Underground platforms at Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof

My first experience of the railways of Europe was at Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof, which happens to the busiest railway station in Germany – and the scale of the station was amazing, with a total of 32 platforms across three levels.

Main hall at Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhof

At ground level 25 platforms are located beneath a five span train shed.

Setting sun at the station

High speed trains use some of the platforms.

ICE 3 set at Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhof

With locomotive hauled double deck trains on regional services also serving the station.

DB 114 016 trails double deck commuter carriages

Along with shorter electric multiple unit sets.

DB class 420 EMU ready to run a line S7 service from Hauptbahnhof

And diesel multiple unit trains.

Bombardier Itino DMU at Frankfurt

Downstairs from the mainline station are another four platforms, called Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof Tiefbahnhof and used by electric multiple trains of the Rhine-Main S-Bahn network.

Changing drivers on S-Bahn line S5

And in a separate underground section are four more platforms, called U-Bahnhof Hauptbahnhof, and served by the much smaller trains of the Frankfurt U-Bahn.

VGF U3-465 arrives at Hauptbahnhof with a U4 line service

Quite a complex station, isn’t it?

Footnote

I’ve written about Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof before, when I discovered the mysterious ‘Feuerwehr Übungstunnel’ platforms when riding the U-Bahn network.

The impetus for writing this blog post was a comment by @trainspotter67 on Twitter regarding the S-Bahn platforms at Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof.

A simple distinction, but a useful one for new users of the station.

Liked it? Take a second to support Marcus Wong on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!
This entry was posted in Trains and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *