Main Railway

Main Railway
Route number:	471/645.8/645.9
Line number:	3520
Line length:	37.5 km (23.3 mi)
Gauge:	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Legend West Rhine Railway from Boppard From freight bypass and Taunus line to Wiesbaden S8 Line from Alzey From Mainz harbour 0.0 Mainz Hbf Mainz railway tunnel north (northbound) New Mainze tunnel (southbound) Mainz railway tunnel south (northbound) 1.8 Mainz Römisches Theater Former line from Mainz Hauptbahnhof Line to Ludwigshafen South bridge (Mainz), border RP/Hesse Former train ferry Rhine-Main Railway 4.6 Mainz-Gustavsburg 5.6 Mainz-Gustavsburg harbour siding Mainz freight bypass, from Taunus Railway S9 7.4 Mainz-Bischofsheim To Mainz-Bischofsheim 9.6 Mainz-Bischofsheim Ültg II junction …   Rhine-Main Railway to Darmstadt 11.2 Rüsselsheim-Opelwerk 12.2 Rüsselsheim 15.9 Raunheim 17.4 Raunheim Mönchwald junction …   Raunheim-Mönchhof connecting curve to HSL to Frankfurt A 3 Frankfurt Airport–Cologne HSL 19.1 Raunheim Caltex & Ticona siding 19.4 Raunheim Brunnenschneise junction …   connecting curve from HSL to Cologne Industrial sidings 23,8 Kelsterbach .Frankfurt Airport loop S8S9  ?,? Frankfurt-Schwanheim Frankfurt Airport loop S8S9 29.1 Frankfurt-Schwanheim Fernbahn junction A 5 Riedbahn to Riedstadt-Goddelau S7 31.4 Frankfurt (Main) Stadion Bypass route to Frankfurt (Main) Süd Connecting line from Frankfurt-Louisa 33.2 Frankfurt-Niederrad Old Niederräd bridge / new Niederräd bridge Frankfurt City Link Line To Main-Lahn line to Frankfurt-Höchst Main-Lahn line from Frankfurt-Höchst To Taunus Railway to Frankfurt-Höchst Goods railway from Frankfurt-Griesheim 35.4 Frankfurt Gutleuthof junction Taunus Railway Frankfurt Kleyerstr. junction 35.3 Frankfurt Außenbf To Frankfurt goods yard Main-Neckar Railway from Darmstadt South Main line from Offenbach Main-Weser Railway from Gießen Homburg Railway from F–West S3S4S5S6 37.5 Frankfurt (Main) Hbf (since 1888) S7 Frankfurt (Main) Hbf tief (since 1978) City Tunnel to Frankfurt South and Offenbach S3S4S5S6 / S1S2S8S9 Frankfurt western stations (until 1888)

The Main Railway (German: Mainbahn, pronounced 'mine barn') is a 37.5 km-long double-track electrified railway line, which runs on the south side of the Main River from Mainz to Frankfurt central station.

History

Immediately after the opening of the Rhine-Main Railway from Mainz to Aschaffenburg by the Hessian Ludwig Railway Company in 1858, it was anxious to also own a connection to Frankfurt. Therefore it built the new line from a branch off the Rhine-Main line at Bischofsheim along the left (southern) bank of the Main to Frankfurt. It thereby put itself into competition with the parallel Taunus Railway, which runs on the right bank of the Main. The concession for building and operating the line was awarded by Grand Duchy of Hesse on 15 August 1861 and by the senate of the Free City of Frankfurt on 17 January 1862.

The Main-Neckar station in Frankfurt was the southernmost of three stations when it opened in 1863 in Gallusanlage (now Willy-Brandt-Platz)

The building of the line took only one and a half years. A test run took place on 20 December 1862 and it was opened on 3 January 1863. The line originally ran through the former Forsthaus station and today's Friedensbrücke (Peace Bridge, now a road bridge) in Frankfurt across the Main to the former Main-Neckar station. This entry was replaced on 16 January 1882 by the current alignment through Goldstein station (later: Frankfurt-Sportfeld, now: Frankfurt stadium station), Niederrad station and the Niederräder Main bridge.

On 1 February 1897, it along with the rest of the Hessian Ludwigs railway became part of the Prussian-Hessian Railway Company. The line was electrified in 1960.

Services

The following suburban services operate on the Mainbahn:

S-Bahn lines:

• S8: Hanau–City-Tunnel Frankfurt–Niederrad–Mainz–Wiesbaden
• S9: Hanau–City-Tunnel Frankfurt–Niederrad–Mainz-Kastel–Wiesbaden

RegionalBahn:

• RB 75: Wiesbaden–Mainz–Mainz-Bischofsheim, continuing to Darmstadt

RegionalExpress:

• RE/SE 80: Frankfurt–Frankfurt Airport–Mainz, continuing to Koblenz or Saarbrücken

Images

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  Southern bridgehead of the Mainz South Bridge of the …

• 

  … Mainbahn …

• 

  … seen from the Mainz side.

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  Coat of arms on the bridge building

References

• Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland – 2005/2006 edition, Vlg. Schweers + Wall, 2005, ISBN 3-89494-134-0 (German)
• Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen (Hrsg.): Eisenbahn in Hessen. Eisenbahnenbauten- und strecken 1839–1939, 1st edition. Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1917-6, Bd. 2.1, S. 302ff (Strecke 018). (German)