Underground line C (Frankfurt am Main)

Basic route C of the Frankfurt subway
map
Route length:	14.9 km, of which 7.9  km are tunnels
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Opening:	October 11, 1986 (to the zoo)
Lines:	(in Außenast) , ,
Stations:	26th
Route
2.88 Turning system 2.61 from the central tram workshop 2.40 Praunheim Heerstrasse Ebelfeld (closed in 2004) 1.80 Westhausen cemetery Praunheim Bridge <> Hausen (closed in 1985) 1.50 Stephan-Heise-Strasse 1.12 Hausen 0.80 Hausener way Nidda Bridge 0.46 Great Carnation Road 0.36 Fish stone Start of the trunk line 0.00 14.1 Industrial yard Connection to the tram 13.8 Beginning of the C tunnel 13.3 church Square 12.6 Leipziger Street 12.0 Bockenheimer Warte U4 Connection curve of D-segment 11.3 West end 10.65 Old opera 10.0 Hauptwache U1-U3, U8 S1-S6, S8 / 9 9.5 Konstablerwache U4, U5 S1-S6, S8 / 9   8.6 0.00 zoo 0.00 •         End of the trunk line 7.9 Ostbahnhof regional traffic 0.65 • 1.10 Habsburgerallee 1.20 • 1.65 Parliament Square 1.80 • 2.20 Ice rink / fairground 2.10 • 2.40 End of the C-tunnel 2.36 • 2.66 Connection by tram 2.50 • 2.80 Johanna-Tesch-Platz 3.06 • 3.36 from / to depot east ( U4 from / to Bornheim ) 3.20 • 3.50 Schäfflestrasse Former intersection industrial railway Seckbach to Bergen (closed in 1992) 3.85 • 4.15 Gwinnerstrasse 4.40 • 4.70 Kruppstrasse 4.85 • 5.15 Hessen Center 5.24 • 5.54 Enkheim

The subway route C or C route is the third route in the network of the Frankfurt subway .

It is the essential west-east connection in Frankfurt's local traffic and runs between the districts of Hausen and Praunheim on the one hand and the Ostbahnhof and Enkheim on the other . The “ rail-free city center ” project, which is inextricably linked to the route , was a point of local political controversy in 1986.

The line has twelve underground stations in the densely built-up inner-city districts , including the two four-track stations Hauptwache and Konstablerwache , which are shared with the S-Bahn . The tunnel section is followed by two feeder sections in the west and one at ground level in the east.

Course, route description

Tabular listing of the route sections

The C line can be divided into five different sections: the main line between Industriehof and Zoo used by both lines and four branches into which the main line branches at its western and eastern ends. These connecting routes are only used by one line at a time.

Officially, however, the C-route is divided into sections in a different way. These are usually numbered with Roman numerals. The connecting route to Enkheim, however, has an Arabic 1, the western connecting routes are nameless. The following numbering applies in detail (from west to east):

Connecting line	nameless	Heerstrasse - Industriehof	in operation U7
Connecting line	nameless	Hausen - Industriehof	in operation U6
Part of the trunk line	C V	Industriehof - Bockenheimer Warte	in operation U6, U7
Part of the trunk line	C III	Bockenheimer Warte - old opera	in operation U6, U7
Part of the trunk line	C I	Junction S-Bahn - Hauptwache	in operation U6, U7 ; the construction lot belonged partly to A I
Part of the trunk line	C II	Zeil tunnel - Konstablerwache - S-Bahn junction - Zoo	in operation U6, U7
Connecting line	C IV	Zoo - Ostbahnhof - Fechenheim	to Ostbahnhof in operation U6 , until Fechenheim realization not foreseeable
Connecting line	C 1	Zoo - Enkheim	in operation U7 , Schäfflestraße to Enkheim also U4

The numbering sequence should reflect the order in which the sections were originally intended to be built. However, the priorities have now shifted.

The two nameless western connecting lines are former tram lines, run through the districts of Praunheim , Rödelheim and Hausen and mainly open up residential areas.

In the following, all sub-sections will be considered in order from west to east.

Heerstrasse - Industriehof

Stadtbahnstation Friedhof Westhausen

The longer of the two branches has been used by the U7 line since the timetable change in December 2018 , and until then by the U6. The line swap was in connection with the expansion of night traffic on the U7 line. The route runs on the median of the mostly two-lane Ludwig-Landmann-Straße , which serves as an entry and exit road . The route, on which tram line 22 operated until 1986, was expanded in the 1970s in connection with the new construction of the central workshop on Heerstraße, similar to the tram, and it was made independent of the street. For the opening of the C-route hardly any renovations were necessary, only the existing platforms were brought to a uniform length of 90 meters. A further expansion only took place in the last few years, the line was equipped with barrier-free elevated platforms and accesses.

