The S2 service of the
S-Bahn Rhein-Main
The Rhine-Main S-Bahn system is an integrated rapid transit and commuter train system for the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region, which includes the cities Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Offenbach am Main, Hanau and Darmstadt. The network comp ...
system bearing the KBS (German
scheduled railway route) number 645.2 is a railway connection between the small
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 span ...
town
Niedernhausen
Niedernhausen im Taunus is a municipality in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany, with almost 15,000 inhabitants.
Geography
Location
Niedernhausen lies in the Rhein-Taunus Nature Park in the west ...
and
Dietzenbach
Dietzenbach is the seat of Offenbach district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany and lies roughly 12 km southeast of Frankfurt am Main on the waterstream Bieber. Before the Second World War, the current town was ...
.
Usually
DBAG Class 423
The Deutsche Bahn Class 423 EMU is a light-weight articulated electric railcar for S-Bahn commuter networks in Germany. The train has similar dimensions to its predecessor, the Class 420 EMU, but is significantly lighter and has one large passe ...
railcars are used on this service. Its predecessor
class 420 is only used for shortened shuttle services.
According to a news report issued by ''Hessenschau'', the S2 is the least punctual of the system, with only 83% of trains leaving on time.
Routes
Main-Lahn railway
The service uses the tracks of the Main-Lahn Railway between Niedernhausen and
Frankfurt Central Station
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 ...
. This route is also used by regional trains in the section Niedernhausen–Frankfurt-Höchst. Between
Frankfurt-Höchst and Central Station this service shares the Main-Lahn line with freight and shunting operations. National and regional services use the parallel running Taunus railway in this section. The Main-Lahn railway was completed on 15 October 1877 and has been used by S-Bahn services since 1978.
City tunnel
The city tunnel is an underground, pure S-Bahn route used by almost all services (except for the S7 service which terminates at the central station). The tunnel was opened in four stages in 1978, 1983, 1990 and 1992. In a short section between
Mühlberg and
Offenbach-Kaiserlei the
South Main railway is used. The section from Mühlberg to
Offenbach Ost through the
Offenbach City Tunnel
The Offenbach City Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the Frankfurt Schlachthof–Hanau line in Offenbach am Main in the German state of Hesse. It is used by all of the eastern branches of the Rhine-Main S-Bahn
The Rhine-Main S-Bahn system is an in ...
was opened in 1995.
Rodgau railway
This line was opened in 1896 and has been used since 2003 only by S-Bahn services.
Offenbach-Bieber–Dietzenbach railway
This line was opened on 1 December 1898 and has been used since 2003 only by S-Bahn services.
History
The S2 was one of the first six services of the Rhine-Main S-Bahn system. In a prior test operation it ran between Niedernhausen and Frankfurt Central Station. The service was then called R2 where the letter "R" stands for regional. In 1975 the R2 was the system's first service employing the
class 420 trainset. After the opening of the Frankfurt Citytunnel the service was renamed to S2 and extended to the new Hauptwache underground station. Further extensions of the tunnel followed in 1983 (
Konstablerwache
Konstablerwache is a central square in the centre of Frankfurt am Main and part of its pedestrian zone. It lies to the east of Hauptwache with both squares linked by the Zeil, the central shopping area of the city.
History
At the corner of the ...
) and 1990 (
Ostendstraße and
Lokalbahnhof) so that the
Südbahnhof (South station) became the service's eastern terminal. After the opening of the eastern Citytunnel branch to the Mühlberg station in 1992 the S2 started operation in this section shutting down its service to Lokalbahnhof and Südbahnhof until in 1995 the service resumed its pre-1992 operation. In 2002, Eppstein-Bremthal station was completed increasing the number of stations to 18.
In 2003 the Offenbach Citytunnel and the Rodgau railway was included. After two years of construction work this route was changed to S-Bahn operation. Since then the new eastern terminal station is Dietzenbach. In 2007 the new
Frankfurt-Zeilsheim station was included to the S2 service.
Operation
# Niedernhausen – Dietzenbach
# Niedernhausen – Offenbach Ost
# Niedernhausen – Frankfurt Hbf
# Hofheim – Frankfurt Hbf
# Griesheim – Dietzenbach
# Offenbach Ost – Dietzenbach
References
External links
traffiQ Frankfurt – S2 timetable
{{Navbox Rhine-Main S-Bahn
Rhine-Main S-Bahn