Frankfurt Central Station
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| Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof | |
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| Operations | |
| Category | 1 |
| Type | Terminal station |
| Platforms in use |
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| Daily trains | |
| Daily entry/exit | 350,000 daily[1] |
| DS100 code | FF |
| Station code | 1866 |
| Construction and location | |
| Opened | 18 August 1888 |
| Style of architecture | Renaissance revival (facade), Neoclassicism (extensions) |
| Architect | Hermann Eggert and Johann Wilhelm Schwedler |
| Location | Frankfurt am Main |
| State | Hesse |
| Country | Germany |
| Home page | www.bahnhof.de |
| 50°6′25″N 8°39′45″E / 50.10694°N 8.6625°E | |
| Route information | |
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| List of railway stations in Hesse | |
Frankfurt Central Station (German: Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof) is a railway station for Frankfurt am Main. In terms of railway traffic, it is the busiest railway station in Germany. With about 350,000 passengers per day the station is the second most frequented railway station in Germany and one of the most frequented in Europe.
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[edit] History
[edit] Proto-history
In the late 19th century, three stations connected Frankfurt to the west, north and south, the
- Taunus station for the Taunusbahn (opened 1839), connecting Frankfurt to Wiesbaden
- Main-Neckar-station for the Main-Neckar-Eisenbahn to Darmstadt, Heidelberg and Mannheim (1848))
- Main-Weser station for the Main-Weser-Bahn to Kassel (1852) and from 1860 on also used by the Frankfurt-Bad Homburger Eisenbahn.
Those three stations were placed beside each other on the then Gallustor (today: Willy-Brandt-Platz).
[edit] Building the new station
This situation was considered impracticable due to rising passenger figures in the 19th century, so plans were laid out as early as 1866. At first, a large scale station with up to 34 platforms was considered, then the number got reduced to 18. Post and baggage handlings had their own underground facilities, and the city council demanded the station to be moved further away from the city. In the end, in 1881, the German architect Hermann Eggert won the design contest for the station hall, his runner-up in the contest, Johann Wilhelm Schwedler was made chief engineer for the steel-related works. The new station was placed about 1 km to the west of the first three stations. The platforms were covered by three iron-and-glass halls.
[edit] The station opens
On August 18, 1888, after five years of construction, the Central-Bahnhof Frankfurt was finally opened. Right on the evening of the opening day, a train ran over the buffer stop and the locomotive was damaged. Over the course of the next few years, the area eastward of the new station, the Bahnhofsviertel was built up, finishing around 1900. Until the completion of Leipzig Hauptbahnhof in 1915, Frankfurt station was the largest in Europe.
[edit] Later extensions
In 1924 two neoclassical halls were added on each side of the main hall, increasing the number of platforms to 24. During World War II, the building was partly damaged (most notably the windows in the halls covering the platforms). In 1956 the station was fully electrified. One year later, Europe's then-largest signal box was commissioned, which, having been built in a contemporary style of the time has now become a listed building.
Starting with the construction of the B-Tunnel for the Frankfurt U-Bahn facilities in 1971, a subterranean level was added in front of the main building, featuring the city's first public escalator and including a large shopping mall, one station each for the U-Bahn and S-Bahn trains, an air raid shelter and a public car park. The subterranean stations were opened in 1978 and were built in the cut and cover method, which involved the demolition of the second northern hall and rebuilding it after the stations were completed.
Between 2002 and 2006, the roof construction, which is a listed building, was renovated. This involved the exchange of aged steel girders, reinstallation of windows that were replaced by panels after World War II and a general clean-up of the hall construction.
The operational part of the station is being remodeled as well; the old signal box has been recently replaced with an electronic signal box. This was vital to improve capacity of the station. The new signal box became operational in late 2005 and will allow faster speeds into the station (up to 60 km/h) after the remodelling of the tracks.
[edit] Architecture
The appearance of the station is divided into perron (track hall) and vestibule (reception hall). Dominant in those parts built in 1888 are neorenaissance features, the outer two halls, added in 1924 follow the style of neoclassicism. The eastern façade of the vestibule features a large clock with two symbolic statues for day and night. Above the clock, the word Hauptbahnhof and the Deutsche Bahn logo are situated.
The roof of the front hall carries a monumental statue of Atlas supporting the World on his shoulder, in this case assisted by two allegorical figures representing Iron and Steam.