The route begins with a three-track turning system on Heerstraße at a substation. It is largely surrounded by agricultural fields, on which the Praunheim industrial park is to be built in the future. The central tram workshop in Rödelheim, about one kilometer away, can be reached from there via a single-track connecting route. All VGF rail vehicles are serviced there. After this junction, the route crosses the orthogonally running Heerstraße and merges into the median of Ludwig-Landmann-Straße. The Heerstraße tram station of the same name is now about 100 meters away . In 2004 it was given an elevated platform in the middle and was merged with the Ebelfeld station, which was once very close, and therefore moved to the south. In order not to extend the transfer routes to the bus line 60, which actually only runs through Heerstraße, the bus stop was relocated to Ludwig-Landmann-Straße and a turning area was built right in front of the U7 terminus . The bus stop is currently still in a provisional state, while the tram station is equipped according to the latest stop design by VGF. It opens up the Praunheim housing estate , which was built in the 1920s as part of Ernst May's New Frankfurt housing program , and a small shopping center.

U5 railcar on the U6 on Heerstrasse

About 500 meters further follows the tram station Friedhof Westhausen , which bears the name of the nearby cemetery. The Westhausen cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in Frankfurt and is also home to a memorial for 4,788 Italian military and civilians who died in World War II. The cemetery, in turn, is named after the Westhausen settlement built in 1929–31 , which begins at the bus stop and was also designed by Ernst May. Together with the next station, Stephan-Heise-Straße , the settlement with over a thousand apartments and the Liebig high school will be developed. Both stations are very similar: They both have elevated platforms, each with a level access and an underpass, which at the Friedhof Westhausen station is combined by ramps with the sidewalk of Kollwitzstrasse, which crosses under Ludwig-Landmann-Strasse.

Hausener Weg tram station

In the further course of the route, the A 66 , which has been developed as a city motorway, is crossed, leaving the Praunheim district, on whose boundary the Westhausen settlement is also located. The Hausener Weg station is behind the motorway bridge . It is located at the intersection of the street of the same name with Ludwig-Landmann-Straße, opens up the neighboring residential areas of Hausen and Rödelheim and offers the option of changing to bus line 34. The stop was the first on this branch to be converted according to barrier-free guidelines. The formerly ground level platforms were replaced by elevated platforms and traffic light-controlled pedestrian crossings were built instead of the underpasses. In contrast to the previous two stations, the underpass could no longer be connected to the platforms, as the new ramps to the pedestrian crossing are located above it. However, it remains passable as a connection between both sides of the street. In addition, there are stairs to the Niddauferweg at the southeast end of the stop. The Nidda is crossed directly after the Hausener Weg station .

The following Fischstein station was the last to have low platforms. The renovation was completed at the end of May 2011. (→ see below ); the station was relocated a few 100 m into town.

Thanks to the central tram workshop on Heerstraße, the very varied traffic on this section of the route - from trams of all types to low-floor trams to work cars and old museum vehicles - is commonplace.

Hausen - Industriehof

End station Hausen

The western end of the U6 runs at ground level on the median of the street Am Hohen Weg through the Hausen district . In contrast to the route to Heerstrasse, it was not expanded to include a light rail system until it opened in 1986 and was given its own rail body and elevated platforms. The tram line 18, which used to run here, had a partially single-track route, but continued to the terminus Praunheim Bridge .

The Hausen terminus is at the beginning of the Praunheimer Landstrasse at the Willi-Brundert settlement . After driving a few 100 meters, you will pass under the A 66 motorway . The next stop, Große Nelkenstraße, opens up the old town center of Hausen with the bread factory . This station is the only one with two side platforms, which are not opposite, but offset: the train stops in the direction of travel in front of the crossing of Große Nelkenstraße.

After a good kilometer, the line meets the U7 and the Am Industriehof street and joins the other line in the Industriehof station .

Industriehof - zoo

Bockenheim and Westend

Ramp at the Breitenbach bridge

The two western branches from Hausen and Praunheim converge on Friedrich-Wilhelm-von-Steuben-Straße and reach the Industriehof station . The station is on the eastern edge of the Industriehof business park at Insterburger Strasse. To the south of the station, there are tram tracks in the direction of the Breitenbach Bridge, which are only used for business trips. Between these tracks , the subway runs over a ramp into the C tunnel, the core of the C line.

