Frankfurt U-Bahn

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Frankfurt U-Bahn
Elevated route for motorway and subway at Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße, facing Ginnheim; Europaturm tower on the left
Overview
Locale	Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany
Transit type	Light rail[1] (Stadtbahn), rapid transit
Number of lines	9[2]
Number of stations	84[2]
Daily ridership	470,100 (2016)[3]
Annual ridership	123.6 million (2023)[2]
Website	VGF
Operation
Began operation	4 October 1968[4]
Operator(s)	Stadtwerke Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main (VGF)
Character	Mostly underground, with significant sections at-grade (including at-grade intersections), with some street running (U5 line)
Train length	50–105 metres (164–344 ft)
Headway	5-15 minutes (daytime)
Technical
System length	64.85 km (40.3 mi)[2]
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	600 V DC from overhead catenary
Top speed	80 km/h (50 mph)
System map

The Frankfurt U-Bahn is a Stadtbahn (premetro) system serving Frankfurt, Germany. Together with the Rhine-Main S-Bahn and the tram network, it forms the backbone of the public transport system in Frankfurt. Its name derives from the German term for underground railway, Untergrundbahn. Since 1996, the U-Bahn has been owned and operated by Stadtwerke Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main [de] (VGF), the public transport company of Frankfurt, and is part of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) transport association. The licence contract is up to 31 December 2031 and is renewable. The contracting authority of VGF is the municipal transport company traffiQ.

The U-Bahn opened in 1968,^[4] and has been expanded several times. It consists of three inner-city tunnels and above-ground lines in the suburbs. About 59% of the track length is underground.^{[citation needed]} The network operates on a variety of right of ways typical of a light rail system, with core sections running underground in the inner city and some above-ground sections operating on street.^[1][5]

Like all public transport lines in Frankfurt, the system has been integrated in the Rhein-Main Verkehrsverbund (RMV) since 1995. From 1974 until the founding of the RMV, the Stadtwerke were shareholders in the predecessor group, the Frankfurter Verkehrsverbund (FVV; Frankfurt Transport Association).

The network consists of 84 stations on nine lines, with a total length of 64.85 kilometres (40.30 mi).^[2] Eight of the nine lines travel through the city center (line U9 being the exception). In 2023, the U-Bahn carried 123.6 million passengers,^[2] an average of approximately 338,600 passengers per day. The most recent expansion of the network was on 12 December 2010 when two new lines were added, the U8 and the U9 (both part of the long-planned but only partially completed fourth route), which opened up the university campus area and the new development area at Riedberg.