#Trainyard Heddernheim

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This weekend is a great train show at the trainyard Heddernheim of the U-Bahn Frankfurt to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the U-Bahn.

The is an electric locomotive used for work and construction trains in the U-Bahn and tram network. As far as I know it was actually build by the workshop of theFrankfurt transit company based on old Siemens Duewag trams

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Finally an old bus. A Mercedes Benz O305 Standartbus used between the 1970s and 1990s. I remember those beasts.

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Okay, this will probably be only interesting for people that are public transport nerds like me. A short summary of the public transit in Frankfurt am Main in early 2021:

Bus, Metrobus, Expressbus (Purple lines on map)

Frankfurt has a tightknit system of buslines: Regular citybus lines (not shown on the map), Metrobus lines (M-Lines), that run for 24 h, 7 days at week in a frequency of every 10 min on the day, every 15 min on Sundays and every 30 min. in the night. Express-Bus lines (X-Lines) are fast buslines that stop only at selected bus stops and connect to the airport. Nightbus lines (N-Lines, not shown on map) are bus lines that run at night and replace bus and rail lines without 24 h service.

Projects: There are currently no major projects, modernisations of busstops and the vehicles is ongoing thou. There are plans for building a new central bus depot and repair garage in eastern Frankfurt, replacing the old central depot at Rebstock Park, but that is still in preparation. The current stock are busses (Solo and articulated) by Solaris, MAN, Mercedes-Benz and a few busses by Volvo, Irisbus and VanHool (the VanHool Busses are old and due to replacement). There are more EV-busses by Solaris and EBUSCO replacing diesel busses coming in. A few years ago, the city tested the use of doubledecker busses for some of the high frequented lines, they borrowed doubledecker busses from Berlin for that purpose (Berlin, like London, successfully operates doubledeckers for more than a century), and while the busses where well recieved and the test could be considerd a success, the city decidet against aquireing double deckes, since the depot at Rebstock had not the necessary facilities to operate them. But maybe that idea will resurface at some point for the Metrobus and Expressbus lines and the new depot can be planned accordingly.

Tram (Straßenbahn, orange/yellow lines on map)

Frankfurt has a large and old tramway system 10 lines (8 main lines and 2 supportlines) and 1 tourist/heritage line (Ebbelwoi Express). It started as a horse drawn tram in 1872 and was electrified in 1884, making it the second oldest electric tram in the world. It has been in constant operation since it was first opend, only stopping operation for a few weeks at the end of WW2. The next work had it largest size prior to WW2, with over 40 (!) lines, but shrank in the decades after the war and was almost completely shot down in the 1980s (plans from the 1960s were originally to replace the tramway step by step with the U-Bahn). The Frankfurt tramway only operates within the city limits of Franfurt, with two lines, 15 and 16, terminate at the city limit to the city of Offenbach (pop. 130,000) and one line, 17, terminates at the city limit of the town of Neu Isenburg (pop. 38,000). The tram operates mainly two types of trams, the R series that was introduced in the early 1990s, and that is starting to show its age, and the S series, which was introduced in the early 2000s. Also in operation are P series trams from the 1970s as support vehicles in peak times. They will finally be retired (along with some of the R series stock) when the new T series enters service later this year. The Ebbelwoi Express operates historic K series trams from the early 1950s. There are several project for the tram. Currently under construction is a modernisation of the Gutleut tram depot, in preparation for the new T series. Several new lines are planned: line 13 will operate from Industriehof, where it connects with the U-Bahn via Westbahnhof (west station), Messe (trade fair), Hauptbahnhof (central station), central bus station to Gutleut depot. There are plans for a tram line from Sachsenhausen Hainerweg in the south of the city to the railway station of the town of Bad Vilbel (pop. 34,000) north-east of Frankfurt, where it would connect with S-Bahn line S6, this tram line will replace the highly frequented city bus line 30. A circle tram line is planned unsing mostly existing tracks. And extensions of existing lines. There are plans to extend line 17 through the town of Neu Isenburg to the towns of Dreieich (pop. 42,000) and Langen (pop. 38,000) and to extend line 16 into the city center of Offenbach, possibly going through the city, northwards over the river Main, where it would connect with tramline 11 in Frankfurt-Fechenheim. Other plans include an extension of tram line 11 to Frankfurt-Höchst railway station (connection to S-Bahn) and a new route throgh the city center via Haptwache (Frankfurts central U- and S-Bahn hub) to take pressure of the existing main tram route through the city center.

