The Frankfurt western stations were a group of three stations on the western edge of the former city walls of

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, Germany between the modern Willy-Brandt-Platz, then the location of ''Gallustor'' ( Gallus gate) and ''Taunustor'' (

Taunus The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is ''Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are ''Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and ''Altkönig'' (798 m). The Taunus range spans ...

gate). They were replaced by

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

in 1888.

Stations and lines

Three lines came together on the western outskirts of Frankfurt, the

Taunus Railway The Taunus Railway (German: ''Taunus-Eisenbahn'') is a double-track electrified railway line, which connects Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, Germany. It is 41.2 km long and follows the course of the Main on its north side, running quite close to ...

from

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

(opened in 1839), the

Main-Neckar Railway The Main-Neckar Railway (german: Main-Neckar–Eisenbahn, MNE) is a main line railway west of the Odenwald in the Upper Rhine Plain of Germany that connects Frankfurt am Main to Heidelberg via Darmstadt, Bensheim and Weinheim. It was opened in 1 ...

from

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

(1846) and the Main-Weser Railway from

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

(1850), then terminated at three adjacent western stations (from north to south) : * Main-Weser station (german: Main-Weser-Bahnhof), opened in 1850, *

Taunus station The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is ''Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are ''Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and ''Altkönig'' (798 m). The Taunus range spans ...

(''Taunusbahnhof''), opened in 1839, * Main-Neckar station (''Main-Neckar-Bahnhof''), opened in 1848. Between 1846 and 1848, prior to the completion of the rail bridge over the

Main Main may refer to: Geography * Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries ...

, the first Main-Neckar station was just south of the Main at Mainspitze station, with trains reversing to the old Sachsenhausen station (later called ''Lokalbahnhof'') at

Sachsenhausen Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...

. In 1888, this group of three stations was replaced by Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, which was about half a kilometre further west. The eastern rim of the ''Am Hauptbahnhof'' square (east of the Hauptbahnhof) traces the former link line between the Main-Neckar and the Main-Weser lines.

Current situation

The redundant infrastructure of the western stations was demolished. The

International Electrotechnical Exhibition The 1891 International Electrotechnical Exhibition was held between 16 May and 19 October on the disused site of the three former ( Western Railway Stations) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The exhibition featured the first long-distance tra ...

was built on the site. In the period up to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the Bahnhofsviertel district was built on the site. The former connecting lines to the western stations were converted into streets and squares. The part of the former Main-Weser line between Bockenheim station (today:

Frankfurt West station Frankfurt (Main) West station (german: Bahnhof Frankfurt (Main) West or ''Frankfurt Westbahnhof'') is a railway station for regional and S-Bahn services in Frankfurt, Germany, on the Main-Weser Railway, in the district of Bockenheim, near the Fr ...

) and ''Am Hauptbahnhof'' square became Bahnstraße (literally "railway street") and is now called Hamburger Allee, Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage, Platz der Republik and Dortmunder Straße. The Main-Neckar railway bridge over the Main was converted into a road bridge, then called

Wilhelm Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

bridge, now called Friedensbrücke ("Peace Bridge"). Further south the line became Stresemannallee.

References

* {{coord, 50, 06, 34, N, 8, 40, 17, E, region:DE-HE_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Railway stations in Frankfurt Railway stations in Germany opened in 1839 Railway stations in Germany opened in 1848 Railway stations in Germany opened in 1850 World's fair sites in Germany