The C-tunnel crosses under the Main-Weser-Bahn and turns east into the old town center of the Bockenheim district . The next station, Kirchplatz, is below Ginnheimer Strasse and the adjacent blocks. The station is named after the Evangelical St. James Church , which is located at the northern end of the small square. In addition to church motifs, there are also old pictures of the formerly independent city of Bockenheim in the subway station. It is the first underground station in the postmodern style of the 1980s. After about 400 meters, the tunnel reaches the relatively narrow Leipziger Straße , in which the two tunnel tubes run one above the other. Under this main shopping street in Bockenheim is the subway station of the same name , which is adorned with images of older subway systems such as Paris or London.

Westend underground station

After another eastward swivel, the subway reached the former tower of the Frankfurter Landwehr , the Bockenheimer Warte , and with it the Frankfurt Westend . The Bockenheimer Warte underground station is located under the square of the same name and thus essentially opens up the Bockenheim campus of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main . On the walls there are photos from everyday life at the university from the 1980s. The tram line 16 stop in front of the Bockenheimer Depot can be reached via the western exit . The station has been a transfer station to the D line since 2001 . At the eastern end of the platform, a shared B level, designed as a rotunda , connects the entrances to both station structures. Immediately after the station, south of the tunnel, there is a single-track connecting curve to the D-line, which is only used for operational trips. It is the only underground connection between two basic routes in Frankfurt.

The continuation of the route leads below the Bockenheimer Landstrasse and thus arrives at the Westend underground station . The station of the architecture office AC Walter und Partner is characterized by floral elements and thus indicates the proximity to the palm garden . The area around the station, the eponymous district Westend-Süd, is also known for many high-rise office buildings, such as the neighboring WestendDuo . At the end of the 1.3 km long Bockenheimer Landstrasse, the route leaves the Westend.

City

Konstablerwache rapid transit station

Following this, the route reaches the front of the Alte Oper nearby Opera Square , under which the also of AC Walter designed underground station Alte Oper is. The station was the first Frankfurt tunnel station to be completely column-free and, with its arched structures, takes up the neo-renaissance architecture of the famous opera house. Immediately behind the station, the C-tunnel joins the city ​​tunnel of the S-Bahn, which opened in 1978 . Both routes now follow the course of the Grosse Bockenheimer Strasse , now known as Freßgass , to the Hauptwache high-speed train junction .

Hauptwache station is a four-track shared station with the S-Bahn. The subway uses the two outer tracks here, which are accessible via two side platforms. Right below them is the A-line station , which can be changed over here. The four-track tunnel under the Zeil connects to the upper station . The Hauptwache is considered to be the central square of the city, and many of the main downtown streets start here.

The Konstablerwache station is also a four-track shared station. However, two central platforms are arranged here so that you can change between the S-Bahn and U-Bahn on the same platform. At Konstablerwache you can also change to the B-route and the tram .

After the S-Bahn route to the south has been unthreaded and a small “track apron” with siding , the three-track Zoo underground station in Ostend is reached. It is located under Alfred-Brehm-Platz in front of the Frankfurt Zoo Society House . The Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium and two hospitals are also in the immediate vicinity . The platform hall, designed with numerous animal motifs, also extends over the B level above. The northern of the two platforms is a central platform, on which each underground line runs on its own track towards the city. Meanwhile, the southern platform with only one track is used by all trains out of town.

Zoo - Ostbahnhof

Ostbahnhof underground station

Covered air-light shaft

While the western branches of the route have been used since the opening, the Zoo underground station was the common terminus of both lines for several years. Now the route branches off here onto the two eastern branches of the route. The distance to the Ostbahnhof is only about 750 meters, the shortest part of the Frankfurt underground network. The two tunnels connect to the two outer tracks of the Zoo underground station. The northern track coming from the Ostbahnhof passes under the tunnel of the connecting line to Enkheim. This enables the U6 trains to be routed onto the main line without any plan .

The route initially runs under the zoo and then crosses a few blocks and Danziger Platz in a right curve. It is the forecourt of the Ostbahnhof. At the southeast end is the reception building and underneath the Ostbahnhof underground station . This section, opened in 1999, is the latest extension of the C-route and offers a link to regional traffic. The Ostbahnhof does not have a S-Bahn connection, but could be greatly upgraded in the future by the planned north-Main S-Bahn and the new building of the European Central Bank on the site of the neighboring wholesale market hall .

The outer walls of the underground station are covered with large-format black and white photos of the banks of the Main and its bridges from the 19th – 21st centuries. Century adorned. The central platform has direct daylight through the glass roof of the central access building on Danziger Platz in front of the station building. The station was only accessible from there for eight years. To enable access from Hanauer Landstrasse south of the Ostbahnhof, another entrance was built and the platform of the underground station was extended. In addition, tram line 11 was given an additional stop there to enable easier transfers.

