein-Main S-Bahn, especially in the evening hours.

A significant improvement in terms of safety is also that with the timetable change in December 2014, the remaining vehicles of the 420 series, which were not fully accessible, were replaced by completely continuously accessible vehicles of the 430 series.

The tickets are checked in the S-Bahn vehicles by uniformed and civilly dressed inspectors from DB Sicherheit and, in some cases, private security services on behalf of DB.

Lack of infrastructure

The Frankfurt City Tunnel is a bottleneck in the S-Bahn system . Its capacity was increased from 22 trains per hour to 24 trains per hour in 2010. This was done by optimizing the signaling system, although the trains continued to be guided by a conventional signaling system (with point train control , PZB) and not, as in Munich , by line train control (LZB). With the retrofit, the trains on line S2, which previously ended in Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof or Offenbach Hbf, were completely tied through. The comparatively inexpensive optimization of around eight million euros was sufficient for this. Around 90 million euros would be required for a further increase in capacity through liner train control, so that a planned later conversion of the S-Bahn tunnel to liner train control was dropped and the S7 line will not go into the city tunnel in the future either.

Another reason for delays are numerous mixed-operation routes on which S-Bahn trains have to share the routes with freight, regional and long-distance traffic. These often cause delays, which then affect the other lines as they merge into the inner city tunnel. Mixed operation takes place on the routes of lines S1, S2, S6 – S9. It will be particularly tight on the S6 and S7, as there is also heavy long-distance and freight traffic on the same tracks.

One example of this is the aforementioned southern section of the Main-Weser Railway between Bad Vilbel and Frankfurt, which is to be expanded to four tracks by December 2023. In the long term, the four-track expansion to Friedberg (Hessen) is to be continued. This would mean that the S6 line would run entirely on its own tracks and the capacity of the Main-Weser Railway for regional, long-distance and freight traffic would increase significantly. Further expansion measures concern the Mühlheim am Main – Hanau lines and the Mainz-Bischofsheim junction .

The S7 is to be relieved by the planned new Rhine / Main – Rhine / Neckar line.

Rüsselsheim train accident (1990)

On February 2, 1990, a serious train accident occurred not far from Rüsselsheim station . A S-Bahn from Frankfurt collided with a S-Bahn coming from Wiesbaden and derailed. 17 people died and over 80 were injured, some seriously. The carelessness of the train driver of the train coming from Wiesbaden was found to be the cause of the accident.

The traction vehicles 420 205, 420 208 and 420 210 were affected. The latter was completely retired. The other two drove until they were shut down in 2004. 420 208 was on the road with the end car from 420 210.

More incidents

On the evening of November 26, 1998, two S-Bahns collided near Frankfurt-Rödelheim station when a broken train was about to be towed by another train, but the broken train was unlit in a different place than assumed. As a result, the towing train hit the damaged train. Eight people were injured. The traction vehicles 420 270 and 420 315 were badly damaged and scrapped in 2000.

On August 1, 2013, there was almost a flank run between two trains on the S8 line in Mainz main station , when brake sand from an emergency brake electrically isolated the contact of a track vacancy detection system , so that an occupied switch was incorrectly displayed as free. Both trains came to a stop just a few meters apart. Initially, the cause was assumed to be overloading of the signal box staff on duty due to a lack of staff at the Mainz Hbf signal box.

Multiple units

165 S-Bahn trains are in operation. On December 31, 2012, the breakdown was as follows: 65 units of the 420 series (of which 55 plantation and 10 reserve) and 100 units of the 423 series (of which 93 plantation and 7 reserve).

By autumn 2014, the 420 series vehicles were replaced by modern 430 series vehicles . This is part of the contract that RMV concluded with Deutsche Bahn in November 2011 after winning the tender for the transport services. Since the completion of the delivery, 100 vehicles from the 423 series and 91 vehicles from the 430 series have been in use, the latter vehicles on the S1, S7, S8 and S9 lines.

420 series

Class 420 in the airport regional train station

In the early years, trains of the second and third series of the electric multiple unit series 420 in the pop paintwork pure orange / pebble gray (contrary to the original plans, the planned paintwork carmine red / pebble gray was not used) were used in Frankfurt, although there were still some trains from Munich until 1990 due to a lack of vehicles borrowed blue and white 420s were used, for example to open the trunk line extension to Frankfurt Süd . The cars of the 2nd series were completely handed over to the Munich S-Bahn by the beginning of the 2000s . Due to the steadily increasing demand for vehicles at the time, all third and fourth series railcars as well as numerous fifth and sixth series were handed over to Frankfurt by the Stuttgart S-Bahn at irregular intervals between 1980 and 2004 .

