What good news for the east of the Frankfurt metropolitan area: Shortly after work on the Riederwald tunnel began, Deutsche Bahn began building the North Main S-Bahn from Frankfurt to Hanau.
For decades, both transport projects were just talked about.
Now both of these become reality.
It's redemption.
Since the beginning of the railway age, Frankfurt's rail connections have been geared more towards the Taunus and Wiesbaden than towards Hanau;
the first three terminal stations for the trains were called Westbahnhofs for a reason, and that is how the trains leave the main station, which opened in 1888, heading west.
The S-Bahn network is also mainly oriented there.
This imbalance was clearly intended to be avoided in the planning of the motorway network, but due to the lack of a Riederwald tunnel, the importance of the A66 in the east of Frankfurt never matched that of the connection with the same name on the other side of the city.
Closing the gap in the autobahn and the new S-Bahn connection can, if things go well, help towns to the east of Frankfurt to gain further momentum.
Maintal will benefit first from the North Main S-Bahn, Hanau also insofar as there will be more and faster connections to downtown Frankfurt.
The unbundling of local and long-distance traffic thanks to the new tracks also helps the entire area, because the trains no longer get in each other's way.
And no, it is not out of time for a motorway and rail link to be built at the same time.
The future S-Bahn will also only open up part of the Main-Kinzig district, so there will continue to be a large number of commuters who depend on cars, not to mention the long-distance effects of the Riederwald tunnel, namely the urgently needed relief the A3 in the direction of Würzburg.
The following still applies: if you want to preserve and increase prosperity, you will not be able to avoid new transport routes.