Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Fernbahnhof

Frankfurt Airport long distance railway station is a railway station at Frankfurt Airport

Frankfurt Airport

Frankfurt Airport may refer to:Airports of Frankfurt, Germany:*Frankfurt Airport , the largest airport in Germany*Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport, a general aviation airport*Frankfurt-Hahn Airport , a converted U.S...

in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

that is served by long-distance trains, mostly ICE services running on the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line. It is the largest airport railway station in Germany with about 23,000 passengers each day. The station is served by 210 daily long-distance trains, of which 185 are Intercity-Expresses. It was the only purely long-distance station that has been opened by Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

. It and Limburg Süd station are the only stations in Germany that are served exclusively by long-distance trains.

The station was opened in 1999 as part of the first part of the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed line; the great majority of the high-speed line opened in 2002. It is 660 m long and 45 m high. It features a large dome containing a lounge area and a ticket hall, and is connected to the airport by a skyway that crosses the A 3. The Squaire, a € 1 billion complex containing hotels, convention centers and other facilities, has been built above the station. Nearby is Frankfurt Airport Regional station which is located beneath Terminal 1 of the airport and which provides local S-Bahn

Rhine-Main S-Bahn

The Rhine-Main S-Bahn system is an integrated rapid transit and commuter transport system for the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region, which includes the cities Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Offenbach am Main, Hanau and Darmstadt...

services to Frankfurt, Wiesbaden

Wiesbaden

Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...

and Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

Design and location

The station is located between the Frankfurter Kreuz Tunnel—which runs under the Frankfurter Kreuz

Frankfurter Kreuz

The Frankfurter Kreuz is an Autobahn interchange in the city of Frankfurt in Hessen, Germany where the autobahns A3 and A5 meet. The interchange was originally to be built from 1931 to 1933, but due to World War II construction was not finished until 1957....

("Frankfurt Cross") autobahn interchange—in the east, connecting towards Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof

Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof

is the central 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.- Proto-history :In the late...

and Mannheim

Mannheim Hauptbahnhof

is the central railway station of Mannheim in Germany. It is the second largest traffic hub in southwestern Germany after Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof, with 658 trains a day, including 238 long-distance trains. 100,000 passengers embark, disembark or transfer between trains at the station each day...

, and Kelsterbacher Spange (Kelsterbach

Kelsterbach

Kelsterbach is a town in Groß-Gerau district in Hessen, Germany. It lies on Frankfurt's southwestern outskirts at a bend on the left bank of the river Main, right where a small brook, called the Kelster empties into the river...

Link) Tunnel in the west, the beginning of the high-speed section of the new line.

The 660 metre long and up to 55 metre wide station building was designed by BRT Architects (Bothe, Richter, Teherani). After nearly four years of construction, it was opened in 1999. The entire station is glazed on the outside and appears to be open. The upper deck is at a height of 12.5 metres and is composed of a 30 centimetres thick reinforced concrete slab with an area of about 34,000 square metres. The slab is supported by steel beams, which transfer their loads on to 4.5 metre thick trusses. These span across the railway station with a maximum span of about 50 metres and are 15 metres apart. The trusses are designed to support a building that is up to eight storeys high. The maximum load capacity of the reinforced concrete slab is 700 kilograms per square metre.

Until early 2007, the station was located in the middle of a large trench covered only by the biaxially curved glass dome. This has a maximum height of 15 metres, a length of 135 metres and a width of 40 metres.

The station has two island platforms, which are each served by two tracks. The platform tracks are numbered "Fern 4" (long-distance 4) to "Fern 7", continuing on from platforms 1 to 3 of the existing regional station opened in 1972. Trains scheduled to use platform tracks 6 and 7 run towards Mainz

Mainz Hauptbahnhof

is the Hauptbahnhof for the city of Mainz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is used by about 80,000 travellers and visitors each day and is therefore one of the busiest 21 stations in Germany...

and Cologne

Köln Hauptbahnhof

Köln Hauptbahnhof is the central railway station in Cologne, Germany.The station is an important local, national and international hub, with many ICE, Thalys and Intercity trains calling there, as well as regional RegionalExpress, RegionalBahn and local S-Bahn trains...

, while platforms 4 and 5 are used for services towards Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, Frankfurt South station or the Ried Railway (Riedbahn) towards Mannheim. In contrast to the regional station, the only scheduled services stopping at the long-distance station are long-distance trains.

The long-distance station is located about 200 metres from Terminal 1, between the A 3 autobahn and the B 43 federal highway, which both run parallel to it on either side of it. A 200 metres long and up to 80 metres wide walkway was constructed to connect the station building to Terminal 1. This supports footpaths and moving walkway

Moving walkway

A moving walkway or moving sidewalk is a slow moving conveyor mechanism that transports people, across a horizontal...

s, check-in counters, baggage screening and various shops.