The stationing of new class 423 railcars in Frankfurt began in 2003, while the first ET 420s were retired in August 2003. From 2004 Frankfurt ET 420 no longer received any main inspections; this only started again in 2007 with 420 271, when it became clear that the delivery of the last multiple units would have to be postponed indefinitely due to registration problems. From 2007 to 2008, all Frankfurt vehicles were also modernized for three million euros in the interior, which included light gray instead of striped partitions, red doors inside and new seat cushions in the blue DB Regio design. At the same time, the already well advanced decommissioning was severely scaled down and from then on concentrated on the railcars of the third series in order to be able to take at least the oldest vehicles out of service. Two railcars received LED headlights for testing ; these could not prevail in Frankfurt, but were used a few years later in railcars of the Munich S-Bahn .

The S-Bahn Rhein-Main had the first completely traffic-red vehicle fleet of the Deutsche Bahn AG. It retained this status until the end of 2003, when the Stuttgart S-Bahn delivered the last orange-white and orange-pebble-gray units to Frankfurt. After a year or more, the S-Bahn was painted completely red at the beginning of 2005 due to the z-position of the last orange-pebble-gray unit 420 376. Until 2005, the last pebble gray-orange 420 (apart from 420 001) was in Frankfurt, the 420 373, but this train was scrapped in Trier-Ehrang in spring 2005.

When the use of the 420 series on the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn ended in 2009 , the Essen depot handed over several ET 420s of the fifth and sixth series to Frankfurt. Although the Frankfurt depot went to great lengths to adapt the railcars to the Frankfurt units (for example, most of the railcars received the redesign from 2007), they were in such poor condition until the end due to years of inadequate maintenance in North Rhine-Westphalia henceforth they were generally taken out of service immediately after the examination deadline.

At the same time, four Stuttgart trains of the seventh construction series were relocated to Frankfurt in July 2009. After the main inspection, three of them were used from mid-June, initially primarily on the S7 and the airport shuttle (S8 / S9), later then normally in mixed operation with older units on all ET 420 trips. In the spring of 2014, another train of the seventh series and four trains of the eighth series were relocated from Stuttgart to Frankfurt in order to make up for a shortage of vehicles caused by deadlines for older 420s. This was - apart from short-term loans for major events - the only period in which the eighth series was in use in Frankfurt. After an early end of use was already foreseeable at that time, no major efforts were made to adapt the cars to the Frankfurt railcars - some of them were on the road with Stuttgart advertising stickers in the interior until they were taken out of service.

420 316-2 with retrofitted LED headlights

The 65 remaining trains of the 420 series were in operation until November 2014. Since the conversion of the S7 and some journeys of the S1 (which had previously been made by the 420s since autumn 2013) to the new 430 series in May 2014, numerous 420s were superfluous, the withdrawal from service has made leaps and bounds since then. Another reason for this was the expiry of the inspection deadlines for many vehicles , while at the same time general inspections were no longer worthwhile due to the manageable remaining period of use.

In the last months of operation, trains of the 420 series were still in use on the S8 and S9 lines. In exceptional operational cases or in the event of a lack of vehicles, the 420 series could be used in the entire network, so that in very rare cases, e.g. B. came on lines S5 and S6, which were converted to the 423 series trains in 2005.

The use of the 420 series in the network of the S-Bahn Rhein-Main ended in the night of November 3, 2014. A sale and other options should - depending on the condition of the remaining units - be checked according to media information, but were between the end of use and March Almost all railcars scrapped in 2019. Only the units received from Stuttgart in 2014 were handed over to the Munich S-Bahn, also after a long period of storage.

An official museum train was not kept by the Rhein-Main S-Bahn. Around 2005 there were isolated efforts to keep unit 420 201 as a museum vehicle, but these were quickly ended when the railcar was scrapped in the same year. However, after the end of the mission, a private association of railway enthusiasts in Gießen was able to take over unit 420 298 as a permanent loan and regularly undertake special trips in the Frankfurt area with this railcar, which they also refurbished (initially in the last operational state). Unit 420 300, which opened the main line of the Stuttgart S-Bahn in 1978 , was handed over to the Horb Railway Museum after its deadline in 2010 .

