The busy Frankfurt-Mannheim connection is dilapidated and is causing problems for train traffic across the country. It is now being completely renovated. This means considerable restrictions for passengers.
For the first time, an important railway line in Germany will be closed for months in order to carry out major renovations. The busy Frankfurt-Mannheim route will be closed from late Monday evening at 11 p.m. The tracks, overhead lines, signals, switches, bridges and stations will be modernized by mid-December. Deutsche Bahn hopes that the concept will result in trouble-free traffic in the long term. Such a general renovation is planned for a total of 40 heavily used corridors in Germany. Next year, the Hamburg-Berlin and Emmerich-Oberhausen sections will be next.
The regional traffic that normally runs on the Frankfurt-Mannheim section of the Riedbahn will be replaced by buses. A total of around 150 replacement buses are on the road. Long-distance and freight traffic will be diverted via parallel routes – to make room for this, regional traffic will also be restricted there. The closure will therefore affect not only Hesse and Baden-Württemberg, but also Rhineland-Palatinate, as one of the diversion routes is the Mainz-Worms-Ludwigshafen connection.
According to Deutsche Bahn, long-distance passengers will have to prepare for journeys that are around 30 minutes longer, a third of the train service will be cancelled and some stops will not be served. According to Deutsche Bahn, all changes have been incorporated into the timetable and can be accessed via the Deutsche Bahn app.
Source: Stern
