Frankfurt (Main) West station ( or ''Frankfurt Westbahnhof'') is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

for regional and

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

services in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, on the Main-Weser Railway, in the district of Bockenheim, near the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds and the Bockenheim campus of the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

History

The station was opened as ''Bockenheim station'' in 1849 during the construction of the Main-Weser Railway from Frankfurt to

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

. The then independent city of Bockenheim was until 1866 in the territory of the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel. The station building was built in a relatively elaborate

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

style to a design by Julius Eugen Ruhl. Mk Frankfurt S-Bahn Wbf

The first major change in the railways to affect Bockenheim station occurred in 1888 with the opening of the new

Frankfurt Central Station Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof, also called Frankfurt Central Station and Frankfurt Main Station, is the busiest train station in the German state of Hesse. Due to its location near the middle of Germany and usage as a transport hub for long an ...

. As part of this project a connection was opened on 10 May 1884 from Bockenheim to the Homburg Railway, a connection that could not be built fifteen years earlier during the Homburg line's original construction because the various small states involved failed to come to an agreement. In addition, a sweeping curve was built for the Main-Weser line's northern approach to the new Central Station. The old ran from the old Main-Weser terminus to ''Am Hauptbahnhof'' (the square in front of the Hauptbahnhof) along the current ''Kaiserstraße'' and then turned north. Its abandoned path to Bockenheim was turned into a street, which was initially called ''Bahnstraße'', and it is now a series of streets: ''Hamburger Allee'', ''Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage'' and ''Düsseldorfer Straße''.

Modern station

In 1913, the station was renamed ''Frankfurt West''. The historic station building was destroyed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. A modern functional building was built in 1961. During the building of the S-Bahn in the 1970s most of this station was demolished and replaced by a simple building, which seems to be tucked under the elevated S-Bahn line. The current station has two levels. The ground level is used by regional trains and S-Bahn S6 trains towards the city on platforms 3, 4 and 5. The S-Bahn lines S3, S4 and S5 and S6 towards Friedberg use an approximately one kilometre long elevated section with a two-track elevated station (platforms 1 and 2).

Services

Line 17 of the Frankfurt tramway, which opened in 2003, touches the southern end of the Westbahnhof (Nauheimer Straße and Kuhwaldstraße stops). The tram stop on the forecourt of Westbahnhof was last served by the extended tram line 16 in July and August 2019 due to construction work on the tram network. The M32 bus line runs from Westbahnhof via Frankfurt Nordend and Bornheim to Ostbahnhof. The M36 bus line connects Westbahnhof with Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University and the city centre, and the M73 bus line connects the districts of Hausen, Praunheim and Nordweststadt. The planned ring tram will have a stop called Westbahnhof in the neighbouring Schloßstraße. The regional express trains Kassel - Marburg - Gießen - Frankfurt (Main-Weser-Express) and RE 99 Siegen - Gießen - Frankfurt (

Main-Sieg-Express The Main-Sieg-Express is a Regional-Express service operated by the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and Hesse from Siegen station, Siegen via Gießen station, Gießen to Frankfurt Central Station, Frankfurt. It is operated by the He ...

) as well as all through trains of the Niddertalbahn () to Frankfurt Hbf stop mainly during rush hours. In addition, the Mittelhessen-Express (RB 40/41) always stops at this station. Some ICE and IC trains in the direction of Kassel-Hamburg or Heidelberg-Karlsruhe (/) stop at the station as scheduled. Double-decker IC trains serve Frankfurt Westbahnhof every two hours ().

References

* * {{Railway stations in Frankfurt Railway stations in Frankfurt Rhine-Main S-Bahn stations Railway stations in Germany opened in 1848