Series 423

Class 423 in Offenbach (Main) Ost

While Stuttgart and Cologne were supplied with the successor series 423 as early as 1999 and Munich replaced the entire vehicle fleet between 2000 and 2004, Frankfurt did not begin with the partial renewal until 2003, after a few S-Bahn Munich railcars on the S-Bahn in 2002 for test purposes Rhine-Main were used.

100 class 423 multiple units have been in service in Frankfurt am Main since October 2010 (second series: 301–305; third series: 325–334; fourth series: 372–396; fifth series: 397–456). Lines S1 (with the exception of individual circuits), S4, S5 and S6 have been completely used with 423 since June 2006. Since the timetable change on December 10, 2006, line S2 has also been running with the new railcars. The short commute of the S8 and S9 from the main train station to Frankfurt Airport are partly driven with 423. Line S3 has been served exclusively by 423 since March 28, 2010. Initially, the new units that were only approved at the beginning of 2010 were primarily used.

In the second half of 2014, the trains of the 423 series were also in regular service on weekdays on the entire route of the S8 / S9 in order to accelerate the shutdown of the 420 series. The new class 430 multiple units (see a paragraph below) have been in service here since the end of 2014.

A total of 100 units were ordered and should be delivered by mid-2007. However, the last tranche of 13 units did not arrive in Frankfurt until 2010. The last railcar of the class 423 (423 456) was delivered at the end of October 2010. Rental vehicles from the Stuttgart S-Bahn were also used at short notice . The reason for the delay was the light barrier problem .

Between 2013 and 2016 - after only six years of service in some cases - all Frankfurt class 423 railcars were modernized in order to bring them up to the status of the successor series 430. This includes:

  • the replacement of all LCD displays with larger LED displays
  • a modernization of the interior with a new seat cushion design
  • the retrofitting of video surveillance cameras
  • an adaptation of the passenger information by the installation of progress monitors and adaptation of the announcement system to that of the ET430
  • the renovation of the car bodies with new paint
  • the retrofitting of microphone units for wheelchair users
  • as well as the installation of new door closing signals.

The last point brought the modernized railcars and the RMV as the initiator of the modernization in the early days, because many passengers and railway employees found the new door signals (which also include a signal when the doors are released) annoying, even annoying. The RMV referred to the applicable EU directives that oblige the installation of such signals, but admitted that there had been a design error by the manufacturer when installing the new signals , which could have accidentally increased the intensity of the signal tone.

430 series

Series 430 in Frankfurt (Main)

The DB class 430 completely replaced the class 420 in 2014. In regular operation, only the class 423, the new class 430 and 14 multiple units of the class 425 are in operation. 91 sets of the class 430 were delivered, 29 units more than for the pure class Replacement needed. The vehicle fleet was increased from 162 vehicles to 205 locomotives. Another 7 units will be added by 2023. On May 5, 2014, the first passenger deployment of the 430 series in the Rhine-Main area took place on the S1 (Wiesbaden - Rödermark-Ober-Roden) and the S8 reinforcement courses between Frankfurt Hbf and Kelsterbach. Almost three weeks later, on May 23, 2014, the S7 (Frankfurt Hbf - Riedstadt-Goddelau) was completely converted to the 430 series. Operations on the “long” S8 and S9 began at the end of October; since November 3, 2014, these lines have been completely converted.

As with the Stuttgart S-Bahn , the introduction of the new railcars was accompanied by several problems:

  • After the conversion of the S7 in May 2014, a design fault in the wheelchair ramp led to an accident in which a ramp slipped out of the train due to missing barbs during use, seriously injuring a wheelchair user . Further use of the ramps was then prohibited until further notice. However, since numerous platforms in the network are still not high enough to take a wheelchair user out of the train without a ramp and the drivers are not allowed to lift them out by hand, the transport management of DB Station & Service had to be notified in each such case to set up a mobile Bringing the ramp to the scene, which could sometimes take several hours.
  • In contrast to the 423 series, in which only the ramp request buttons directly behind the driver's cab used are active, at the beginning of the 430 series all request buttons were always active and were often pressed for no reason, which meant that the respective driver had to use all multi-purpose areas of the Train (depending on the length of the train, up to six) had to check for wheelchair users wishing to get off, which meant that the trains quickly accumulated long delays and had to turn back prematurely, canceled completely or replaced with older vehicles en route. This problem occurred in particular after the S1 was converted to the new railcars, which drastically reduced the reliability of the line in the first few weeks. The fact that the wheelchair buttons were now also attached to all doors and could easily be operated accidentally or improperly made the problem even worse. After no other solutions were successful, all wheelchair buttons in the door frames were removed from September 2014.
  • In the first winter of operation there were further problems: As a result of insufficient heating of the driver's cabs and particularly noisy malfunction reports with enormous frequency, so many train drivers were on sick leave in January 2015 that the S4 line had to be suspended for several days.

