VGF: the backbone of public transport in Frankfurt am Main

Frankfurt is constantly in motion – a metropolis of 667,000 inhabitants, with approximately 588,000 people travelling to their place of work in the city and travelling home again in the evening. Each working day, approximately 305,000 people commute into and out of Frankfurt – thus making it Germany’s fifth largest city.

On working days, 23% of Frankfurt’s travellers use the buses and railways. The municipal transport company ‘Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main’ (VGF) operates seven underground railway lines, eight tram lines and – including the services of its subsidiaries – 31 bus routes, meaning that, in effect, each day its employees working in driver service, operational control, monitoring and maintenance positions ensure the mobility of its 500,000 passengers.

An integrated transport company

In order to reliably provide what has today become almost a perceived right to general mobility, the VGF offers its customers – approximately 183.6 million in 2007, of whom 109.3 million used the underground lines – the benefits of an integrated municipal railway system: safety, service, cleanliness, punctuality, comfortable carriages and station facilities, information, accessibility and barrier-free design.

An ‘integrated transportation system’ means that VGF obtains approval for construction, operation and line routings as well as providing an operations manager with responsibility for the entire network. This reduces the number of interfaces, lays down a clear format of responsibility towards the city as well as ensuring the safety and functional operation of the system. For passengers, this means that they can count on the comprehensive services of a competent and experienced Frankfurt company that carries responsibility within its various operational areas for the concerns, requirements and expectations of its customers.

Multi-million investment programme

Within the framework of this responsibility, VGF will invest approximately €111 million in the maintenance and improvement of its vehicles and facilities in 2009. This year’s investment programme includes fleet renewal as well as the expansion of the underground and tram systems, modernisation of escalators, installation of lifts in older, not yet appropriately-equipped underground stations, fire prevention upgrades as well as the continuation and implementation of the second phase of the “Safety & Service” project. The company is investing heavily – irrespective of the level of public funding it receives – in order to ensure that the passenger facilities remain modern and attractive. This investment policy will continue to apply beyond 2009.

By 2017, VGF aims to have completed the barrier-free and disabled-friendly remodelling of 55 above-ground and underground stations as well as 130 tram stops. The total investment volume amounts to €118 million, of which €66 million will be utilised for underground line stations and €52 million for tram stops.

New buses and rail vehicles

During recent years, VGF has consistently updated its vehicle fleet and will continue to do so in 2009. Back in 2007, the company took delivery of the last S vehicle from the manufacturer Bombardier. Since then, all 103 trams in the fleet have been low-floor versions, and two-thirds of these are air-conditioned.

VGF brought its first U5 type underground train into service in September 2008, and will be taking delivery of a total of 146 such vehicles by 2015. This vehicle procurement, which is not subsidised by public funding, amounts to over €300 million. The modern vehicles will initially be used on the U1, U2 and U3 lines where they will replace older U2 generation trains. Their operation on the other lines is dependent on the alterations at Fischstein station (U6, scheduled for 2010) as well as the future of the U5 line, which – as is currently under discussion at a Frankfurt local politics level – may be converted back into a tram line.

VGF anticipates that a local politics decision will be reached this spring. If the U5 line is subsequently kept as an urban railway line, high priority will be assigned particularly to the conversion of Musterschule and Glauburgstraße stations along the Eckenheimer Landstraße.

