Frankfurt Airport regional station

Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station (German: Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Regionalbahnhof) is an underground railway station at Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt, Germany. It provides local S-Bahn and Regionalbahn services to the city and the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. The station opened on 14 March 1972 together with a new passenger terminal (Terminal Mitte, now called Terminal 1). At the time it was only the second railway station serving an airport in Germany (after Berlin Schönefeld Airport Station).

Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station

Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Regionalbahnhof
Deutsche Bahn
Underground through station
Underground platforms
General information
LocationHugo-Eckener-Ring 1, Frankfurt, Hesse
Germany
Coordinates50°3′7″N 8°34′14″E
Owned byDeutsche Bahn
Operated by
Line(s)
Platforms1 island platform
1 side platform
Tracks3
Train operatorsDB Regio Mitte
S-Bahn Rhein-Main
Vlexx
Connections
Other information
Station code1849[1]
DS100 codeFFLU[2]
IBNR8070004
Category3[1]
Fare zoneRhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV): 5090[3]
Websitewww.bahnhof.de
History
Opened14 March 1972
Services
Preceding station DB Regio Mitte Following station
Rüsselsheim
towards Koblenz Hbf
RE 2
Südwest-Express
Frankfurt-Niederrad
Preceding station Hessische Landesbahn Following station
Terminus RE 59 Frankfurt Süd
towards Bamberg
Preceding station Vlexx Following station
Rüsselsheim RE 3 Frankfurt-Niederrad
Preceding station Rhine-Main S-Bahn Following station
Kelsterbach Gateway Gardens
towards Hanau Hbf
Location
Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station is located in Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station
Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station
Location within Frankfurt
Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station is located in Hesse
Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station
Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station
Hesse
Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station is located in Germany
Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station
Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station
Location within Germany
Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station is located in Europe
Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station
Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station
Location within Europe

In 1999, a second train station opened at Frankfurt Airport (Frankfurt Airport long-distance station) which is primarily used by long-distance trains, mostly ICE services.

Name

Rail connections
Escalators to railway platform

Prior to the commissioning of the airport's second train station this station was called just Frankfurt am Main Airport station (German: Bahnhof Frankfurt am Main Flughafen). Both regional and long-distance trains ran from this station until 1999.

Station layout

The regional train station is located underneath Terminal 1, concourse B. It is designed as an underground through station and has three platform tracks (called "Regio 1" to "Regio 3"), of which tracks 2 and 3 are on either side of a central platform. The central platform is 410 m (1,350 ft) long and the outer platform is 210 m (690 ft) long.[4] Vehicles with diesel traction may enter the regional station only when the level of their exhaust emissions are below set limits. Currently class 612 diesel multiple units operate hourly through the regional station on the Frankfurt Central StationSaarbrücken Central Station route.

History

Class 403 (1973) EMU of the Lufthansa-Airport-Express in 1988

A three-track underground station was already envisaged when a new and larger passenger terminal was planned at Frankfurt Airport in the mid-1960s. In April 1969, Deutsche Bundesbahn (today called Deutsche Bahn) and the airport operator FAG (today called Fraport) signed a funding agreement on connecting the airport to the rail network. The costs for the station and the 7.5 km (4.7 mi) long airport loop line amounted to 100 million Deutsche Mark (approximately 51 million), with Deutsche Bundesbahn funding half and the other half split between FAG and the federal government. The station was opened on 14 March 1972. It served initially as a station for regional trains, but its 410 m (1,350 ft) long central platform was ready from the beginning to handle also long-distance trains.[4]

Between 1982 and 1993 the station was used by the Lufthansa Airport Express, which ran to and from Düsseldorf and Stuttgart.[5] As part of the enhancement of the Intercity (IC) network in 1985, the station was served hourly by IC services. With the opening of the long-distance station on 30 May 1999, most long-distance traffic operated via the new station.[6] Occasional long-distance trains still stopped at the regional station, since the long-distance station was closed overnight. Since the annual timetable change in December 2010, the long-distance station is also open at night, so no more scheduled long-distance trains stop at the regional station.

In the late 1980s, it was planned, as part of the construction of the airport's eastern terminal (Terminal 2) and the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed line, to build a fourth (long-distance) platform track and to upgrade the rail infrastructure, including building a tunnel to connect with the Mannheim–Frankfurt railway towards Zeppelinheim. Despite the high cost that would have been required for the reconstruction of the existing building, it was expected that capacity would not have been sufficient in the medium term. Another proposal considered was to build an additional station in the existing building. Although a feasibility study found that would have had positive returns, this option was rejected due to its high cost.[6][7] Next to the platform provision had been made for the building of another track, which has never been built.

From 9–30 July 2007, the regional train station was closed for the complete replacement of the 30-year-old tracks.

Work has been under way since early 2010 to give a new, lighter design to the concourse level and the connecting corridor to Terminal 1.

Services

Class 420 EMU of the Rhine-Main S-Bahn on line S 8 in Frankfurt Airport Regional station on its way to Wiesbaden Hbf.

The following Regional-Express and S-Bahn services stop in Frankfurt Airport regional station:

Line Route Frequency
Wiesbaden HbfMainz HbfFrankfurt AirportFrankfurt (Main) Hbf (tief)Offenbach Ost (– Hanau Hbf) 30 min
Wiesbaden Hbf – Mainz-KastelFrankfurt Airport – Frankfurt (Main) Hbf (tief) – Offenbach Ost – Hanau Hbf 30 min
RE 59 Frankfurt AirportFrankfurt South – Hanau Hbf (– KahlAschaffenburg HbfGemünden (Main)Würzburg Hbf) (only in peak hours) Individual services
RE 2 Koblenz HbfBoppard HbfBingen (Rh) Hbf – Mainz Hbf – Frankfurt Airport – Frankfurt (Main) Hbf (Mittelrhein-Main-Express) *
RE 3 Saarbrücken HbfBad Kreuznach – Mainz Hbf – Frankfurt Airport – Frankfurt (Main) Hbf (Rhein-Nahe-Express) *
* Every alternative hour

References

  1. "Stationspreisliste 2023" [Station price list 2023] (PDF) (in German). DB Station&Service. 28 November 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  2. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas) (2009/2010 ed.). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
  3. "Tarifinformationen 2021" (PDF). Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund. 1 January 2021. p. 136. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  4. Wilhelm Bender (2002). "Der Anschluss des Frankfurter Flughafens an das Eisenbahnnetz". Eisenbahnen in der Region Frankfurt RheinMain (in German). Darmstadt: Hestra-Verlag. pp. 150–161. ISBN 3-7771-0304-7.
  5. Die neue Bahn. Wir über uns (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Deutsche Bundesbahn, Hauptverwaltung. May 1985. p. 45  (brochure, 86 A4 pages){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  6. "Startschuss am Frankfurter Kreuz". Eisenbahn Journal (in German) (Special issue 3): 64–66. 2002. ISBN 3-89610-095-5.
  7. "Jahresrückblick 1988 – Neu- und Ausbaustrecken". Die Bundesbahn (in German) (1): 61. 1989.
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