425 series

The use of class 425 multiple units began in December 2018 on the S7 Riedstadt-Goddelau – Frankfurt Hbf and on shuttle journeys between Frankfurt Hbf and Frankfurt-Airport . Four vehicles were used in their original condition up to September 2019. A total of 14 vehicles are to be used and modernized by the end of 2020. In contrast to the previous vehicles, the vehicles of this series offer a level entry at the platform edges with a height of 76 centimeters on the platforms of the S7 line. This means that vehicles of the 430 series can be released to reinforce other lines.

S-Bahn supervision

Until June 30, 2005, there were local supervisors in the stations Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (deep), Frankfurt Airport, Taunusanlage, Hauptwache, Konstablerwache, Ostendstrasse, Frankfurt Südbahnhof and Offenbach Ost, who handled the S-Bahn trains and provided information to travelers. These supervision became superfluous with the switch to dispatch by the train drivers themselves and automatic platform announcements. Most of the supervisory pulpits are still there and are often used as a material store during construction work, but their technical facilities are no longer operational after more than 10 years of non-use and deterioration. In October 2017, work began on gutting the supervisory booths at the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, Hauptwache and Konstablerwache stations. The exact future use of the rooms has not yet been finally decided.

In September 2017, DB and RMV tested the use of so-called entry guides at the main station, Hauptwache and Konstablerwache tunnel stations in order to accelerate the change of passengers and to ensure that the doors were closed in good time. Since significant travel time savings could be achieved, especially in rush hour, the deployment was continued with a focus on the main train station.

More S-Bahn

With the official start of operations of the Rhein-Main S-Bahn in 1978, the lines on which "normal" trains continued to run were marked as S-Bahn in the FVV's transport route plan , so that there the lines S7, S9 and S11 to S14 were recorded. Insofar as the timing with long-distance traffic allowed, these trains also ran at regular intervals. The only exception was the line to Dietzenbach, designated as the R10 and closed a few years later; this is now reactivated as part of the S2. With the transition to the RMV , these routes were no longer marked as S-Bahn, although this had become largely obsolete due to the network expansion. From the original network, only the north Main line from Frankfurt to Hanau has not been integrated into the S-Bahn service (then S7, today RMV line 55).