U3-type vehicles will remain in the fleet for use on the underground line number 4, as well as U4 models, which will be generally overhauled and refitted from the beginning of 2009 through to 2012. The 37 vehicles, supplied by the Düsseldorf-based carriage manufacturer Duewag that went into service between 1995 and 1998, will be equipped with a modern passenger information system like the units installed in the U5 vehicles. In addition, the driver’s cabs will be fitted with air-conditioning and the windows in the passenger section will be replaced with darkened glass to reduce the amount of sunlight entering vehicles on predominantly above-ground routes. The interiors will be fitted with new flooring and yellow handrails in order to make it easier for sight-impaired passengers to orientate themselves. VGF will equip approximately 20% of the ‘U4′ fleet, i.e. nine vehicles, with video surveillance equipment which has already proven its worth in the S and U5 type vehicles. The remaining vehicles will be prepared for retrofitting at a later stage. In taking this step, VGF aims to heighten the subjective feeling of safety experienced by its passengers as well as helping to further reduce the incidence of vandalism-related damage. During the next three years, VGF plans to invest a total of €17.83 million in the reconditioning of ‘U4′ type vehicles enabling it to offer its customers a modern and attractive underground line vehicle that can also be combined with the new U5 type vehicles to form mixed-carriage configurations.

All U5, as well as the S trams that were also made by the Canadian carriage manufacturer Bombardier Transportation, are fitted with air conditioning and modern passenger information facilities. This also applies to newer buses that have been added to the fleet and which boast the lowest emission engines currently available on the market.

In 2007, VGF took its first delivery of 37 buses produced by the Polish manufacturer Solaris that not only meet the EEV standard but also – and for the first time in Frankfurt – feature a CRT filter for rust particle minimisation. Air conditioning and low-floor technology are two features that VGF has introduced as standard in Frankfurt. For 2009, VGF has prepared the tender for a further 25 buses as well as two smaller buses that are to be delivered in November and scheduled to enter service in December.

New routes and lines

In 2009, VGF is also further expanding its underground and urban tram networks in Frankfurt through two new construction projects. The ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the U8 and U9 lines via Riedberg took place back in September 2008. Within the framework of this project, the city of Frankfurt together with transport company VGF – aided by the German government and the state of Hesse – are investing €71 million in four new kilometres of above-ground track including two new stations Riedberg and Uni Campus Riedberg. The new construction area in the north of Frankfurt will thereby be connected to the city centre and Hauptwache via the A route (Eschersheimer Landstraße with the U1, U2 and U3 lines) as well as to Nordwestzentrum and Ginnheim. Operation is scheduled to commence in December 2010.

This also applies to the new tram line number 18, which will open up the new development area in the Frankfurter Bogen district. Due to delays in the awarding of construction work relating to the €50 million project, VGF will not be able to commence building work until the spring of 2009. VGF expects to be able to commence transport operations on the new 3.5 kilometre stretch, which includes eight new stops, during the second half of 2011.

Modernisation of the infrastructure

VFG constantly modernises its facilities in order to further improve access to its stations and stops. These measures include a lift retrofit programme. When the first construction work on the underground system began in the 1960s – in 2008 the VGF celebrated the 40th anniversary of the municipal railway in Frankfurt as well as the 30th anniversary of the opening of its urban railway central workshop in Rödelheim – there was a lack of universal consideration for this aspect. In May 2008, VGF put two upgraded lifts at Holzhausenstraße station (U1, U2, U3) into service, and work is currently in progress at the Kirchplatz (both U6, U7) and Grüneburgweg (U1, U2, U3) stations. Other stations in the programme include Miquel-/Adickesallee, Schweizer Platz and Eschenheimer Tor stations (all U1, U2, U3) as well as Westend and Alte Oper (U6, U7). Here, however, construction work cannot begin before receipt of the subsidy confirmation and VGF is therefore presently unable to provide a precise time schedule.

Furthermore, in 2008 the VGF modernised the Portstraße and Glöcknerwiese (both U3) stations in the Oberursel urban area. The platforms were extended to a length of 75 metres and raised to a height of 80 centimetres enabling the use of longer three-carriage trains as well as allowing step-free boarding and alighting. In addition, VGF erected transparent waiting halls, installed dynamic passenger information units and designed the platforms to be suitable for use by the blind. By the beginning of the year, VGF had received subsidy confirmations for the modernisation of Weißkirchen Ost, Bommersheim (both U3) and Bonames stations (U2, here however with 105-metre long platforms, as the U2 line operates with four-carriage trains during peak periods). The construction work will commence and be completed within the course of the year.