Zoo - Enkheim

Ostend and Bornheim

Parliamentplatz underground station

After passing under the zoo, the underground line leads to Rhönstrasse and runs along its course. The Habsburgerallee underground station , named after this southeastern section of the Ringstrasse, stretches from the Waldschmidtstrasse junction to Frankfurter Alleenring . Like the following two stations, this one is designed very simply compared to the train stations in Bockenheim and Westend. The dominant design elements are the octagonal columns, which are used for ceiling lights and flooring. The color of the column and the motifs on the outer walls are the most noticeable distinguishing features in the three train stations on the Ostend line. In the Habsburgerallee station the columns are green and on the wall there is a mosaic with donkeys by the artist Manfred Stumpf . The next underground station Parliamentplatz is at the end of Rhönstrasse below a densely built-up square. The Ostpark is located nearby . The pillars of the station are yellow and the wall motifs show black and white images of people communicating.

The last tunnel station on the Ostend line is the Eissporthalle underground station , which is located below the Bornheimer Hang settlement planned by Ernst May and already belongs to the Bornheim district. The settlement and the underground station are on the edge of the nearly 20-meter-high elevation of the same name . One access is on Ratsweg , another leads directly from the slope to the fairground in front of the Frankfurt ice rink . The station architecture in this case features blue columns and wintery photographs on wine-red walls.

The C-tunnel ends between the ice rink and the stadium on Bornheimer Hang and the tracks lead out of the Bornheimer Hang through a portal .

Riederwald, Seckbach and Enkheim

Schäfflestrasse tram station

After a few meters, the route reaches the Am Erlenbruch street, to the left of it - behind the Riedgraben, which runs parallel there - is the district boundary between the Seckbach in the north and the Riederwald . The following station, Johanna-Tesch-Platz , is also used for so-called push-out trips of the tram , the tracks of which shortly before - coming from Ratsweg - flow into the C-route and connect the tram network to the depot East . For this reason, there is also a short underground platform next to the elevated platform of the Stadtbahn station leading out of town to enable passengers to get off at the front door of the low-floor cars used on the Frankfurt tram.

The eastern section of the U7 between Johanna-Tesch-Platz and Enkheim is a former tram route that has been converted into a light rail system. The lines 18 (Inheidener Str. [Today Ernst-May-Platz] - Zoo - Hanauer Landstrasse - Eissporthalle - Enkheim) and 23 (Bornheim - Ratsweg - Eissporthalle - Enkheim) ran here until 1992, as well as line 20 (part of it). Bornheim - Ratsweg - Eissporthalle - Bergen [until 1986], then line 12). For the underground, stations with elevated platforms were built, curve radii were enlarged and intersections were reduced, and they were equipped with traffic lights.

The route runs - immediately after leaving the tunnel (at the stadium on Bornheimer Hang ) - north along the street Am Erlenbruch . At the confluence with Borsigallee , the route turns left to the north and continues on the median of this street. At the Gwinnerstraße station in Seckbach, tram line 20 (most recently 12) branched off to Bergen until 1992, and was shut down when the subway started operating. The Seckbacher Kruppstraße station is about 100 meters before the end of the eastern section of the A 66 , which is of great importance for commuters from the eastern area. For this reason, the large park-and-ride car park in Seckbach is located here, which is intended to encourage drivers to switch to the subway. Until March 30, 1957, the Lahmeyerstraße terminus of tram line 18 was located here at the then city limits (to the Hanau district ), which was then extended on March 31 to approximately today's terminus in Enkheim. The next station connects the Hessen-Center shopping center and the markets opposite. The Enkheim terminus has been extensively redesigned, so there is a 2-lane one-way bus lane between the two outer platforms with stops for changing to and from further bus routes.

history

1986: rail-free city center?

→ Main article : Rail-free inner city

Entrance in the form of a historic tram car at the Bockenheimer Warte station

The construction of the C-route was carried out using mining techniques and thus took far more consideration of the urban fabric than the earlier construction work. The heart of the C-route, the Zeiltunnel (for example from Opernplatz to the corner of Zeil / Breite Gasse) had already been built when the S-Bahn tunnel was built. In the east, this was only followed by a short distance to the temporary terminus at the Zoo . In the west, the tunnel followed the same route as the very first horse-drawn railway line in the city (1872) : from the Hauptwache via Opernplatz, Bockenheimer Landstrasse and Leipziger Strasse into the old core of Bockenheim. To the west of it, after having undergone the Main-Weser Railway , a ramp led to the median of Steubenstrasse. Immediately afterwards, the tracks cross a large intersection like a tram - the end of the upgraded line. The connecting lines to Hausen and Heerstraße were converted tram lines, of which the latter did not even have elevated platforms.