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : S-Bahn Rhein-Main  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : S-Bahn Rhein-Main  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : S-Bahn Offenbach am Main  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ S-Bahn Rhein-Main: About Us ( Memento from June 12, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on June 6, 2018
  2. ↑ https://www.rmv.de/c/de/informationen-zum-rmv/der-rmv/rmv-aktuell/s-bahnflotte-wird-groesser/ Use of the 425 series from December 2018, accessed on July 12 2018
  3. ↑ The RMV in numbers. In: rmv.de. Retrieved March 12, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Günther Rühle : Ten minutes into the future. An S-Bahn for Frankfurt . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of June 2, 1978, p. 23.
  5. ↑ a b DB has won the RMV tender - and the passengers benefit from it. Press release. RMV, November 30, 2011, archived from the original on May 13, 2012 ; Retrieved November 30, 2011 .
  6. ↑ Brand new trains to Frankfurt Airport. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . November 30, 2011, accessed November 30, 2011 .
  7. ↑ DB Regio defends the Rhein-Main S-Bahn . In: OePNV competition - Bus facts . Convia. November 16, 2011. Archived from the original on April 29, 2013. Retrieved on March 31, 2013.
  8. ↑ a b Announcement 20 years of S-Bahn construction . In: The Federal Railroad . Vol. 65, No. 2, 1989, ISSN  0007-5876 , p. 187.
  9. ↑ Kurt Wendler: The solution to local traffic problems in the Frankfurt (M) conurbation . In: The Federal Railroad . tape 43 , no. 21/22 , 1969, ISSN  0007-5876 , pp. 1029-1040 .
  10. ↑ Facts & Figures - S-Bahn Gateway Gardens. DB Netz AG website. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  11. ↑ Deutsche Bahn AG, Passenger Transport Division, Marketing eCommerce: Construction project Frankfurt (Main) underground S-Bahn stations | BauInfoPortal of Deutsche Bahn. In: bauprojekte.deutschebahn.com. Retrieved August 28, 2016 .
  12. ↑ Notification of switch exchange in the S-Bahn tunnel . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . Issue 7/2006, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 324.
  13. ↑ Regional night traffic. In: RMV.de. Retrieved December 10, 2017 .
  14. ↑ https://www.nordmainische-s-bahn.de/projektstatus.html
  15. ^ Lawsuits against the expansion of the Main-Weser-Bahn in the Frankfurt / M area. without success . In: vgh-kassel.justiz.hessen.de . Hessian Administrative Court. November 17, 2011. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  16. ↑ DB Netze: Own tracks for the S 6. Attractive local transport for the region .
  17. ↑ Frankfurt: S6 expansion reaches milestone - major construction site has unpleasant consequences for passengers , Frankfurt Neue Presse from July 5, 2020.
  18. ↑ The heart beats with factor 7 ( memento from September 2, 2017 in the Internet Archive ). In: Frankfurter Neue Presse , May 19, 2015. Accessed May 30, 2015.
  19. ↑ https://www.giessener-allgemeine.de/regional/wetteraukreis/friedbergbadnauheim/Wetterau-Mit-der-S-6-von-Friedberg-bis-nach-Darmstadt;art472,510645
  20. ↑ Regional Tangent West: The first train is to roll in 2023 . Frankfurter Neue Presse . March 29, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
  21. ↑ The new Dreieichbahn is launched. July 5, 2016, accessed August 10, 2016 .
  22. ↑ Expansion of Frankfurt-West - Bad Vilbel: DB - 30 years of the Rhein-Main S-Bahn - outlook ( Memento from June 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  23. ↑ Main-Weser-Bahn is being expanded to four tracks between Frankfurt and Bad Vilbel. DB Netz AG , December 19, 2017, accessed on March 8, 2018 .
  24. ↑ Trampage Frankfurt am Main | Archive 1998. Retrieved April 13, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Technical failure led to a near collision. September 25, 2013, accessed April 13, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Beauty treatment for old S-Bahn trains. With a general overhaul of the interior, the railway wanted to make outdated trains more attractive for customers. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , FR city edition No. 292, December 15, 2006, p. 29.
  27. ↑ S-Bahn oldtimer says goodbye . hr online. October 31, 2014. Archived from the original on November 5, 2014. Retrieved on November 4, 2014.
  28. ↑ Andreas Ritzl: 420298 - Electric Multiple Unit. In: oef-online.de. Retrieved August 16, 2016 .
  29. ↑ Black Forest Bote, Oberndorf Germany: Horb a. N .: S-Bahn history in the railcar - Black Forest Bote. Retrieved April 13, 2019 .
  30. ↑ S-Bahn fleet is being modernized. July 31, 2013, accessed July 24, 2016 .
  31. ↑ S-Bahn: What are the new signals for? In: Frankfurter Neue Presse. Retrieved July 24, 2016 .
  32. ↑ The first 430 are here - Page 14 - S-Bahn Rhein-Main. In: frankfurter-nahverkehrsforum.de. Retrieved July 24, 2016 .
  33. ↑ The first 430 are here - Page 13 - S-Bahn Rhein-Main. In: frankfurter-nahverkehrsforum.de. Retrieved July 24, 2016 .
  34. ↑ The first 430 are here - page 6 - S-Bahn Rhein-Main. In: frankfurter-nahverkehrsforum.de. Retrieved July 24, 2016 .
  35. ↑ New buttons lead to delays on the S-Bahn. In: Frankfurter Neue Presse. Retrieved July 24, 2016 .
  36. ^ The first 430 are here - Page 22 - S-Bahn Rhein-Main. In: frankfurter-nahverkehrsforum.de. Retrieved July 24, 2016 .
  37. ↑ Jutta Rippegather: RMV: Rise of the train drivers . In: fr-online.de . January 12, 2015 ( fr.de [accessed July 24, 2016]).
  38. ↑ Announcement in the European Official Journal. June 16, 2018, accessed July 11, 2018 .
  39. ↑ RMV aktuell: S-Bahn fleet is growing. Retrieved July 11, 2018 .
  40. ↑ Press review: No more supervision in S-Bahn stations - S-Bahn Rhein-Main. In: frankfurter-nahverkehrsforum.de. Retrieved July 24, 2016 .
  41. ↑ LOK Report - Hessen: Successful entry-level guides . October 4, 2017 ( lok-report.de [accessed February 12, 2018]).