When the new RMV timetable comes into force on 15 December, there will be a big change, especially on the route to and from the airport. Because that's when the new Gateway Gardens S-Bahn station will be included in the route, and after less than four years of construction. "The commissioning of the Gateway Gardens S-Bahn station is part of the largest infrastructure expansion in the RMV network for decades. The new station will enable passengers to travel to the metropolises of Frankfurt, Offenbach and Wiesbaden every 15 minutes and without having to change trains," said RMV Managing Director Prof. Knut Ringat. "With only five years from the award of the financing to completion, Gateway Gardens is the first construction project that I have accompanied in my professional life from the ground-breaking ceremony to the commissioning. The station is a prime example of rapid planning and construction and a model for all other major projects."
The connection of Gateway Gardens to the S-Bahn network is particularly advantageous for the approximately 19,000 employees in the district: the travel time by public transport from Frankfurt's main station is reduced to 10 minutes and the previously necessary change of trains is no longer necessary. For passengers in or from the direction of Wiesbaden, on the other hand, the journey time and about 5 minutes longer.
15-minute cycle in the S-Bahn network is further expanded
The connection of the new station, however, is not the only change in the new timetable. After the S-Bahn frequency has already been steadily expanded in recent years, S-Bahn lines that run through the Frankfurt Citytunnel are now generally every 15 minutes from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. In addition, the S6 now also runs at continuous hourly intervals on party nights from Friday to Saturday, Saturday to Sunday and before public holidays.
Every 30 minutes between the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Neckar metropolitan regions
.The RegionalExpress line RE60 runs on the highly demanded axis between Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Mannheim from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays to Fridays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends at hourly intervals between the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Neckar metropolitan regions. With now 15 connections per weekday and 14 connections on weekends, this is almost double the previous number of trips on the RE60 between Darmstadt and Mannheim. Together with the hourly regional trains RB67/68, this results in an approximate half-hourly service between numerous cities.
RheingauExpress: at hourly intervals from Eltville to Frankfurt
Through the cooperation of the transport companies VIAS and HLB, additional express connections of the RE9 will be possible. During peak hours, the line, which was newly established in December 2018, will be supplemented by five additional trips in each direction at hourly intervals. The advantage for Rheingau commuters: the RE9 runs from Eltville to Frankfurt without stopping at Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof. This results in a travel time saving of 10 minutes compared to the Rheingau line RB10. On the express bus line X79, the range of services will also be expanded so that all trips of the RheingauExpress' will have connections in Niederwalluf to and from Bad Schwalbach. Also on the bus line 171 there are new connections in Eltville to Geisenheim in the afternoon. But the RB10 also runs more frequently: there are additional trips in the morning and afternoon between Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof and Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, as well as an additional late-night trip between Frankfurt and the Rheingau in each direction on party nights.
Many timetable extensions in the entire RMV area
In addition, individual additional trips will be offered on numerous lines. New, for example, are the fast Sprinter trains on the RE50 Frankfurt - Fulda, which even go as far as Bad Hersfeld, more connections in the popular X-Bus network and more through trains to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof on both the Dreieich and Niddertalbahn. The RB21 between Wiesbaden and Niedernhausen will run every half hour during the day. In addition, buses will supplement the rail route of the RB12 between Kelkheim, Liederbach and Frankfurt Höchst during rush hours and run as far as Industriepark Höchst.
The most important timetable changes in the regions in detail:
Rhine-Main
On all S-Bahn lines: Further extensions of the 15-minute frequency
All S-Bahn lines that run through the Frankfurt Citytunnel (S1-S6 as well as S8 and S9) are Monday to Friday in the period from 6 to 10 am and from 3 to 8 pm generally at 15-minute intervals.
S1 (Wiesbaden - Frankfurt - Offenbach - Rödermark Ober-Roden): Extension of the 15-minute frequency in the morning from Hochheim and Rödermark Ober-Roden to Frankfurt until 10 am. In addition, there are new early morning departures Monday to Friday at 3:28 from Rödermark Ober-Roden to Wiesbaden and at 3:35 from Wiesbaden to Rödermark Ober-Roden. In addition, on weekdays, some trips that previously ended in Frankfurt Höchst will be extended to Hattersheim.
S2 (Niedernhausen - Frankfurt - Offenbach - Dietzenbach): Extension of the 15-minute frequency in the morning from Niedernhausen and Dietzenbach to Frankfurt until 10 am.