On the mezzanine, between the platform and distribution level, there are among other things, a Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn

lounge for first class passengers and frequent travellers. This can also be reached by lift directly from the 6/7 platform.

Planning

As part of the planning for the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed line, ways of connecting high-speed trains on the line to the airport were investigated. Originally, the regional station was to be expanded as part of the new line project with a fourth track. Despite the high cost of the reconstruction of the existing station it was forecast that the capacity would not be 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. The board of the former Deutsche Bundesbahn

Deutsche Bundesbahn

The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...

decided in April 1990 to build an above ground long-distance station. If there was sufficient traffic demand, the new station would also serve regional traffic from the south.

The establishment of a new station between the A 3 and B 43 was examined for its economic justification for long-distance traffic as well as for the regional traffic towards Mannheim. Two options were examined for connections from the airport station to the new line. In addition to the realised route along the A3 via Mönchhof, a route running north towards the Mainz–Kelsterbach–Frankfurt line through the southern outskirts of Kelsterbach

Kelsterbach

was examined. A connection with the Mainz-Frankfurt line was provided in both cases. Deutsche Bundesbahn classified the (unrealised) Klaraberg route as favourable for operations. The Mönchhof option had lower costs and lower environmental impact on Kelsterbach. The establishment of connecting curves between the new line and the line to Mainz would reduce the operational drawbacks of the Mönchhof option.

The planning approval process for the airport station and the section to Frankfurter Kreuz

Frankfurter Kreuz

autobahn interchange, collectively called "section 36", was initiated in April 1994 as the first of around 50 planning approval processes for the new line.

Building

The project was jointly implemented by Deutsche Bahn and Flughafen Frankfurt/Main AG (Frankfurt/Main Airport Company, FAG, now Fraport

Fraport

Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide is a German transport company which operates the Frankfurt International Airport serving Frankfurt am Main and holds interests in the operation of several other airports around the world. In the past the firm also managed the smaller Frankfurt-Hahn...

). Construction work on the line began in December 1995. In September 1996, Deutsche Bahn awarded the first contracts for the construction of the station and its associated tracks. The top deck of the station was designed to support a building complex, although its nature had not been determined.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held on 1 October 1997. Among the guests were the Minister of Transport, Matthias Wissmann

Matthias Wissmann

Matthias Wissmann is the president of the Verband der Automobilindustrie.Since 1999 he has been a partner with the law firm WilmerHale.-Education:...

, the Hessian Premier Hans Eichel

Hans Eichel

Hans Eichel , German politician , was Minister of Finance from 1999-2005.-Background:He was brought up in Kassel where he did his Abitur in 1961. He then completed a degree in German, philosophy, political science, history and education at the universities of Marburg and Berlin, graduating in 1970...

, Frankfurt's mayor, Petra Roth

Petra Roth

Petra Roth is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union . Since 1995 she is mayor of Frankfurt. In addition and in a rerun she is president of Deutscher Städtetag since 2009 which is the head organisation and lobby group of all German cities obverse the Cabinet of Germany, the German...

, Deutsche Bahn CEO, Johannes Ludewig

Johannes Ludewig

Johannes Ludewig is a German manager and former secretary of state.He has been director of Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies since 2002.-References:...

and the chairman of FAG, Wilhelm Bender.

About 300 employees were employed on the site. 400,000 m³ of soil was excavated and 100,000 m³ of concrete and 2.5 km of bored piles were installed for construction (including two kilometres of the line).

Cost and Financing

Construction costs amounted to € 225 million, including € 44.5 million for the roof structure. The federal government share was € 97.5 million. FAG provided DM 257 million (as of 1998) for the check-in building, including the roof. The construction costs were DM 30 million above the original estimates. The causes of increase were unforeseen difficulties during construction, a fire and subsequent improvements in the level of services provided.

FAG donated the land and financed the development of all the infrastructure except for the immediate station area. Its costs incurred for the development of the terminal and the connections to the station together amounted to DM 170 million. Construction costs associated with the planned subsequent development amount of € 87 million. The cost of the immediate station area amounting to DM 153 million were funded by the federal government (two thirds) and Deutsche Bahn (one third).

Commissioning

At the end of November 1998, the first service operated as a works train with invited guests from Zeppelinheim station

Zeppelinheim station

Zeppelinheim station is a station in the district of Zeppelinheim of the town of Neu-Isenburg in the German state of Hesse. It is located in the urban periphery of Frankfurt am Main and adjacent to Frankfurt Airport...

through the tunnel to the Frankfurt Airport long-distance station.

