Frankfurt's Central Station

jcp

I thought I'd share some photos taken recently of Frankfurt's main central station. These and more can alternative be found in my Trains, Trams and Funicular's gallery here: http://JCP.smugmug.com/photos/sspopup.mg?AlbumID=3047884

Frankfurt's Hauptbahnhof (or Central Station) is the 2nd largest terminal station in Europe (area) and one of the busiest in the world in terms of passenger movement. It was completed in 1888 and at the time was one of the largest enclosed spaces in the world. Approx 33platforms including the underground u-bahn and s-bahn and 24 platforms under the main vaults.

From the above:


Detail on the Vault roof


Platform. This is actually an extended part of the station


Waiting for a train.


Storage lockers for city day trips











ICE Train, Germany's high Speed Rail

Skippy

jcp wrote:

I thought I'd share some photos taken recently of Frankfurt's main central station. These and more can alternative be found in my Trains, Trams and Funicular's gallery here: http://JCP.smugmug.com/photos/sspopup.mg?AlbumID=3047884
Frankfurt's Hauptbahnhof (or Central Station) is the 2nd largest terminal station in Europe (area) and one of the busiest in the world in terms of passenger movement. It was completed in 1888 and at the time was one of the largest enclosed spaces in the world. Approx 33platforms including the underground u-bahn and s-bahn and 24 platforms under the main vaults.
From the above:
Detail on the Vault roof
Platform. This is actually an extended part of the station
Waiting for a train.
Storage lockers for city day trips
ICE Train, Germany's high Speed Rail

Geezz I love train stations, here where I live we don't have electric trains.
In Melbourne they do, but our town is classed as the country so no electric trains for us.

The rail yard looks like kaos, you gotta wonder how they keep
everything under control don't you with trains coming and going like clockwork.

The steele gurders and arches make quite a structure don't they.
Looks a similar structure to a bridge.

Excellent series jpc, and I love that last shot of that Ultra Fast Train

... thanks for sharing .... Skippy
.

1pocket

Thanks for the pics -- but had me wondering, how did that train station ever survive two wars??

jcp

@Skippy, There are a number of similar large vault railway stations in Europe, the UK is particularly famous for them. You should look for photos of the recent London St Pancras redevelopment which reopened that station a couple of weeks back. Absolutely amazing. Another great vault is the one in Antwerp which is possibly the most ornate rail-shed in Europe. You can see some photos on my gallery page I linked to at the top of this thread.

Frankfurt's Hauptbahnhof has 5 faults that cover the internal 24 surface platforms and is quite a sight when walking through. If you love railways and make it over to Europe, you'll have a ball here.

@1pocket. There was no real damage to Frankfurt during the first world war, but the city center was pretty much levelled in the 2nd. This station is a bit out of downtown (about a kilometer) so it wasn't as badly hit. It did suffer damage however, naturally in the glass and to some of the support beams and walls. It was hastily repaired after the war, and a couple of years ago went through a major renovation where they replaced many of the structural beams and all the glass.

alexL

Nice. I especially liked the lockers one. Railwaystation are often very nice subjects where one can wonder a couple of hours to capture details people etc
Well done
/Alex

Tee Why

I like that 7th shot with the person running in the foreground. Nice and dynamic composition.

leaforte

This shot has some great visuals to put the size of the Bahnhof into perspective ie. the cars and trains. The Eurorail system is something else. While I lived in Germany a couple years back, I loved riding it, especially the train into Paris, but always found it annoying when I would drive home from work, and have to set at crossings at every little burg on the way home and wait for the train to pass.

schmoo

I've never seen such lovely photos of a hauptbahnhof!

I have passed through there but never had the chance to admire it or see it like you did. The aerial shot is amazing! Where were you to get that shot?

Ann McRae

Hmmm, my son has been in Germany near Frankfurt for a few months. He is coming home in 2 weeks, and flying from Frankfurt so I know he will pass through here. But I also know he will be oblivious -

great shots, amazing architecture. Thanks for sharing.

ann

jcp

leaforte wrote:

This shot has some great visuals to put the size of the Bahnhof into perspective ie. the cars and trains. The Eurorail system is something else. While I lived in Germany a couple years back, I loved riding it, especially the train into Paris, but always found it annoying when I would drive home from work, and have to set at crossings at every little burg on the way home and wait for the train to pass.

Thanks, that photo only shows half the station, there are another two vaults to the left.

cwphotos

Wow....what a tangle or organized chaos. Great shots. All those tracks makes my head spin. Someone gets paid $$$ to monitor all that im sure.

jcp

@alexL, thanks, some can be hard to photograph as in many cases they somehow see photographers as a security risk. I would really love to take my tripod in, but I fear they would want to charge a media license fee for that.

@Tee Why, thanks, that was a bit planned, I had on my eye in the viewfinder about to shoot when my left eye saw the man running behind me in the display screens reflection, I widened up the zoom to full and waited until he just got into frame before shooting. I can happily say he caught his train.

@schmoo, thanks also. The aerial shot was cheating, it was taken from the roof of the Maintower skysrcaper.

@Ann McRae, thanks. I hope your son had a good time in Germany, and will bring back positive memories :O)******** type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_689761", true); </**************** type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_689721", true); </**************** type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_689664", true); </**************** type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_688700", true); </********

jcp

cwphotos wrote:

Wow....what a tangle or organized chaos. Great shots. All those tracks makes my head spin. Someone gets paid $$$ to monitor all that im sure.

The tall(ish) building just above the left hand vaults was the largest signal box in Europe when it was built in the 1950's. Deutsche Bahn recently claimed that Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof was the 2nd busiest station in the world in passenger numbers after Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, although I have heard that Ikebukuro Station (Tokyo) and Gare Du Nord (Paris) also claim that title.