In the architecture of the underground stations, much greater importance was attached to an attractive design than before. It should also refer to the surroundings of the stations. The Kirchplatz train station owes its sacred architecture to the neighboring Protestant Jakobskirche, the Alte Oper train station with its round arches refers to the neo-Renaissance style of the opera house, and in the Zoo underground station the waiting passenger can take a seat on friendly crocodiles . One exit at the Bockenheimer Warte train station was created in the form of an ancient tram that bursts out of the ground into daylight.

With the opening of the C-route to the zoo , the concept of a rail-free city center was to be implemented. All tram lines in the old town, inner city and west end, with the exception of a few remaining feeder lines to the U- and S-Bahn, were to be closed and the reclaimed street areas were to be upgraded in terms of urban development. This decision was made by the long-standing SPD city ​​government and adopted by the CDU , which has ruled with an absolute majority since 1977 . However, a citizens' initiative was founded against the closure plans , which quickly collected more than 60,000 signatures, so that the responsible district president, as the supervisory authority, rejected the closure application. The magistrate then canceled the opening of the new subway, which was planned for September 27, 1986, as well as the numerous celebrations planned for the occasion. Private opening ceremonies were also prohibited and compliance with the ban was monitored by the police. After the city and regional council had agreed on a compromise that provided for the preservation of the old town route and the tram line 11 that ran through the old town , the subway was opened on October 11th without a celebration.

Initially, the following lines ran on the C route:

• U6 Heerstraße - Zoo
• U7 Hausen - Zoo;

whereby the U7 had only two stations of its own ( Große Nelkenstraße and Hausen ).

1992: the Ostend line

Entrance to the Parliamentplatz underground station

Construction work to extend the C line to the east began in 1985. On February 20th, the first groundbreaking ceremony took place by Mayor Wallmann . On June 1, the parallel tram line 13 in Rhönstrasse was shut down. Since the route was only of secondary importance, the construction of costly diversion routes in the area of ​​the station construction sites was abandoned and instead a rail replacement service with buses was set up for the duration of the construction work .

As on the first construction phase of the C-route, the three underground stations Habsburgerallee , Parliament Square and Eissporthalle were built in an open, covered building pit, but the route tunnels were built using a closed, mining method. For cost reasons, the stations were not designed by external architects, but by the Stadtbahnbauamt itself, which led to significantly less spectacular results than in the first construction phase.

The tunnel route leads to the PSD Bank Arena , the venue of FSV Frankfurt , via a ramp to the surface. The tram route to be taken over was re-routed in places; in the area of ​​the Riederwald district it is parallel to the street, in the adjacent Borsigallee on the median of the same. The extension from the zoo to Enkheim was opened on May 30, 1992 and has been used by the U7 line ever since .

1999: U-Bahn to Ostbahnhof

Access to the underground station next to the Ostbahnhof

The last extension of the C-route so far is the branch from the zoo to the Ostbahnhof , designated as C IVa , which went into operation on May 29, 1999. It is served by the U6 line. Like the northern branch, this tunnel first passes under the zoo, then several blocks and Danziger Platz, before reaching the new underground station at Ostbahnhof. As the second of meanwhile three underground stations in Frankfurt, this station received a glass roof and direct daylight.

From August 2001, the station, which initially only reached as far as the embankment of the Frankfurt-Hanau Railway , was extended to the east. Although the station in its original form was long enough for a triple traction of the Ptb cars used on the U6 line, there were some disadvantages: on the one hand, the trains had to enter at a speed of 10 km / h, on the other a 4-car train of the U2e series would not fit in. Since the Ptb cars are to be replaced in the medium term, the expansion was necessary. With the expansion, the station also received the eastern exit in the direction of Hanauer Landstrasse , which had long been required .

Rear entrance (Ferdinand-Happ-Straße)

The extension almost doubles the length of the station. The shell of the building was completed in February 2004 and opened on April 26, 2007 after completion of the interior work. Contrary to the original tender, it was not constructed using the top-down method, but using prepress technology in order to shorten the construction time from four to two years. Two tunnel segments, which encompass both the track level and a pedestrian underpass above, were pressed through in 50 cm steps under the embankment. Since the tracks in the station describe a curve, but the outer walls had to be built at right angles due to this method, the thickness of the outer walls in the extended part of the station is not uniform.

The Ostbahnhof station is the only underground terminus in the Frankfurt network so far that has not been used to build a turning system; the trains turn, as usual at ground level terminus, directly at the platform. A distribution floor between the street level and the platform level is also missing at the new eastern end of the station; its function is taken over by the pedestrian tunnel under the railway tracks.

