IThe train to the flight ”: The slogan would fit the“ Lufthansa Express Rail ”program launched 20 years ago, the expansion of which Deutsche Bahn and the airline presented in March: By the end of 2021 there should be around 150 direct rail connections from 22 German cities with Lufthansa flight number to Frankfurt Airport (currently there are 17 cities and 134 trains daily). Air passengers can book a continuous connection with a common ticket for train and plane.
But for the first time in Germany, this mnemonic appeared 43 years ago on the flanks of a couple of local passenger cars of the former German Federal Railroad. These “N-cars”, which were built from the late 1950s onwards, known colloquially as “Silberlinge” because of their shimmering pearl-cut steel skin, have been in use for the Airport Express since May 28, 1978. With three pairs of trains a day, this express train ran between Frankfurt Airport and Ludwigshafen as a cooperation between the airport operator at the time, FAG, and the Federal Railroad. The train route over the Main-Neckar-Bahn with stops in Darmstadt, Bensheim, Weinheim and Mannheim was not the fastest from today’s perspective: It took an hour from Mannheim to the airport station under Terminal 1, which opened in 1972 Riedbahn works today from Mannheim main station to the airport long-distance station, which was opened in 1999, in a good half an hour. Once the new line between Frankfurt and Mannheim is completed, the travel time will be further shortened.
The example shows how important it is for the railways to invest in infrastructure and rolling stock in order to offer an alternative to short-haul flights. With regard to the connection to Frankfurt Airport, this applies in particular to the new Hanover – Würzburg and Mannheim – Stuttgart lines opened in 1991 and the new line from Frankfurt Airport to Cologne, which opened in 2002. The direct connection of the airport to long-distance rail traffic was also decisive: at first rather hesitantly with the 410-meter-long central platform of the underground station intended for charter traffic and in 1999 with the spacious long-distance train station. This has meanwhile become an important hub for fast long-distance rail traffic. Where these interfaces are missing, traveling by train to the flight is less attractive. In Munich, for example, it takes at least 40 minutes by S-Bahn from the main train station to the airport. In Frankfurt, a brisk walk of a few minutes from the long-distance train station to the terminal is sufficient.
The first Airport Express now only runs in miniature format
Linguistically, trains and airplanes approached each other as early as the 1930s with the “flying trains” of the German State Railroad Company (DRG). There were also constructive parallels between the streamlined diesel multiple units and the aircraft. In comparison, the silver coins did not really offer top comfort at the end of the 1970s, despite a high proportion of 1st class seats. The first “Airport Express” was discontinued in 1983. Only as a Märklin special model does it still run on some model railways today. Instead, from the introduction of the two-class intercity service for the 1979 summer timetable, Frankfurt Airport was now served by IC trains.
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