Frankfurt U-Bahn
The Frankfurt U-Bahn is a Stadtbahn (premetro) system serving Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. Together with the Rhine-Main S-Bahn and the Frankfurt Straßenbahn, it forms the backbone of the public transport system in Frankfurt. Its name derives from the German term for underground, Untergrundbahn. Since 1996, the U-Bahn has been owned and operated by Stadtwerke Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main (VGF), the public transport company of Frankfurt, and is part of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) transport association. The licence contract is up to 31 December 2031 and is renewable. The contracting authority of VGF is the municipal transport company traffiQ.
| Frankfurt U-Bahn | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Elevated route for motorway and subway at Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße, facing Ginnheim; Europaturm tower on the left | |||
| Overview | |||
| Owner | RMV | ||
| Locale | Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany | ||
| Transit type | Light metro (Stadtbahn), rapid transit | ||
| Number of lines | 9 | ||
| Number of stations | 86 | ||
| Daily ridership | 470,100 (2016) | ||
| Annual ridership | 132.2 million (2016) | ||
| Website | VGF | ||
| Operation | |||
| Began operation | 4 October 1968 | ||
| Operator(s) | Stadtwerke Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main (VGF) | ||
| Character | Mostly underground, with significant sections at-grade (including at-grade intersections), with some street running (U5 line) | ||
| Train length | 50–105 metres (164–344 ft) | ||
| Headway | 5-15 minutes (daytime) | ||
| Technical | |||
| System length | 64.9 km (40.3 mi) | ||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge | ||
| Electrification | 600 V DC from overhead catenary | ||
| Top speed | 80 km/h (50 mph) | ||
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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 network operates in a variety of right of ways typical of a light rail system, with above-ground sections operating on street and core sections running underground in the inner city.
Like all public transport lines in Frankfurt, the system has been integrated in the Rhein-Main Verkehrsverbund (RMV) since 1995. From 1974 until the founding of the RMV, the Stadtwerke were shareholders in the predecessor group, the Frankfurter Verkehrsverbund (FVV; Frankfurt Transport Association).
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 2016, the U-Bahn carried 132.2 million passengers, an average of approximately 361,200 passengers per day. Most recently, on 12 December 2010, two new lines were added, the U8 and the U9, which open up the university campus area and the new development area on Riedberg.