2008: U4 extension to Enkheim

Since 2008, the section between Schäfflestrasse and Enkheim has also been used by individual trains on the U4 line. In the summer of 2008, the line was initially extended for half a year on a trial basis over the operating line of the Ost depot from the end of the B line to the Schäfflestrasse station, where it was linked to the U7 line. After the passenger numbers developed positively in the test phase, this new connection went into regular operation on December 14, 2008 when the timetable was changed and was simultaneously extended to the Enkheim terminus . The U4 line alternates between the Seckbacher Landstrasse and Enkheim (Volkshaus) as the terminus.

Further expansion

The 30-year-old line is not yet in need of renovation. The only major upgrading measure on the C route was the renovation of the above-ground connection route to the U6 in 2004. In addition, individual adjustments were made to stations. The Ebelfeld stop was omitted and the Heerstraße terminus was moved 100 meters to the south.

After the conversion of the “Fischstein” station to 105-meter-long elevated platforms, which also allow the use of four-car trains, all stations on the C-route now have barrier-free, level access. Since the “Fischstein” station, originally around 90 meters long, was delimited by two road crossings, an extension to 105 meters was not easily possible. Since the responsible local council had refused to relocate or shut down the station, the renovation plans were on hold for three years until it finally approved the planned relocation to the east in 2006. The renovation of the station began in July 2010, and operations resumed on May 31, 2011 after the work was completed.

With the commissioning of the U5 light rail vehicles on the U6 line in 2012, the tracks of all stations shared by this line (including push-in / push-out devices to the east depot) were raised in order to achieve a platform height of 80 cm above the top of the rails. When the first wagons were used on the U7 line in 2013, the remaining stations along the C line were also adapted.

At the timetable change on December 9, 2018, the U6 and U7 lines swapped their western line branches, as the U7 is integrated into the night line concept as a long diameter line and the section to Heerstrasse is used by more passengers than the section to Hausen.

Opening dates

section	Opening date	Stations	Remarks
(Riederhöfe -) Johanna-Tesch-Platz - Gwinnerstraße	April 22, 1911	...	Tram line (1952 to Kruppstraße, 1957 to Enkheim)
(Schönhof -) Industriehof - Hausen (- Praunheimer Bridge)	January 27, 1913	...	Tram line
Industriehof - Heerstrasse	October 15, 1932	...	Tram line
Gwinnerstrasse - Kruppstrasse	17th November 1952	...	Extension of the tram line
Kruppstrasse - Enkheim	March 31, 1957	...	Extension of the tram line
Heerstraße / Hausen - Industriehof - Hauptwache - Zoo	October 11, 1986	17th	Opening of the C line
Zoo - Johanna-Tesch-Platz - Enkheim	May 30, 1992	9	Extension of the U7 (from Johanna-Tesch-Platz on the extended tram route)
Zoo - Ostbahnhof	May 29, 1999	1	Extension of the U6
Heerstraße and Ebelfeld stations	December 12, 2004	−1	Consolidation of the stations to form the newly built Heerstraße station

Expansion planning

Hanauer Landstrasse

There are currently plans to extend the branch of the U6 from the Ostbahnhof along Hanauer Landstrasse to the Ratswegkreisel. Then the district of Fechenheim is to be reached on the current tram route in the middle of Hanauer Landstrasse . The planning is in certain competition with the construction of the north Main S-Bahn line to Hanau , since instead of the S-Bahn it is also possible to extend the U6 to Hanau. Since the city has decided in favor of the north Main S-Bahn line, construction is unlikely.

lamp

A short extension of the light rail line in the Bergen-Enkheim district along the lamp road to the Bergen outdoor pool is currently not being pursued. The reasons are the immediately adjacent nature reserve and the unclear further development of the lamp construction area .

Steinbach

At the western end of the U6, there were already plans in the 1980s to extend the route to Steinbach or even further to Kronberg-Oberhöchstadt . As far as Steinbach, the route that was originally planned for an urban freeway could be used, including an underpass under the A 5 , and a former gas station for the American army on the freeway (today's “Taunusblick” service station) could be converted into a park-and-ride area. The project was included in the general transport plan in 2005, but there is not yet a specific schedule for construction.

Following the decision of the Roman coalition on June 9, 2017 to build a new district along the A5 motorway between Praunheim and Niederursel and Steinbach in the west, the U6 underground line will be extended again beyond the current terminus at Heerstraße in the direction of Steinbach discussed.

Mountains

→ Main article : "Bergen" in the article U-Bahn line B (Frankfurt am Main)

Also since 2005, a reactivation of the former tram route to Bergen has been planned in the general transport plan, which is to be supplemented by a short tunnel into the old town of Berger.

