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The Kronberg Railway is now the northern part of 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...

 line S4

S4 (Rhine-Main S-Bahn)

The S4 service of the S-Bahn Rhein-Main system bearing the KBS number 645.4- City tunnel :The city tunnel is an underground, pure S-Bahn route used by almost all services...

, which connects Langen

Langen, Hesse

Langen is a town of roughly 36,000 in the Offenbach district in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany, between Darmstadt and Frankfurt am Main...

, Frankfurt am Main and Kronberg im Taunus

Kronberg im Taunus

Kronberg im Taunus is a town in the Hochtaunuskreis district, Hesse, Germany. Before 1866, it was in the Duchy of Nassau; in that year the whole Duchy was absorbed into Prussia. Kronberg lies at the foot of the Taunus, flanked in the north and southwest by forests...

. The route branches off the Homburg line in Rödelheim

Frankfurt-Rödelheim station

Frankfurt Rödelheim station is a regional and S-Bahn station in western Frankfurt am Main, Germany on the Homburg line, in the district of Rödelheim. The Kronberg line branches off the Homburg line north of the station and the junction with the Rebstock curve of the former Bad Nauheim–Wiesbaden...

 and continues via Eschborn Süd, Eschborn

Eschborn

Eschborn is a town near Frankfurt am Main in the Main-Taunus district, Hesse, Germany. As of 2009, it had a population of 20,789, but boasts fulltime employment of over 30,000 people...

 and Niederhöchstadt to Kronberg.

History

The Kronberg Railway Company (Cronberger Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, using the old spelling of Kronberg) opened its 9.8 km-long line from Rödelheim for passengers on 1 November 1874. The carriage of freight, which was never great, followed on 1 March 1875. The Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

n government had granted a concession for the line on 26 June 1872. The purpose of the line was to serve the then already strong tourist traffic from Frankfurt to the Vordertaunus (the now suburbanised foothills of the Taunus

Taunus

The Taunus is a low mountain range in Hesse, Germany that composes part of the Rhenish Slate Mountains. It is bounded by the river valleys of Rhine, Main and Lahn. On the opposite side of the Rhine, the mountains are continued by the Hunsrück...

 near Frankfurt). Already numerous wealthy citizens of Frankfurt had established their residence (or second residence) there, leading to steadily growing commuter traffic. Soon through trains began running from Frankfurt to Kronberg.

On 1 January 1914, the company was taken over by the Prussian government and the line became part of the Prussian state railways

Prussian state railways

The term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...

.

German Federal Railways

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 '...

 established a regular interval timetable in 1954, with services every 30 minutes on the line (as well as on the Homburg line), long before the opening of the Rhine-Main 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...

. Since 27 September 1970 electric trains have operated on the line. On 28 May 1978 the line began to be used by S-Bahn line S4

S4 (Rhine-Main S-Bahn)

The S4 service of the S-Bahn Rhein-Main system bearing the KBS number 645.4- City tunnel :The city tunnel is an underground, pure S-Bahn route used by almost all services...

, initially to Hauptwache

Frankfurt (Main) Hauptwache station

Hauptwache station is a major station in Frankfurt am Main with 181,000 passengers per day, making it the second busiest rapid transit station in the city and a major hub for rail transport in the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region. It is served by eight S-Bahn lines—S1–S6 and S8/S9—and 6 U-Bahn...

.

New construction

On 22 December 1970 a branch, the Limes Railway, was opened from Niederhöchstadt to Schwalbach am Taunus and it was extended to Bad Soden am Taunus on 6 November 1972. The line is now served by S-Bahn line S3

S3 (Rhine-Main S-Bahn)

The S3 service of the S-Bahn Rhein-Main system bearing the KBS number 645.3- City tunnel :The city tunnel is an underground, pure S-Bahn route used by almost all services...

 between Darmstadt

Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof

is the Hauptbahnhof of the German city Darmstadt. After Frankfurt Hbf and Wiesbaden Hbf, it is the third largest station in the state of Hesse. It is the second busiest station in Hesse, servicing 35 000 passengers and 220 trains per day....

 and Bad Soden.

The Kronberg Railway was at first entirely single-track, but in the course of developing the S-Bahn the section from Rödelheim to Niederhöchstadt was duplicated; only the Niederhöchstadt–Kronberg section is still single track.

Current situation

The Eschborn Süd station was opened in 1978 during the establishment of the S-Bahn to promote an office development in Eschborn. It was rebuilt in 2007 and became barrier-free in 2008.

There was a station for many years between Niederhöchstadt and Kronberg for the Braun

Braun (company)

' , formerly Braun AG, is a German consumer products company based in Kronberg, Germany.From 1984 until 2005, Braun was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Gillette Company, which had purchased a controlling interest in the company in 1967...

 plant, which was only served during peak hours and only for Braun employees. This was expanded in late 1990 and incorporated into normal operations in 1999 under the name Kronberg Süd.