The Frankfurt–Mannheim high-speed railway (Neubaustrecke Rhein/Main–Rhein/Neckar) is a planned German high-speed railway between Frankfurt am Main and Mannheim.
The approximately 95 kilometre-long line with a top speed of up to , would connect the existing Cologne–Frankfurt and Mannheim–Stuttgart high-speed lines, carrying long-distance passenger traffic and freight that now passes over the Mannheim–Frankfurt railway. It is also part of Axis No. 24 (Lyon/Genoa–Basel–Duisburg–Rotterdam/Antwerp) of the Trans-European Networks.
The line is listed as an "urgent need" in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030 (Bundesverkehrswegeplan 2030). The options to be implemented should be selected in 2019. The commissioning of the new line is planned for 2030, while the northern section (Zeppelinheim–Darmstadt) should go into operation in 2028 (as of 2018).
History
The Rhine-Main and the Rhine-Neckar regions are two of the eleven metropolitan areas in Germany. They are connected by three railway lines, the Main-Neckar Railway, the Mainz–Ludwigshafen railway and the Mannheim–Frankfurt railway (Riedbahn).
The Riedbahn, which has been heavily used for years, has been considered overloaded since the commissioning of the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed railway at the latest. Around 650 trains (as of 2007) run daily in the corridor between Mannheim and Frankfurt/Mainz; a further increase to about 900 train journeys per day was expected by 2015. In the late 1980s, the capacity of the old line was increased from 240 to 280 train movements per day. The long-distance, local and freight traffic causes regular delays on the double-track mixed traffic line. The line is in particular restrictive for long-distance traffic, as it includes the Biblis curve, which is limited to 90 km/h. In addition, there is an urgent need for additional local transport capacity to connect the densely populated area to the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn.
The traffic forecast drawn up as part of the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2003 predicted 32.8 million passenger journeys per year on the Frankfurt-Mannheim section and 17.0 million on the Mannheim–Stuttgart section in 2015. Freight traffic between Frankfurt and Mannheim would have then been 56.16 million tonnes per year, distributed over both lines.
Planning
1993–2004: Pre-planning up to the completion of the regional planning procedure
The project, which has been at the planning stage since 1993, was originally scheduled to go into operation in 2007. In the spring of 1998, Deutsche Bahn carried out an internal examination of the option of building a new line, instead of a then planned upgrade of the Riedbahn. An early draft in 1998 proposed a line from Frankfurt Airport, going along the motorway as far as Weiterstadt. From there, the line would run to Hauptbahnhof Darmstadt and then rejoin the motorway in the south of the Darmstadt urban area.
As part of the South Hesse Integrated Planning (Integrierten Planung Südhessen), operational investigations were carried out to increase capacity between Frankfurt and Mannheim from 1997 to 1999. The trigger for this was the new Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed railway opened in 2002, which was expected to result in additional traffic as well as the expected expansion of regional services. It showed that a four-track upgrade of the existing lines would not be possible. As a result, further investigations assumed the construction of a new line.
The preliminary planning for the new line started at the end of 1998 or the beginning of 1999. In May 1999, DB commissioned an accounting firm to reassess the project. In addition, the Mottgers link, Frankfurt 21 and Stuttgart 21 were part of the package analysed. It was one of two new construction projects listed in DB's Network 21 (Netz 21) strategy adopted in 1999.