Eschborn

At the beginning of 2013, the Frankfurt traffic department had a possible extension of the underground line 6 to Eschborn examined. The Frankfurt traffic department head commissioned a specific study of the project, which involved the extension of underground line 6, which currently ends at Heerstraße in Praunheim. A stop in the Helfmann-Park industrial park was considered possible. According to the mayor of Eschborn, this would “further enhance the Eschborn location”. The Greens in the Hochtaunuskreis also spoke out in favor of expanding the U6 beyond Eschborn with stops in Steinbach and Kronberg , as the city of Oberursel in the Hochtaunuskreis was connected to the Frankfurt underground network a long time ago via the 3 underground line is.

In March 2014, however, the municipal authorities of the city of Frankfurt decided against the further expansion of the U6 in the Taunus, as the estimated costs of around 30 million euros were not considered "affordable".

The many commuters who flock to the offices of the companies based in the Helfmann-Park industrial park in Eschborn on weekdays, especially from Frankfurt, can now only hope for the regional bypass West . The planning of the regional bypass west provides a total of three new stops for the industrial park in the south-east of Eschborn.

Depot, parking facility

Depot east

The vehicles used on the C-lines are stationed in the depot east . The depot was opened in 2003 and also serves the B route . It is located in the Seckbach district, parallel to the A 661 city ​​motorway and is reached from the C route via a junction between the Johanna-Tesch-Platz and Schäfflestrasse stations.

There is also an underground parking facility at the Zoo underground station.

At the terminus at Heerstraße there is an operating line that leads to Rödelheim to the Stadtbahn central workshop , where major work is carried out on the vehicles on all lines.

vehicles

U2 railcars in the Zoo underground station

Light rail car type Ptb at the old Fischstein light rail station

The original plan provided for the acquisition of additional U3 vehicles for operation on the C route . For cost reasons, however, this plan was dropped, instead the Pt type light rail vehicles , which were put into operation between 1972 and 1978, were used for operation. These were originally intended for combined operation on light rail and tram routes and therefore have folding steps, which enables them to be used on elevated platforms and conventional tram stops. The vehicle is a three-part, double-articulated railcar, the middle part of which has no doors, which delays the change of passengers at the stations. The vehicle has therefore proven to be unsuitable for subway operations with high passenger volumes.

The decision to use the Pt wagons, which are 30 cm narrower than the other light rail vehicles, meant that no elevated platforms could be built on the section between Industriehof and Heerstraße. Since the Stadtbahn central workshop was opened in 1978 on the other side of the Heerstraße station, this section of the route had to be used for transfers of wider U2 and U3 vehicles. These elevated platforms designed for 2.35 m wide vehicles could not have passed. On the branch of the U7 as well as on the underground sections of the route, transfer journeys of 2.65 m wide light rail vehicles were not planned, the elevated platforms there could therefore be adapted for the use of Pt cars with screwed-on steel profiles.

The commissioning of the U4 railcars on the A route made it possible to transfer U2 railcars to the C route in the summer of 1998 . These were rebuilt in the door area (variant U2e ) so that stepless access to 87 cm high platforms was possible. At the same time, the Pt cars required for light rail operations were converted: The folding steps were moved 15 cm outwards ( Ptb type ) so that they could be operated together with wider U-cars. The attached metal profiles were removed from all stations on the C-route within one night. Since the renovation of the Industriehof station in the same year, it has now been possible to operate the U7 line with U2e cars. The Pt cars released there were used in the tram network from then on, where they made it possible to decommission type M trams . U3 railcars have also been running on part of the C route since 2008 because the extended U4 line also uses the U7 route between Schäfflestrasse and Enkheim.

In 2004, the above-ground stations of the U6 were equipped with elevated platforms, with the exception of the Fischstein station, which was only moved in the direction of Industriehof in December 2010 and was the last station on the C-route to have elevated platforms. In the summer of 2012, the platform height in the stations of the C-route was lowered from 87 to 80 cm, generally by ballasting in the platform area. Then the gradual changeover began, first of the U6 and then the U7 to the new U5 railcars . In return, the old Ptb, U2h and U2e railcars were taken out of service. The changeover was completed in summer 2014.

From April 2015 to the end of 2017, U3 railcars were used for the first time on the U6 for a transitional period and the barrier-free U5 railcars were transferred to the U4 line. Since December 2014, only U5 wagons have been running on the U7 line, so that at least the shared section is accessible.

Timetable

The timetable is not designed by the operator VGF, but by the local public transport company traffiQ .

line	Rush hour	Off-peak hours	Off-peak hours
	7–8 min (8 / h)	10 min (6 / h)	15 min (4 / h)
	7–8 min (8 / h)	10 min (6 / h)	15 min (4 / h)
(C) - total	3–4 min (16 / h)	5 min (12 / h)	7–8 min (8 / h)
	On the basic route between the industrial courtyard and the zoo, the two lines are bundled to achieve a tight cycle.

