S-Bahn Network in Frankfurt Faces Challenges Due to Construction and Labor Shortages

The Frankfurt S-Bahn suffered a collapse over the Corpus Christi weekend. Now the reasons for this are coming to light.

Frankfurt – A large number of short-term failures severely affected the operation of the Rhein-Main S-Bahn in and around Frankfurt on the Corpus Christi weekend. The cause was apparently a large number of construction sites, some of which were short-term, which met with a shortage of staff on the S-Bahn. This was felt, among other things, by passengers who wanted to go by train to major events such as the World Club Dome in the Waldstadion.

The situation at the Stadion train station was “quite unbearable” at the weekend, reports Mobility Director Stefan Majer (Greens), who looked around on site. Unlike usual, this time no special trains drove to the event with 60,000 visitors a day. Likewise, the S7 has not been running between the main station and the stadium for two months since May due to construction work. However, a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bahn explains: “According to our information, the arrival and departure for the major event went largely smoothly.”

S-Bahn network in Frankfurt is on its knees: too much construction work, too few staff

But that was often not the case. For example, on Sunday evening there was suddenly no S5 between Frankfurt and Bad Homburg for hours. Many S8 and S9 trips from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof to Offenbach/Hanau were canceled. “In the past few days and at the weekend, the route network of the S-Bahn Rhein-Main was characterized by intensive construction work,” explains the railway spokeswoman. In some cases, DB-Netz scheduled construction work at very short notice. Among other things, there was overhead line work in Bad Homburg, and the Camberger Bridge was being renovated. A new, third bridge over the Main is being built in Niederrad to the north of the stadium, and the S6 route from Westbahnhof to Bad Vilbel is a single construction site.

This time, however, the situation escalated extraordinarily: the long-term and short-term construction sites met the general shortage of personnel at the S-Bahn. At the beginning of last week, the management warned the employees in an internal circular that was passed on to the editors that there would be “extensive gaps” in the duty rosters “for the operating days” from Corpus Christi. The management explained that there were twice as many construction sites in the Frankfurt area as in the previous year.

Frankfurt train drivers only find out the timetable when they start work

In addition, there were “recurring signal and switch faults”. Due to the “variety and complexity of the construction site-related changes” one is “increasingly reaching the limits of the available resources”. The result: “No shift was planned between June 8th and 12th,” reports a train driver who wishes to remain anonymous. “We went to work and only knew the duty hours. Everything else was arranged ad hoc.” In an internal letter, the S-Bahn works council sees the events as a declaration of bankruptcy by the management. “For years we have all been aware that the massive austerity program at DB will eventually fall on our feet.”

Bahn: “Special situation” should be worked up

The situation was “a special situation for the S-Bahn,” emphasizes the railway spokeswoman. “We are currently working on the processes and are also in intensive talks with the infrastructure operator.”

Passengers must be prepared for the fact that S-Bahn trains will fail again at short notice. Internally, the S-Bahn executive board warned last week: “Unfortunately, the specific extent and end of the restrictions cannot yet be estimated.” (Dennis Pfeiffer-Goldmann)