“Safety and Service”

VGF’s “Safety & Service” project seeks to fully address the wishes and satisfy the requirements of its passengers and is also helping to drive the company forward. Since May 2006, seven underground stations have been equipped with modern video technology as well as with emergency and information call boxes. During the course of this first building phase, for the last two years, VGF’s “Safety & Service Headquarters” has been the most modern facility of its kind in operation in Europe. In October 2008, VGF initiated the second construction phase that includes all the other 20 underground facilities. Currently, Leipziger Straße station is being modernised. At the end of 2008, the third work station at the “Safety & Service Headquarters” was put into operation. When VGF completes the second stage in December 2009, the company will have invested approximately €4.9 million. By then, all 27 underground stations will be equipped with a total of 521 cameras as well as 126 emergency and information call boxes – located on all platforms, concourse levels and in all the stairways. A third stage, which will involve selected above-ground stops and stations, is currently in planning.

In addition to, and independent of this project, VGF spends €7.8 million annually on the safety of its passengers and on its systems. Sixty-five security employees are assigned to patrol duty as well as undertaking property-protection tasks, accompanying trains and patrolling stations.

A civilian investigation group within the security service also monitors and carries out surveillance of the facilities and trains with the aim of reducing the incidence of persistent vandalism. In 2007, VGF incurred approximately €371,200 worth of vandalism-related damage to buses and railway vehicles as well as over €316,300 worth of damage to its infrastructure. Also, in 2008, and thanks to the efforts of the investigation group, numerous perpetrators were caught in the act and handed over to the police -which serves as a greater deterrent and increases perceived safety on the part of passengers.

Successful reorganisation and restructuring

Despite its diverse activities and the high level of investment, VGF has still managed to continuously improve its financial performance in recent years. In this respect, the cost-recovery rate rose to 90.3% in 2007. By comparison, at 31 December 2007, the corresponding national average figure of all companies within the industry affiliated to the VDV (Association of German Transport Companies) stood at 75.5%. VGF’s net annual loss at 31 December 2007 stood at €22.5 million. By comparison, in 1996, this figure stood at €94.7 million (converted). The improvement in the company’s results is attributable to the successful reorganisation and restructuring course that VGF has been pursuing since 2001 in order to prepare itself for competition within the public transport sector.

VGF in a competitive environment

VGF – unlike comparable transport companies in other German cities – has already been facing at least partial competition for years, and will continue to do so in the future. The city of Frankfurt contracts out the bus routes, subdivided into five roughly equal-sized lots, through pan-European tenders for five year periods. In order to improve its competitiveness in such tenders, VGF acquired a holding in ‘In-der-City-Bus-GmbH’ (ICB) in 1999, which has since become a wholly-owned subsidiary and won two of the four tendered lots. However, two lots were awarded to privately-owned competitors and a final decision has not yet been made as to who will be awarded the final lot. At the end of 2009, the operation of the ‘B lot’ will be transferred from VGF to its subsidiary ICB. It is for this purpose that the previously-mentioned 27 new buses are required which VGF will then rent out to its subsidiary company.

At the end of 2008, the city decided not to put the rail-based transportation out to tender but rather, when the current licenses expire, to award the assignment for the operation of transport and infrastructure to VGF from 2011 onwards and for a minimum period of 15 years. Within this framework, VGF will remain an integrated transport company that will continue to be able to ensure the safety and functional operation of the complex municipal public transport system from a single source. Consequently, the 2009 employees of VGF (figure valid per 31 December 2008) will continue to ensure that buses and rail transportation run 365 days a year – despite snow and ice, in high summer as well on Sundays and public holidays. For the foreseeable future, VGF will therefore remain the backbone of the public transport system in Frankfurt am Main.