S3/S4 (Bad Soden / Kronberg - Frankfurt - Langen - Darmstadt): The first early morning trip at 3:45 a.m. from Bad Soden will continue to Darmstadt South in the future. From Darmstadt, the first early morning trip also departs Monday to Friday at 3:35 a.m. to Bad Soden. There is also a new late departure at 01:05 from Darmstadt Hbf to Frankfurt Hbf, which runs through to Kronberg on party nights.
S5 (Friedrichsdorf - Bad Homburg - Frankfurt): The first train leaves Friedrichsdorf for Frankfurt Hbf as early as 03:38 during the week. In addition, there is a new trip from Frankfurt South to Bad Homburg on weekdays at 05:58.
S6 (Friedberg - Bad Vilbel - Frankfurt): On the S-Bahn line S6, with the progressing construction work for the four-track expansion, a continuous hourly service can be established between Frankfurt and Friedberg on party nights.
S8/S9 (Wiesbaden - Airport - Frankfurt - Offenbach - Hanau): The biggest change for lines S8 and S9 is the additional stop "Gateway Gardens", which will be served around the clock as well. The travel times of the S-Bahns between Wiesbaden and the airport will be shifted by about 2 to 4 minutes as a result. In addition, the S8 will in future also run from Offenbach Ost to Hanau until 8 p.m. on Mondays to Fridays, so that there will be a 15-minute interval here together with the S9. Furthermore, the nightly half-hourly frequency of the S8 between Frankfurt and the airport will be extended to Kelsterbach.
Commissioning new station Gateway Gardens
The new S-Bahn stop Frankfurt-Gateway Gardens not only affects the S8 and S9, but also the entire regional train service running south of the Mainz. Although the regional trains do not stop at Gateway Gardens, timetable adjustments are necessary due to the new route. In some cases, there will be longer journey times in the direction of Rhineland-Palatinate.
RE2/RE3 (Koblenz / Saarbrücken - Mainz - Airport - Frankfurt): In future, the trains of line RE3 (Saarbrücken - Frankfurt) will run together with the trains of line RE2 (Koblenz - Mainz - Airport - Frankfurt) at hourly intervals between Frankfurt Hbf and Mainz Hbf with additional stops in Frankfurt-Niederrad, Mainz-Bischofsheim and Mainz-Römisches Theater. At the station Mainz-Römisches Theater there is a connection to the S-Bahn Rhein-Neckar direction Worms.
RE9 "RheingauExpress" (Eltville - Frankfurt): the express line brings passengers from Eltville, Walluf, Schierstein and Biebrich to Frankfurt and back much more frequently on Mondays to Fridays without stopping at Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof: in future, it will run between 6 and 9 a.m. and between 3 and 7 p.m. at hourly intervals between the Rheingau and Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. The number of journeys thus increases from four to 14 journeys a day and the first journey starts at 5.45 a.m. from Rüdesheim. The extensive expansion is made possible by the support of the HLB, which is taking over six of the additional trips. In order to also connect the surrounding communities well to the additional trips, the service of the X-Bus line X79 (Bad Schwalbach - Walluf) and line 171 (Rüdesheim - Eltville) will be expanded accordingly.
RB10 "RheingauLinie" (Neuwied - Rüdesheim - Wiesbaden - Frankfurt): In the morning and in the afternoon, there are more additional trips with trip extension to Frankfurt main station. In the late traffic there is in the party nights (Fr/Sa, Sa/Su and before holidays) from and to Frankfurt around midnight in each case an additional late trip.
RB12 "Königsteiner Bahn" (Königstein - Frankfurt): a new bus service supplements the rail route between Kelkheim, Liederbach and Frankfurt Höchst on Mondays to Fridays between 06:30 and 10 and between 15:30 and 19, thus creating additional capacity at short notice and relieving the rail. The buses travel to Industriepark Höchst, which is an improvement especially for workers employed there. Passengers heading to Frankfurt city centre can change to the S-Bahn at Frankfurt-Höchst.
RB15 "Taunusbahn" (Grävenwiesbach - Bad Homburg): Monday to Friday, a new early morning service from Grävenwiesbach at 04:23 to Bad Homburg and from Bad Homburg at 05:36 to Grävenwiesbach.
RB16 (Friedberg - Friedrichsdorf): The half-hourly service will be extended by one hour until 20:00 on Mondays to Fridays.
