Deutsche Bahn AG has undertaken a major project: since 15 July and until 14 December, it has been carrying out a ‘general overhaul’ on the 70-kilometre-long ‘Riedbahn’ between Frankfurt and Mannheim. This involves renewing 117 kilometres of track, 152 points and the overhead line, replacing 380,000 tonnes of ballast and 265,000 sleepers and erecting 15 kilometres of new noise barriers. This is the largest refurbishment project ever undertaken on Germany’s railways.
All of this cannot be carried out ‘on the move’, and it should be completed as quickly as possible. So that railway traffic runs all the better and more reliably afterwards. First of all, however, this means that the ‘Riedbahn’ had to be completely closed to all traffic. Where there are no rails for months, no trains can run. Long-distance rail traffic (Intercities and ICE) is being rerouted via Ludwighafen, Worms and Mainz or via Bensheim and Darmstadt. And regional rail transport? For the duration of the general refurbishment, it will take place by bus on the road. No small task, on the contrary, the replacement bus service for the Riedbahn is the largest replacement service that DB AG has ever organised to date.
DB organises its bus services nationwide through regional bus subsidiaries. Six of these are now active with vehicles on the Riedbahn replacement service, namely
- Bayern Express & P. Kühn (BEx, part of DB Regio Bus Ost), from Berlin
- Busverkehr Rheinland (BVR), based in Düsseldorf
- DB Regio Bus Mitte (DRM), Mainz
- Friedrich Müller Omnibusunternehmen (FMO) from Schwäbisch Hall (this former private company is now also owned by DB)
- Omnibusverkehr Franken (OVF), based in Nuremberg
- Regionalverkehr Alb – Bodensee (RAB), Ulm.
Deutsche Bahn purchased 170 brand-new buses for this replacement service, half of which are low-entry intercity buses and half articulated buses. 150 of the buses are needed for daily use, the remaining 20 are reserve buses. They were all built at MAN’s Ankara plant. The low-entry intercity buses are from the ‘MAN Lion’s Intercity LE’ series, while the articulated buses are of the ‘MAN Lion’s City 18’ type. They are all of the ‘efficient hybrid’ design: when braking, they recover electricity through recuperation, which they use to start the next time they move off – saving 16% diesel and reducing pollutant emissions by 16%.
There is a temporary depot for them at the ‘Messplatz’ in Darmstadt, which is all that is needed for just five months. The buses are protected here by construction fences, and it goes without saying that ‘unauthorised access is prohibited’. Because ‘foreign paint’ (graffiti, for example) is – of course – not welcome).
All 170 buses are painted in a uniform ‘traffic lane’ (as DB calls the colour) with white applications. Verkehrspurpur is ‘the’ colour of the Riedbahn replacement service: the bus stops are in this outfit, the signs to the stops, even stickers on the footpaths to the buses, and in one place between Mannheim and Frankfurt the author even saw a weather protection shelter for passengers in verkehrspurpur. That’s what you call corporate identity, and it makes a lot of sense, because the passenger immediately recognises ‘which way is up’.
26 of the buses have a spacious toilet. Passengers have more space than in some trains on the railway. And since passengers will also be travelling with luggage, there are also buses with special luggage racks (on the ICE, this is called a ‘luggage rack’) where they can store their suitcases and other bulky items.
Above all, however, the buses have comfortable seats with raised backrests, armrests and seat belts at every seat. This also makes sense, because given the possible distances, people sometimes travel longer distances on the replacement service. And ‘overland’ or even on the motorway, higher speeds are sometimes reached. After all, a public service bus can travel at 80 km/h on a country road between two towns – provided there is no one standing (otherwise only 60 km/h). The buses are equipped with WLAN and USB charging sockets. There are barrier-free areas in the buses for wheelchair users and pushchairs. And digital displays in the buses inform passengers about the route, the next stop, transfer options, etc.
Since 2023, DB has recruited 400 drivers from 18 countries for the Riedbahn replacement service. They have been thoroughly trained for the replacement service. This included not only route knowledge, but above all German language training so that the new employees can communicate with the control centre and their passengers and provide information. DB has also organised accommodation for its new colleagues. This is because it is hoped that they will remain with the DB bus companies after the end of the Riedbahn replacement service.
Thirteen replacement serices have been set up, all of which are operated every 30 minutes. Where several lines are travelling together on a section, the frequency is correspondingly closer. See the list of replacement transport lines in the network map. The longest line is the ‘RB 70’, which runs the entire route from Mannheim to Frankfurt. The ‘IC Bus’, which runs from Mannheim main station to Frankfurt Airport without stopping – journey time one hour – is the only connection of the long-distance network by replacement bus, while all other long-distance trains are otherwise diverted via other routes. Among the replacement bus routes are also those that offer direct connections that are not available by rail without changing trains: for example the Q 1 route from Darmstadt via Riedstadt-Goddelau, Gernsheim and Bürstadt to Mannheim and the S 91 route from Darmstadt via Gernsheim and Bürstadt to Mannheim. These two lines, for example, show that there are more frequent services than every 30 minutes, as they both run between Darmstadt and Mannheim.
However, there is a special feature in Mannheim: the replacement buses coming from the north (usually) only run as far as Mannheim-Luzenberg. There you have to change to the city tram in the direction of the main station and city centre. Only in the late evening hours, when Mannheim’s trams are no longer running so frequently, do the buses of all replacement transport lines also come to the main railway station.
And what will happen to the buses after the end of the replacement service on the Riedbahn? Quite simply: there are always replacement rail services … Last but not least, further major refurbishments are already on the agenda. And until then, the buses will go to the subsidiaries to which they are registered anyway.
The lines of the replacement service:
(ordered by number; only the most important places en route are listed)
- Q 1: Darmstadt Hbf – Riedstadt-Goddelau – Gernsheim – Bürstadt – Mannheim-Luzenberg (am späten Abend auch bis Mannheim Hbf)
- Q 2: Frankfurt Hbf – Frankfurt Stadion – Zeppelinheim – Walldorf – Mörfelden – Langen
- S 6 (Nord): Mainz-Laubenheim – Nackenheim
- S 6 (Süd): Guntersblum – Worms Hbf
- 67 N: DarmstadtHbf – Zwingenberg – Bensheim
- 67 S: Bensheim – Heppenheim – Weinheim – Ladenburg
- S 7: Frankfurt Hbf – Gross Gerau – Riedstadt-Goddelau – Gernsheim
- RE 70: Frankfurt Hbf – Riedstadt-Goddelau (bis dahin über die Autobahn) – Gernsheim – Bürstadt – Mannheim-Luzenberg (am späten Abend auch bis Mannheim Hbf)
- S 71: Frankfurt Gateway Gardens – Gross Gerau – Riedstadt-Goddelau
- S 72: Frankfurt-Niederrad – Gross Gerau – Gross Gerau-Dornberg
- S 91: Darmstadt Hbf – Gernsheim – Bürstadt – Mannheim-Luzenberg (am späten Abend auch bis Mannheim Hbf)
- 652: Bürstadt – Bobstadt
- IC Bus: Mannheim Hbf – Frankfurt Flughafen (ohne Zwischenhalt, Fahrzeit rund eine Stunde)
