New tunnel for long-distance trains

Frankfurt Central Station is a major traffic junction, but it often causes delays due to congestion.

The federal government wants to tackle the problem with a lot of money.

Frankfurt / Main - A new tunnel with an underground station in Frankfurt is to accelerate train traffic nationwide.

The billion dollar project is presented today.

The tunnel for long-distance trains is to run from the west and from the east to the new underground station, which is to be built under Frankfurt Central Station.

The main station should then be available exclusively for regional traffic.

As a terminus, Frankfurt Central Station has so far often caused delays with nationwide effects. The project is intended to resolve the bottleneck. On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Deutsche Bahn had carried out a feasibility study to determine whether and under what conditions a double-track long-distance railway tunnel is technically feasible. The most favorable course of the tube - south or north of the Main was also examined.

The results are now to be presented. When the feasibility study was announced in September 2019, there was talk of a cost of just under 3.6 billion euros. Completion was not expected before 2035, it had been said. As a result, long-distance trains should travel up to eight minutes faster through the Frankfurt hub. "The tunnel is a central component for climate-friendly rail traffic and the German cycle," the railway explained in advance.

A two-hour, digital information event for citizens is planned at 5 p.m. on Monday. There have been several designs for an underground station in Frankfurt. The "Frankfurt 21" project was discussed 25 years ago - as in Stuttgart, the terminus was to be replaced by an underground station. The project was closed in 2001 due to a lack of funding. The current planning is based on the Zurich model, where a tunnel has also been created under the above-ground terminus station.

In a resolution, 19 associations, municipalities, organizations and companies spoke out in favor of the project, including the transport associations RMV and NVV, the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND), the railway and transport union (EVG) and the passenger association Pro Bahn. The travel time of long-distance trains will be shortened and capacity will be freed up for additional regional traffic, according to the text. Freight traffic will also benefit from the removal of the Frankfurt bottleneck.

"With such an addition to the above-ground Frankfurt main station, the future requirements for high-performance rail traffic can be met," the resolution says. The rail infrastructure is already overloaded, which is why an expansion of the Frankfurt hub is also essential for the growth of local transport. However, other planned expansion measures should neither be jeopardized nor delayed. dpa