EMU of the
Lufthansa-Airport-Express in 1988 A three-track underground station was already envisaged when a new and larger passenger terminal was planned at Frankfurt Airport in the mid-1960s. In April 1969,
Deutsche Bundesbahn (today called
Deutsche Bahn) and the airport operator FAG (today called
Fraport) signed a funding agreement on connecting the airport to the rail network. The costs for the station and the long
airport loop line amounted to 100 million
Deutsche Mark (approximately
€51 million), with Deutsche Bundesbahn funding half and the other half split between FAG and the federal government. The station was opened on 14 March 1972. It served initially as a station for regional trains, but its long central platform was ready from the beginning to handle also long-distance trains. Between 1982 and 1993 the station was used by the
Lufthansa Airport Express, which ran to and from
Düsseldorf and
Stuttgart. As part of the enhancement of the
Intercity (IC) network in 1985, the station was served hourly by IC services. With the opening of the long-distance station on 30 May 1999, most long-distance traffic operated via the new station. Occasional long-distance trains still stopped at the regional station, since the long-distance station was closed overnight. Since the annual timetable change in December 2010, the long-distance station is also open at night, so no more scheduled long-distance trains stop at the regional station. In the late 1980s, it was planned, as part of the construction of the airport's eastern terminal (Terminal 2) and the
Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed line, to build a fourth (long-distance) platform track and to upgrade the rail infrastructure, including building a tunnel to connect with the
Mannheim–Frankfurt railway towards
Zeppelinheim. Despite the high cost that would have been required for the reconstruction of the existing building, it was expected that capacity would not have been sufficient in the medium term. Another proposal considered was to build an additional station in the existing building. Although a feasibility study found that would have had positive returns, this option was rejected due to its high cost. Next to the platform provision had been made for the building of another track, which has never been built. From 9–30 July 2007, the regional train station was closed for the complete replacement of the 30-year-old tracks. Since the beginning of 2010, the distribution level and the connecting corridor to Terminal 1 have had a new, brighter design following a fundamental modernisation. From the end of 2017 to December 2020, the station was renovated again. Deutsche Bahn provided funding of almost €10m and the state of Hesse funded €4m. The grant notice was handed over at the station on 6 December 2017. The work was completed on platform 1 in October 2018 and on platform 2 in March 2019. The floor coverings and platform equipment were replaced, and the walls were also redesigned. == Services ==