RB34 "Niddertalbahn" (Glauburg-Stockheim - Bad Vilbel - Frankfurt): Monday to Friday afternoons, as well as on weekdays in late traffic, several trips to and from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof will be extended. This increases the number of direct connections to Frankfurt from 97 weekly to 119 connections.
West Hesse
RB21 "Ländchesbahn" (Wiesbaden - Niedernhausen - Limburg): Runs Monday to Friday during the day continuously at half-hourly intervals between Niedernhausen and Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof. In the direction of Limburg, there is a new early morning service from Niedernhausen with a connection to the first S2 train coming from Frankfurt. In addition, there is another direct connection from Limburg in the evening at 18:48 to Wiesbaden.
RB45 "Lahntalbahn" (Limburg - Gießen): Now runs on Sundays and public holidays all year round from morning to evening at hourly intervals.
RB90 "Oberwesterwaldbahn" (Altenkirchen - Westerburg - Limburg): Improvements in connections can be achieved through an adjusted timetable on a transitional basis until the modernisation work is completed. The timetable will be revised in such a way that on Mondays to Fridays there will be an almost hourly service with continuous journeys to Altenkirchen and every two hours to Au(Sieg). The previous, sometimes long waiting times in Westerburg will be eliminated. On weekends, the train runs every two hours, the departure times shift in both directions by one hour with also continuous connections to Altenkirchen.
Mittelhessen
RE30 "Main-Weser-Bahn" (Kassel - Marburg - Gießen - Frankfurt): Monday to Friday, a train departs Marburg at 6:08 am, picking up connections from the early morning RB42 and RB94 services. From Gießen, this train swaps times with the Mittelhessen-Express RB40/41. In the opposite direction, the 18:01 journey from Frankfurt is also extended to Marburg. On Fridays, when a particularly large number of weekend commuters are on the move, a new journey starts from Marburg at 17:10 to Frankfurt. In the opposite direction, the 16:01 journey from Frankfurt to Marburg will be extended, and a new 20:01 journey from Frankfurt to Giessen will be added. On weekends, due to high demand, the trains now run with seven instead of six cars.
RB42 "Burgwaldbahn" (Frankenberg - Marburg): Now runs on Sundays and holidays from morning to evening at hourly intervals.
RB45 "Vogelsbergbahn" (Gießen - Fulda): On Sundays and public holidays, passengers will be able to travel one hour earlier from Alsfeld in the direction of Gießen and from Gießen in the direction of Fulda.
RB46 "Lahn-Kinzig-Bahn" (Gießen - Nidda - Gelnhausen): Now runs all year round, also on weekends and public holidays, from morning to evening at hourly intervals along the entire route.
RB48 "Horlofftalbahn" (Nidda - Friedberg): In the future, it will run on Sundays and public holidays from midday to evening at hourly intervals.
RB49 (Friedberg - Hanau): One new trip each on party nights from Gießen at 22:35 to Hanau Hbf and from Hanau Hbf at 00:07 to Friedberg.
RB94 "Obere Lahntalbahn" (Erndtebrück - Bad Laasphe - Marburg): Extension of four Saturday trips beyond Erndtebrück to Siegen and Betzdorf as well as a new trip on Saturdays at 19:24 from Marburg to Bad Laasphe.
East Hesse
RB45 "Vogelsbergbahn" (Gießen - Fulda): Mondays to Fridays an additional trip at 15:58 from Fulda to Alsfeld.
RE50 "Kinzigtalbahn" (Bad Hersfeld - Fulda - Schlüchtern - Hanau - Frankfurt): The fast Sprinter trains will run continuously from Frankfurt to Bad Hersfeld and partly to Bebra. New is an additional trip in the morning from Frankfurt (departure 08:18) and in the afternoon from Bad Hersfeld (departure 14:56) as well as two trips in each direction on weekends.
South Hesse
RB56 "Kahlgrundbahn" (Schöllkrippen - Kahl - Hanau): Continuous hourly service between Schöllkrippen and Hanau in the evening until 10 pm and on weekends.
RB58/RE59 "Main-Spessart-Bahn" (Laufach - Aschaffenburg - Hanau - Frankfurt): Monday to Saturday, most trips run from Aschaffenburg via Flughafen Fernbahnhof to Rüsselsheim Opelwerk (instead of only to Frankfurt Süd as before). During rush hour, trains will run in the morning and afternoon to Frankfurt-Stadion, where they will connect with the S9 line. In the mornings and afternoons, trips of the RE59 to the airport regional station will be extended to Aschaffenburg.