Metro (U-Bahn, blue lines on map)

Frankfurts U-Bahn is more of a light rail than a classic metro. 9 lines are currently in operation on four main routes: Route A(Lines U1, U2, U3, U8 and U9 is the oldest route, it was first opend in 1968 and connects south station via the city center to the northern city districts and suburbs. It also connects to the towns of Oberursel (pop. ) and Bad Homburg (pop.). Route B (lines U4 and U5) connects the central station, eastwards through the city center with districts on the north east of the city. Route C (lines U6, U7 and U4) is an east-west route, connection city disticts in the west via the city center woth city districts in the east. Route D (lines U1, U4, U8 and U9) is unfinished, it is currently split in two. D1 connects the central station with Bockenheiner Warte via the trade fair. D2 connects Frankfurt Ginnheim via Nordwestzentrum to Riedberg in the north of the city. It was originally planned as the second north-south route paralel to route A. Many overground sections of the U-Bahn are upgraded former tram routes, it shows in some sections like the streetrunning section of line U5 on the Eckenheimer Landstraße in Frankfurt-Nordend. There are quite a few projects. On line U5 is the extension of the line westwards is under construction, it will lead from the current terminus at the central station into the Europaviertel and will end at Rebstock. At the other end of line U5 is planned to extend north to the Railwaystation Frankfurter Berg where it will connect the the S-Bahn. Another big project is the so called Ginnheimer curve, which will be closing the gap in route D between Bockenheimer Warte and Ginnheim. There are somediscussions about the exact route, how it will be connected to university campus Westend and how the tunnel will pass under Grüneburg Park, which has raised some concerns with conservationists. U2 is Planned to be extendet from its current terminus in Bad Homburg-Gonzenheim to Bad Homburg Railway station, where it would connect to the S-Bahn. Further projects, that arecurrently unspecified, are a new trainyard in northern Frankfurt, which will replace the small Heddernheim yard, an extension of line U7 eastward through Bergen Enkheim, and on the other End of the line north westwards to a new P+R facillity on the autobahn A5 to the town of Steinbach (pop. 10,000) and a new residental district that is planned within Frankfurts city limits.On line U4 a short tunnel from the station Seckbacher Langstraße to the residental area Seckbach Atzelberg is in discussion. On the A route an extension south from the current terminus at the south station to to Sachsenhäuser Warte is in discussion as well asextending the tunnel further north along the Eschersheimer Landstraße (the tunnel currently ends at Dornbusch and the route uns north on the median of the road. The rolling stock are type U-4, type U-5-25 and type U-5-50 cars, it is planned to buy some middle cars for the U-5 stock to extend the trains in length.

Suburban Rapid Transit (S-Bahn, green lines on map)

The S-Bahn is a heavy rail rapid transit system that is operated by Deutsche Bahn, Germanys national railway, and connects Frankfurt to other towns and cities in the larger Frankfurt-Rhein-Main metro area. The S-Bahn has two city tunnels through the city centers of Frankfurt and Offenbach (there is als a small tunnel with an underground station in the town of Schwalbach (pop. 15,000) on line S3), with about 10 underground railway stations. The S-Bahn connect Frankfurt directly to the other cities in the region like Offenbach, Wiebaden (Hessens state capital, pop. 278,000), Mainz (State capital of Rhineland Palatinate, pop. 218,000), Darmstadt (pop. 160,000) and Hanau (pop. 96,000). There are 9 lines in total. The S-Bahn is using EMUs type DB 423, DB 430 and DB 425. The S-Bahn has several large projects. The northmain S-Bahn to Hanau willbe a second connection to Hanau via Frankfurt east station and the town of Maintal (pop. 39,000) directly east of Frankfurt which oddly hasn´t an S-Bahn connection yet. The extension of the Main-Weser rail line from 2 to 4 tracks which will lead to the modernisation of several S-bahn stations and the addition of a new station in Frankfurt-Ginnheim. Line S5 will be extendet from Friedrichsdorf via Grävenwiesbach to Usingen in the northern Taunus mountains. In the south line S2 will be extendet from Dietzenbach to Darmstadt via Dieburg. At the new terminal 3 a second S-Bahn station is planned

Other Public Transit

There are busses from neighbouring cities and counties and other commuter rail lines by Deutsche Bahn and HSB (Hesse State Railways). The Airport has two people mover lines, a third one is under construction.There are plans for the Regional Tangete West and Regional Tangente Ost, which will form a lightrail ring around Frankfurt. These ring lines will connect most S- and U-Bahn lines that go out of the city and will also connect to the airport. Another fun project that is planned is a cable tramway from the terminus of U3 at Hohemark to the sumit of the Feldberg, the highest mountain of the Taunus mountains. The network map is curtesy of the VGF, Frankfurts public transit cooperation.

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Overview over all 5 generations of U-Bahn cars in Frankfurt. This is probably an once in a lifetime thing