The government of the
Electorate of Hesse (
Kurhessen) had begun building the
Frankfurt–Bebra railway from
Bebra in North Hesse to
Fulda,
Hanau and Frankfurt before its annexation by Prussia after the
Austro-Prussian War of 1866. The project was completed by the
Prussian state railways on 15 December 1868. Until the opening of the
line south of the Main, trains from Bebra to Frankfurt had to use the
line north of the Main and the
Frankfurt City Link Line. On 15 November 1873 the new line south of the Main between Hanau and Frankfurt via Sachsenhausen and
Offenbach was opened, including South Station (opened as
Bebraer Bahnhof, "Bebra line" station) and
Offenbach Hauptbahnhof. The South Main line is still the most important rail link connecting Frankfurt with
Leipzig, Berlin and
Hamburg. After the completion of South Main line, the
Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen station (
Bahnhof Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen) at Darmstädter Landstraße (opened in 1848) of the
Frankfurt-Offenbach Local Railway became a terminus, with trains only operating towards Offenbach. The track formerly connecting it to the
Main-Neckar Railway to the west was removed. In 1876 it was renamed
Lokalbahnhof; the
Frankfurt Lokalbahnhof S-Bahn station is named in its honour, although it is about 250 metres south of the old station, which closed in 1955. The current building was opened in 1914. In its simplified
Art Nouveau style, it is similar to the
Höchst station opened the same year. During the building of the
U-Bahn station (completed in 1984), almost the entire station building was demolished and rebuilt after the completion of the tunnelling. It now includes a community centre. The former steel train shed was demolished during the U-Bahn construction and not rebuilt. ==Operations==