RE60 "Main-Neckar-Bahn" (Mannheim - Darmstadt - Frankfurt): trains will run at hourly intervals on the route between Frankfurt, Darmstadt, the Bergstrasse and Mannheim between 6 a.m. Monday to Friday and between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends. The number of journeys on this line is thus almost doubled. In combination with the lines RB67/68 as well as the RE70 over the Riedbahn results in an approximate half-hourly cycle for many connections.
RB61 "Dreieichbahn" (Dieburg - Rödermark Ober-Roden - Dreieich-Buchschlag - Neu- Isenburg / Frankfurt): now also operates in the evenings and on Sundays and holidays continuously at hourly intervals to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. A change from the S-Bahn to the RB61 in Dreieich-Buchschlag or Rödermark Ober-Roden is no longer necessary. Mondays to Fridays, the 7:11 a.m. trip from Dieburg will be extended from Dreieich-Buchschlag to Frankfurt Süd.
RB66 "Pfungstadtbahn" (Pfungstadt - Darmstadt): Mondays to Fridays, a new trip from Darmstadt Hbf at 17:42 to Pfungstadt and from Pfungstadt at 18:05 to Darmstadt Hbf.
RB67/68 "Main-Neckar-Bahn" (Mannheim / Schwetzingen / Heidelberg - Darmstadt - Frankfurt): continue to run hourly between Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Neu-Edingen/Friedrichsfeld. There the train will be separated. The train part of the RB 67 line continues to run every two hours alternately to Schwetzingen or Mannheim Hbf, the train part of the RB68 line continues to run hourly to Heidelberg and Wiesloch-Walldorf.
RE70 "Riedbahn" (Mannheim - Biblis - Frankfurt): During the party nights, continuous service every two hours with all stops between Mannheim and Frankfurt.
RB75 (Wiesbaden - Mainz - Darmstadt - Aschaffenburg): Stops in Mainz-Gustavsburg all day and on weekends with the hourly basic frequency. The additional half-hourly services on Mondays to Saturdays will no longer stop there. Between Wiesbaden and Darmstadt, the journey times change by a few minutes. Between Darmstadt (departure 04:51 h) and Aschaffenburg (departure 04:36 h), a new early departure will be introduced in both directions on Mondays to Fridays. Likewise, the last trip between Darmstadt and Aschaffenburg will run one hour later on all days.
Bus service
New allocations: The route bundle LGI-Southeast (372, 373, 375, 376 and 377), which includes buses in the region around Giessen, has been re-tendered. The current operator (Verkehrsgesellschaft Gießen VGG) will continue to operate the lines for another eight years after 14.12.2019.
The line bundles in the district of Fulda were also re-tendered. With the start of the timetable change, a new conception of the lines takes effect here.
Express buses
X17 (Hofheim - Airport): Daily additional night trips at 22:54 and at 01:30 from Hofheim to the airport and 02:40 from airport T1 to Hofheim.
X72 (Limburg - Wiesbaden): The offer on the well-used express bus line Wiesbaden-Limburg is again significantly expanded. Two connections will be added on mornings, a further early morning trip from Limburg to Wiesbaden and an evening trip on weekend nights at 22:37 from Wiesbaden. In addition, a half-hourly service will be offered from Wiesbaden between 15:00 and 19:00. Saturday services optimised to provide more train connections.
X76 (Nastätten - Wiesbaden): new afternoon services at 15:02 from Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof via Kemel and Nastätten to Miehlen and back at 16:25.
X79 (Bad Schwalbach - Walluf): Between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., buses run hourly between Bad Schwalbach and Walluf, with connections from the RE9 express trains in Walluf and further changes in Walluf to the regional trains to the Rheingau.
X89 (Weilburg - Grävenwiesbach): Two new morning services and an evening service on weekend nights.
More regional lines
171 (Rüdesheim - Wiesbaden): Following the new afternoon express train services between Eltville and Frankfurt, new bus services will be offered from Eltville via Oestrich-Winkel to Geisenheim Chauvignystraße.
674 (Darmstadt - Ober-Roden): For better distribution of train and bus services between Ober-Roden and Dieburg, the trips from Darmstadt (at 13:41) or Dieburg (from 15:25) to Ober-Roden will be brought forward by approx. 30 minutes earlier and from Ober-Roden (from 14:54) to Dieburg by about 30 minutes later.
