departing westward from
Frankfurt Airport long-distance station underneath
The Squaire The former
Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) began planning for a network of high-speed lines for both passenger and freight trains in the 1960s. The 1973 federal transport plan included a high-speed line between Cologne and
Groß-Gerau (near Frankfurt), as well as between
Hanover and Würzburg and between
Mannheim and Stuttgart. This plan envisaged that mixed traffic would require: • maximum grade of 1.25% (occasionally 2.0%) • curves with small
superelevation and minimum radii of • maximum line speed of These specifications would be difficult to achieve either near the traditional
Rhine valley route, which follows an entrenched
meander, or along DB's preferred route next to the A3, which has long and steep climbs and descents. The second federal transport plan in 1985 (which was drawn up when the
first TGV line had been operating for four years) included a passenger train-only railway, which meant that much steeper grades would be acceptable. The technical standards adopted were: • maximum grade : 4.0% • minimum radius : • maximum speed : DB negotiated with the
states of
North Rhine-Westphalia,
Rhineland-Palatinate and
Hesse over the route. Each state had objections to the bypassing of the cities on the Rhine, particularly
Bonn,
Andernach,
Koblenz,
Mainz and
Wiesbaden and four other routes were examined that passed through some of these. No agreement was reached and the
Federal Cabinet agreed on 20 December 1989 to a recommendation of the Transport Minister to adopt the A3 route and, among other things, to include a station at
Limburg. DB then consulted with the states and community groups over the details of the route. In North Rhine-Westphalia there was considerable debate over the location of the station to serve the Bonn area and on how to serve the
Cologne-Bonn Airport. DB decided that the station would be built at
Siegburg and that a separate, double line would connect Cologne and the high-speed line to the south with Cologne-Bonn airport for the
S-Bahn and ICE traffic. In Rhineland-Palatinate, DB decided that a station would be built north of
Montabaur only north of Limburg Sud, partly to serve Koblenz via the
A48, and to reroute a local railway through it. In Hesse, DB decided to build the Limburg station south of the town at its current location on cost grounds, even though this prevented a connection to the
Lahn valley line, which would have provided a connection to Koblenz and
Gießen. Options for connections to
Wiesbaden were examined in detail, including routing the line through its eastern outskirts. DB eventually agreed to a double-line spur to Wiesbaden along the
A66. Options for connections to Frankfurt Airport, the line to
Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof and to the
Riedbahn (the line to
Mannheim). It was decided that routing the line into the existing Frankfurt Airport station (now known as the
regional train station) with two tracks and a track would not be adequate, even if expanded to four or five tracks. DB decided that a separate station across the A3 from the old station would be required and that the line would go on to connect to the Riedbahn both northbound (towards Frankfurt) and southbound (towards Mannheim).
Planning Although the route as set out above was adopted under the federal railway development law on 15 November 1993, the last legal challenge to the project was not resolved until September 1998. In the meantime DB decided to reduce the minimum radius of curves to and increased the maximum super-elevation of the track to (to follow the A3 more closely), reduced the spacing between tracks from (to save space) and increased the area of tunnel cross-sections from (to allow higher speeds for converging trains). The route as finally designed was intended to allow trains to cover the distance between Cologne and Frankfurt in 58 minutes, although the fastest time in 2023 is 66 minutes served by an
ICE Sprinter service, and only supposed to be reduced to 64 minutes by the
Deutschlandtakt.
Construction The construction of the route began on 13 December 1995 with the turning of the first sod at the
Frankfurter Kreuz autobahn junction and the last dispute over the route was settled in May 1997. On 13 May Federal Minister of Transport Matthias Wissmann in Siegburg turned the first sod in North Rhine-Westphalia. The last section to commence construction was the Schloss-Röttgen tunnel on the Cologne-Bonn airport loop, which was required in the settlement of a law case: work on it commenced in December 2000. The first section completed was the new Frankfurt airport station, which went into operation on 30 May 1999. The opening of the whole route, which had originally been planned for 1999, took place after numerous court challenges and geological problems, at the end of July 2002. The last tracks of the route in the Schulwald tunnel were installed on 10 July 2001. During construction, traffic on the neighbouring A3 was significantly affected and up to 48 building sites with a reduced maximum speed of were operating simultaneously on the autobahn. Up to 15,000 people were employed on the construction of the railway line. of earth was removed during the tunnel construction and approximately of concrete were poured. 1,400 miners were hired and 13 people died in accidents during construction of the tunnels.
Opening and start-up The symbolic opening of the line took place on 25 July 2002 with a special train carrying approximately 700 honoured guests. On 1 August 2002, the first passenger services commenced, originally with a two-hourly service and later with an hourly service. In December 2002, the full service commenced, integration into the European timetable, although there were many disruptions to services in the first few months due to technical failures. On 13 June 2004 the
Cologne Bonn Airport loop was put into service. At the end of September 2004 the
Siegburg/Bonn station was finally completed. ==Route==