Railway enthusiasts dug it up.

It has been a lively discussion since Saturday on the turntable-online Internet portal, where fans are passionate about exchanging information about rail transport: The connection to Terminal 3, which is currently under construction at Frankfurt Airport, is getting closer.

Because the Deutsche Bahn reports at a remote point in the network that the Europe-wide tender for the preliminary planning of the rail connection has been completed.

It is a matter of planning the railway line while also taking into account the environmental situation and the building site.

The ambitious intention of the state-owned company: "The aim is to determine a preferred variant by the end of next year."

Manfred Koehler

Deputy head of the regional section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and editor-in-chief of the business magazine Metropol.

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    This is made possible because the state of Hesse is assuming the costs of the preliminary planning - just as it was a few years ago for the north Main S-Bahn, which has also made significant progress there.

    The Deutsche Bahn planners are already naming the next steps: the plan approval procedure for the short connection is to begin in 2025.

    However, one does not commit to a date for the completion and opening.

    Dispute over costs

    Even if preliminary planning is only the very first step: after years of discussion, something is happening at all with this railway project. The connection of Terminal 3 to S-Bahn line 7 is not at all complicated. The Riedbahn tracks pass nearby anyway. All that is required is a short connection on which the trains leave the main route, stop briefly in the terminal and then turn back on the familiar routes. When the terminal is being built, an underground station for the trains is already being taken into account.

    Nevertheless, there have been discussions for years about whether the siding is necessary and, if so, who will pay for it. The airport operator Fraport always pointed out that the new terminal buildings, which are being built far away from the existing Terminals 1 and 2, will be connected to them via a separate gondola lift on stilts. This is also what the planning approval decision for the expansion of the airport provides. This train should take eight minutes for the 5.6 kilometer route on the airport site.

    For many travelers this will indeed be the best connection, for example for those who get off at the long-distance train station at the airport.

    However, a S-Bahn stop at Terminal 3 would make it easier for those coming from Frankfurt Central Station.

    You then do not have to go to the existing S-Bahn station at Terminal 1 and change to the Fraport-Bahn, but can take the S 7 directly to Terminal 3.

    The journey would therefore be more convenient and faster.

    Warning of traffic chaos

    Last year, Frankfurt's head of transport, Klaus Oesterling (SPD), called for the construction of such a siding.

    Otherwise, there is a risk of traffic chaos on the autobahn, he argues.

    For those arriving by car, a separate exit for Terminal 3 is currently being built on the A5. 

    The alliance of the CDU and the Greens in the Hessian state parliament has expressly committed itself to a siding for Terminal 3 in the chapter on the expansion of rail traffic. The connection is part of the planning for the high-speed line from Frankfurt to Mannheim, even if the ICE trains on this connection will not stop at the airport - they branch off from the Riedbahn beforehand.

    The Hessian Transport Minister Tarek Al-Wazir (The Greens) pointed out last year that the connection of Terminal 3 was not possible with the current heavy traffic on the Riedbahn, because threading the S-Bahn in and out takes too much time and thus reduce their capacity. However, one day the first construction sections of the high-speed line could be used to guide long-distance trains past the delicate sections where the S-Bahn trains to the airport turn off.