Dhe actual main station in Offenbach has long been Ost station. The S-Bahn through Offenbach runs in a tunnel under the city center and bypasses the station, which was originally completed in 1873 in the Neo-Renaissance style. The building, which took on its present form in the 1920s in the Art Deco style, has practically no significance for long-distance rail transport. All in all, 4,000 people use the remaining regional connections every day. Apart from Frankfurt, these go to Fulda, Wächtersbach, Bad Soden-Salmünster and Groß-Umstadt Wiebelsbach. Nothing else happens there on normal weekdays, not even in the halls, shops and rooms on the upper floors.
The Offenbach Central Station initiative was formed about five years ago to eliminate the emptiness in the building. Its special importance can already be seen from the fact that it has been classified as a cultural monument. According to Kai Schmidt, spokesman for the initiative, the central location on Bismarckstraße, at the southern end of Kaiserstraße, and the spatial conditions of the main building suggest that space should be created there for public events, for culture, clubs and other community-oriented institutions, but also for gastronomy and on the upper floors for medical practices, law firms and other offices.
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