After several weeks of trial operation, the station was formally opened on 27 May 1999. Federal Transport Minister Franz Müntefering

Franz Müntefering

Franz Müntefering is a German politician and industrial manager. He was Chairman of the Social Democratic Party from 18 October 2008 to 13 November 2009, a position he already held from 2004 to 2005...

, Deutsche Bahn CEO, Johannes Ludewig and FAG Chairman Wilhelm Bender and other invited guests rode in an ICE T

ICE T

DBAG Class 411 and Class 415 are German tilting high-speed electric multiple-unit trains in service with Deutsche Bahn , commonly known as ICE T.- Development :...

into the station. Lord Mayor, Petra Roth and the Hessian Minister of Transport, Dieter Posch attended the ceremony.

The first regular scheduled train ran from the train station on 30 May 1999 as Intercity

Intercity (Deutsche Bahn)

Intercity is the second-highest train classification in Germany, after the ICE. Intercity services are loco-hauled express services, usually over long-distances. There are Intercity routes throughout Germany, and routes generally operate with a two-hour frequency, with multiple routes giving a more...

537 (Moritzburg) at 05:37 AM. Deutsche Bahn initially forecast five million passengers per year. After completion of the high-speed line to Cologne in 2002, this figure was expected to rise to nine million passengers annually. This corresponded to a quadrupling of the ridership previously measured at the regional station. A study from the 1990s expected that, in 2002, an additional 919,000 passengers would travel by train to the airport rather than by car or taxi and around 1.3 million arriving passengers would use rail instead of short-haul flights to the airport.

At the opening of the station there were initially two Intercity-Express and two Intercity services, each running every one or two hours through the new station. Initially 83 services operated through the station between 5:00 AM and 0:30 AM daily. Before the commissioning of the station had been completed, its opening was delayed by a major fire in the check-in area in November 1998.

The opening of the station quadrupled the capacity of the airport to handle long-distance trains, while the relocation of long-distance traffic to the long-distance station doubled capacity in the regional station for S-Bahn

Rhine-Main S-Bahn

and regional traffic.

Following the opening of long-distance station, the three-track station opened in 1972 (now the regional station) has only been used by regional and S-Bahn traffic. Between 1985 and 1999, the regional station had been used by Intercity and later by Intercity-Express services. Until December 2010 some long-distance trains used the regional station at night, when the long-distance station was closed. The long-distance station is now also open at night, so scheduled long-distance trains no longer stop at the regional station. The Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed line opened in August 2002, three years after the line between the Raunheim curve and the Frankfurt Cross tunnel through the new station.

In the spring of 2000, around 14,000 passengers per day were counted. In the first year of operation it was used by approximately 9,000 passengers per day. In 2008, about 22,500 used the station each day. Passenger forecasts in mid-1998 estimated that after the scheduled start of the new line, assumed to be in May 2001, there would be more than 30,000 incoming and outgoing ICE passengers per day. It was predicted that in the early 2000s about 30 percent of passengers would arrive at and leave the airport by rail. Prior to the opening of the station this rate (at the old station) was 14 percent.

After the opening of the station the removal of the glass dome in favour of further development was discussed on and off. This option was rejected for reasons of fire safety. The DM 14 million dome had already be integrated into the original plans for the building complex.

In 2003 the design of the building was awarded a special prize in the Renault Traffic Design Awards.

Development of "the Squaire"

On 1 March 2007, the foundation stone was laid for a project called Frankfurt Airrail Center to be built on a slab over the station. Meanwhile, the nine-storey complex with more than eight hectares of office space, 550–700 hotel rooms, restaurants and shops, which had been built at a cost around € 660 million, was renamed the Squaire (a portmanteau word derived from the English words "square" and "air"). The glass dome has been retained in the centre and on each side is the foyer of the hotel and the connection to the office wing. The opening was originally scheduled for autumn 2009, but was delayed until early 2011. The complex will be completed in the spring of 2011.

In 20 applicants had applied in 1998 to build the development at the station. After a pre-qualification phase a short list of seven investor groups were eventually invited to apply carry it out. In March 1999, an international selection committee chose two companies to finally develop the project: e-Pfa-Immobilienmanagement (Wiesbaden

Wiesbaden

Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...

) and TERCON Immobilien Projektentwicklungs GmbH (Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

). A feasibility study for the project estimated that the centre would create 3,400–4,000 new jobs.

Operation

Currently the station is served by eleven Intercity-Express lines and three Intercity

Intercity (Deutsche Bahn)

lines.
16 percent of passengers at Frankfurt Airport travelled by Intercity-Express in 2009.

External links

Film der Bauunternehmung Bilfinger Berger über den Bau des Flughafen Fernbahnhofs

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.