[edit] Operational usage
| In brief | |
|---|---|
| Total number of tracks: | 120 |
| Number of passenger tracks above ground: |
24 main line, 1 branch, 3 tramway stations, 2 tracks each |
| below ground: | 4 S-Bahn tracks, 4 Stadtbahn tracks (3 in usage) |
| Trains (daily): |
342 long-distance 290 regional (excluding Stadtbahn and tramway) |
| Passengers (daily): |
350,000 |
The station's terminal layout has posed some unique problems ever since the late 20th century, since all trains have to change directions and reverse out of the station to continue on to their destination. This causes long turn-around times and places the passengers in the opposite direction of where they had been sitting. There have been several attempts to change this. The last project, called Frankfurt 21, was to put the whole station underground, connect it with tunnels also to the east, and so avoid the disadvantages of the terminal layout. This would be financed by selling the air rights over the area now used for tracks as building ground for skyscraper, but this soon proved unrealistic, and the project was abandoned.
Frankfurt is the third-busiest railway station outside of Japan and the busiest in Germany.
[edit] Long distance trains
As for long-distance traffic, the station profits greatly from its location in the heart of Europe; 13 of the 24 ICE lines call at the station, as well as 2 of the 3 ICE Sprinter lines. To ease the strain on the central station, some ICE lines now call at Frankfurt Airport station and at Frankfurt (Main) Süd instead at the central station.
[edit] Regional trains
With regard to regional traffic, Frankfurt Hbf is the main hub in the RMV network, offering connections to Koblenz, Limburg, Kassel, Nidda, Stockheim, Siegen, Fulda, Gießen, Aschaffenburg, Würzburg, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Dieburg, Eberbach, Worms and Saarbrücken with fifteen regional lines calling at the main station.
[edit] S-Bahn
The subterranean S-Bahn station is the most important station in the S-Bahn Rhein-Main network, with all nine S-Bahn lines calling at the station.
| Preceding station | Rhine-Main S-Bahn | Following station | ||
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toward Wiesbaden Hbf
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toward Rödermark-Ober Roden
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toward Niedernhausen
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toward Dietzenbach
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toward Bad Soden
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toward Darmstadt Hbf
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toward Kronberg
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toward Langen
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toward Friedrichsdorf
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toward Südbahnhof
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toward Friedberg
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toward Riedstadt-Goddelau
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Terminus | ||
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toward Wiesbaden Hbf
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toward Hanau Hbf
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[edit] Local services
Tram connections are offered by TraffiQ, with tram lines 11 and 12 (station Hauptbahnhof/Münchner Straße), 16, 17, 20, 21 and the Ebbelwei-Expreß. The lines U4 and U5 call at the subterranean Stadtbahn stop.
| Preceding station | Frankfurt U-Bahn | Following station | ||
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toward Bockenheimer Warte
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toward Enkheim
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| Terminus |  |
toward Preungesheim
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[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d "Hoch frequentierte Verkehrsdrehscheibe (High frequency transport hub)" (in German). Deutsche Bahn. http://www.bahnhof.de/site/bahnhoefe/de/sued/frankfurt__hbf/daten__und__fakten/daten__und__fakten__.html. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
[edit] Sources
- Bundesbahndirektion Frankfurt am Main: Abfahrt 1888, Ankunft 1988: 100 Jahre Hauptbahnhof Frankfurt am Main, HESTRA-Verlag, Darmstadt 1988, ISBN 3-7771-0215-6
- Volker Rödel, Der Hauptbahnhof zu Frankfurt am Main. Aufstieg, Fall und Wiedergeburt eines Großstadtbahnhofs = Arbeitshefte des Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege Hessen 8, Stuttgart 2006.
- Wolf-Christian Setzepfandt: Architekturführer Frankfurt am Main. 3. Auflage. Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin August 2002, ISBN 3-496-01236-6, S. 33.
- Heinz Schomann: Der Frankfurter Hauptbahnhof. Ein Beitrag zur Architektur- und Eisenbahngeschichte der Gründerzeit, 1983, ISBN 3-421-02801-X
[edit] External links
- Panorama at the Central Station Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof
- Offizieller Plan des Frankfurter Hauptbahnhofes
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Coordinates: 50°06′25″N 8°39′45″E / 50.10694°N 8.6625°E
