S-Bahn construction work causes trouble for commuters around Frankfurt | hessenschau.de
Train passengers between Bad Homburg, Friedrichsdorf, Bad Vilbel and Frankfurt have to endure line closures in the summer months, change trains more often and travel longer. The railway apologizes, but sees no alternatives.
At first glance, one only understands the train station and, at second glance, commuters probably need better humor than this pun to endure what has been going on since Saturday (July 2nd) on the railway line between Bad Homburg and Frankfurt-Rödelheim. “We can only apologize for that and ask for your understanding,” says a railway spokeswoman, referring to the inconvenience that Bad Homburg residents in particular are experiencing: by October 4th, their journey to Frankfurt Central Station will take 26 minutes longer, and it will be eleven minutes back be more – and two changes each.
This is due to a badly damaged railway bridge over the A5 between Frankfurt-Rödelheim and Oberursel-Weißkirchen/Steinbach (Hochtaunus), which was probably hit by a truck earlier this year. Deutsche Bahn now has to extensively renovate it. Only one track has been available to trains on this section of the route since January, and line 5 S-Bahn trains continue to only run every half hour.
An additional problem for the railways: there is no signal system on the section of the route. The S-Bahn drivers and the signal box have to constantly telephone each other so that no trains get in each other’s way. Too much time and manpower, says the railway spokeswoman.
Change trains twice to Bad Homburg
The railway therefore changes its traffic model at this point. That means concretely:
- In July, August and September, the S5 only runs between Friedrichsdorf (Hochtaunus) and Oberursel according to the usual timetable.
- On the section between Oberursel and Rödelheim, a single S-Bahn train commutes every half hour, adapted to the other timetables. This means that train drivers no longer have to coordinate with each other.
- From Rödelheim, passengers can use lines S3 and S4 to continue their journey in the direction of Frankfurt-Süd.
- Travelers who want to travel from Frankfurt to Oberursel or vice versa must therefore change trains once in Rödelheim.
- If you want to continue to Bad Homburg or Friedrichsdorf or from there to Frankfurt, you have to change trains twice.
The bridge will then continue to be repaired as usual during ongoing operations.
“A rail replacement service would not have made sense here”
“A rail replacement service would not have made sense here,” says the railway spokeswoman. The buses would have taken longer for the route than the train, despite the fragmented route. As is so often the case when there is construction work on motorways, roads or rails, the railway company decided to carry out the renovation in the summertime. Fewer travelers tend to be out and about during the long holidays.
The fact that the work on the A5 bridge is taking so long has to do with the amount of steel used, as the railway spokeswoman explains. Due to the current market situation, these cannot be achieved in the short term.
In addition, the bridge work would have to be coordinated with the numerous construction sites on the A5, the Autobahn GmbH for summer operation. “Unfortunately, the passengers have to bite the bullet for so long,” says the railway spokeswoman. And further east, more bitter fruit awaits Hessian commuters.
Full closure between Frankfurt-West and Bad Vilbel
The construction work for the four-track expansion of the railway line between Frankfurt-West and Bad Vilbel (Wetterau), where regional and long-distance traffic also runs in addition to the S6, calls for a “serious cut”, as the railway calls it: From the beginning of July to The entire route was closed at the beginning of September. So far, construction has been ongoing, for the next construction steps a closure is necessary.
“We have to go through it so that it finally gets better afterwards,” says the railway spokeswoman. The fact that all trains sometimes have to be diverted over a wide area is extremely unpleasant. Just like the fact that in the summer months there are two major time delays in rail traffic north of Frankfurt. “One comes unplanned and is really annoying, the other comes planned and is just as annoying,” says the railway spokeswoman.
Wheels in rail replacement traffic
Rental bicycles are also available for the rail replacement service between Bad Vilbel and Frankfurt. According to the city of Bad Vilbel, passengers can borrow the bikes for around 180 minutes free of charge. Since June 13, the timetable of S-Bahn line 6 has been restricted due to track work. The route will be completely closed for weeks from July 9th. For this period, the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsbund (RMV) is offering replacement buses – and now also around 100 bikes from a rental company.
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