Frankfurt–Bebra railway

The Frankfurt–Bebra Railway runs from Bebra to Frankfurt am Main via Fulda, Gelnhausen, Hanau and Offenbach am Main in south central Germany. The southern section between Fulda and Frankfurt is known as the Kinzig Valley Railway (German: Kinzigtalbahn) due to the route it follows through the Kinzig Valley.

This important north-south link was planned by the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel as the Bebra–Hanau Railway but was first opened under Prussian management. This line was extended as far as Frankfurt under the name Frankfurt–Bebra Railway. Today it is part of the Intercity-Express (ICE) lines from north and central Germany to Frankfurt. Just as important is the Regional-Express connexion from Fulda to Frankfurt and the Stadt-Express link from Wächtersbach to Frankfurt. With the Main-Weser Railway it is one of the most important north-south freight lines in central Germany.

When railways began to be built in Germany in the nineteenth century the two largest cities of the Hesse-Kassel (Kurhessen), which had been re-established by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, were its capital Kassel and the city of Hanau in its far south. Initially it was not practical to build a railway to connect Kurhessen through the mountainous country between Hanau and Fulda. Instead a railway was established jointly by the three countries of Kurhessen, the Grand Duchy of Hesse and Free City of Frankfurt, and completed between Frankfurt and Kassel in 1852. Meanwhile, the private Frankfurt–Hanau Railway was opened in 1848, allowing a connection between Kassel and Hanau via Frankfurt, although the lines were not physically linked.

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