See also

• Frankfurt subway
• Underground line A (Frankfurt am Main)
• Underground line B (Frankfurt am Main)
• Underground line D (Frankfurt am Main)
• List of Frankfurt underground stations

literature

• Working group Blickpunkt Straßenbahn e. V. Berlin (Hrsg.): Tram atlas 2005 Germany: Tram, U-Bahn, S-Bahn, O-Bus . Berlin: Arbeitsgemeinschaft, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-926524-24-3 .
• Thomas Hanna-Daoud (Red.): Local traffic in Frankfurt. Tram, underground, S-Bahn, omnibus, railroad . In: Local tram transport special. No. 7 . GeraMond Verlag , Munich 2000, ISBN 3-89724-010-6 .
• Dieter Höltge, Günter H. Köhler: Trams and light rail vehicles in Germany . 2nd Edition. 1: Hessen. EK-Verlag , Freiburg 1992, ISBN 3-88255-335-9 (contains a complete list of vehicles).
• Günter H. Köhler, Claus Seelemann: Post and Tram : Post transport with trams in Germany and abroad . GH Köhler, Hofheim, Reichenberger Weg 6, Hofheim 1998, ISBN 3-934873-99-5 .
• Jens Krakies, Frank Nagel: Stadtbahn Frankfurt am Main: A Documentation . 2nd Edition. Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-923907-03-6 .
• Horst Michelke, Claude Jeanmaire: One hundred years of Frankfurt trams: 1872 - 1899 - 1972 = Tramways of Frankfurt am Main (Western Germany) . 1st edition. Villigen AG: Verlag Eisenbahn, book publisher for railway and tramway literature, Brugg / Switzerland 1972, ISBN 3-85649-018-3 .
• Frank Nagel, Monika Mutzbauer, Matthias Arning: Mobility for Frankfurt - 50 years of modern Frankfurt local transport . Ed .: Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main mbH (VGF) corporate communications . Societäts Verlag , Frankfurt am Main 2018, ISBN 978-3-95542-320-9 .
• Robert Schwandl, Mark Davies: Frankfurt Stadtbahn Album - The Frankfurt Light Rail Network + S-Bahn . 1st edition. Robert-Schwandl-Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-936573-21-3 (German, English).
• General traffic plan Frankfurt am Main, result report 2004 - study on behalf of the city planning office on the future development of Frankfurt traffic networks. (PDF; 23.8 MB) City of Frankfurt am Main, December 1, 2004, accessed on November 18, 2018 . 
• Dana Vietta, Bernd Conrads, Frank Nagel, Ole Bannert, Uwe Niemann, Charles Tang: U . Frankfurt U-Bahn - the backbone of the Main metropolis. Ed .: Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main mbH (VGF) corporate communications , historic trams of the city of Frankfurt am Main e. V. Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main mbH, Frankfurt am Main 2018.
• Anton Wiedenbauer, Hans-Jürgen Hoyer: Driving into the future: the history of the Frankfurt tram . Waldemar Kramer publishing house , Frankfurt am Main 1968.

Web links

Commons : C-Line  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Website of the operator VGF
• traffiQ, local public transport company of the city of Frankfurt am Main

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stadtvermessungsamt Frankfurt am Main (ed.): Portal GeoInfo Frankfurt , city ​​map
2. ↑ From the kilometer information in the stations it follows that the counting of the C trunk line begins with 10.00 at the intersection of the C tunnel with the A tunnel at the main station.
3. ↑ In the C1 tunnel in the direction of Enkheim, the kilometrage of the two tracks is counted differently, starting at the corresponding junction from the main line: Track 1 in the direction of Enkheim starts counting at the junction towards Ostbahnhof between the Zoo and Ostbahnhof stations. Track 2 in the direction of Hausen begins at the confluence of the track coming from the Ostbahnhof between the Zoo and Konstablerwache stations.
4. ^ Stefan Medel: Pressing through a subway station while the train traffic is running . In: Concrete and reinforced concrete construction . Vol. 98, No. 9, 2003, pp. 552-558.
5. ↑ vgf-ffm.de ( Memento from June 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ frankfurter-nahverkehrsforum.de
7. ↑ VGF press release on the timetable change
8. ↑ Living on both sides of the motorway. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , June 9, 2017. Accessed June 11, 2017.
9. ^ Public transport - subway to Eschborn. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , January 24, 2013
10. ↑ Florian Leclerc: U6 does not go into the Taunus. Frankfurter Rundschau, March 11, 2014, accessed on March 23, 2017 . 
11. ↑ U-Bahn trains will be barrier-free. ( Memento from January 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: vgf-ffm.de