Daily ridership 321,000 (2012) Website VGF Number of stations 86 | Annual ridership 117.3 million (2012) Number of lines 9 Began operation October 4, 1968 | |
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Locale Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany Transit type Rapid transit/Light rail Operator(s) Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt (VgF) Owner Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund | ||
Frankfurt u bahn the frankfurt metro
The Frankfurt U-Bahn, together with the Rhine-Main S-Bahn and the Frankfurt Straßenbahn, forms the backbone of the public transport system of Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. Its name derives from the German term for underground, Untergrundbahn. Since 1996, the U-Bahn has been owned and operated by Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt (VgF), the public transport company of Frankfurt, and is part of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) transit association.
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The U-Bahn opened in 1968, and has been expanded several times. It consists of three inner-city tunnels and above-ground lines in the suburbs. About 59% of the track length is underground. The above-ground sections operate at different standards from traditional rapid transit systems due to the independent expansion of at-grade rail for those sections – they are more like light rail (Stadtbahn) due to their not being fully grade-separated.
The network consists of 86 stations on nine lines, with a total length of 64.85 kilometres (40.30 mi). Eight of the nine lines travel through the city center (line U9 being the exception). In 2012, the U-Bahn carried 117.3 million passengers, an average of approximately 321,000 passengers per day.
Frankfurt u bahn
History
In the 1950s, planning commenced to address the limitations of the existing streetcar network by introducing a more comprehensive public transit system. Various political groups within the local sphere proposed different solutions, including the development of a complete U-Bahn system, a hybrid streetcar system with a subterranean section in the downtown area (referred to as a Stadtbahn), and an elevated railway system. The decision was ultimately made through the political process, specifically the 1964 municipal election, which led to the adoption of the U-Bahn project. This project initially started as a light rail/Stadtbahn network incorporating tunnels within the central area of Frankfurt and was intended to evolve into a fully-fledged rapid transit U-Bahn network in the future.
The U-Bahn opened on 4 October 1968, with the underground route from Hauptwache to Nordweststadt.
Current routes
The U-Bahn consists of nine lines, U1 to U9, running on three primary routes based on the three tunnels, with a planned fourth route from the suburbs to the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof only partially completed:
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