Please, if you're already frightened by the amount of text below, just skip to the bottom, the essential stuff is down there The Cologne-Frankfurt highspeed rail line (German: Schnellfahrstrecke Köln–Rhein/Main) is an about 180km long highspeed-railway connecting the cities of Cologne (Köln) and Frankfurt, and in the process replacing the rather slow rhine valley line, making the travel time between Cologne and Frankfurt just 60 minutes by rail. Heres a cab-ride of the route, I highly recommend just looking at a few frames of the video: The line starts in the grand Cologne central station (Köln Hbf), right next to the just as grand Cologne Cathedral, runs over the rhine with the help of the historic Hohenzollernbrücke, through the Köln-Messe/Deutz station, from where a lot of ICE services take off towards Frankfurt via two semi-underground platforms (you guys may have get to known this station recently as it connects to the yearly Gamescom which you guys also visited this year), then running through the suburbs and outer parts of Cologne, passing the Cologne/Bonn Airport (with a cool underground station) and the quite large Gremberghofen freight yard, then the station Siegburg/Bonn connecting the cities of Siegburg and Bonn, from where it runs parallel to a large highway (the Bundesautobahn 3, short A3) all the way to the end of the line, but after Siegburg, it gets really serious, with permanent speeds of 300km/h, passing through the stations of Montabaur, Limburg Süd and Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Fernbahnhof (quite the long name for the large airport station), after which the speeds calm down again and the route terminates at Frankfurt (Main) Hbf. Also, between Cologne and Siegburg, theres a little branch leaving the line and then returning, which services the Cologne airport and a few other small stations. This small passenger branch, where the S19, the RB26, the RE6, and even the occasional ICE run, would also be quite nice to have some variety to the mostly long distance travel. I was always fascinated with this route, probably because it really is. The landscape between the two cities gets very hilly, and thats nothing new for us, the two German highspeed-lines we already have also are quite hilly. But these lines we already have, especially the Kassel-Würzburg one, have quite a lot of underground sections going through said hills, which no one likes, right? Well apparently, the planners of the route back in the 90s were feeling funny and basically said "Lets just build over the hills instead of through them" (i guess). The result is insane curves, slopes of often up to 4% (mind you at 300km/h!), lots of viaducts crossing the valleys, and only half the amount of tunnels as Kassel-Würzburg (about 25% vs ~50% of the line being underground). Fun fact: The only trains certified for the 300km/h part of the route are the ICE 3, ICE 3neo and ICE 4. No freight trains, no regional trains, no ICE 1 and so on. You know why? Because this route is so extreme, they run danger of eventually getting stuck in the valleys. Only the fastest of the fastest can run here. Another cool aspect: The futuristic 2000s architecture, featuring lots of concrete and glass, a kind of style we've never had on a route scale before in TSW Germany. I have attached some pictures, and in some of them, you really see what i mean. Having this route would enable continuing the services coming from Aachen and the other cities, such as the RE9, RE8, RE1, S12 and S19 for a bit. It would be another key puzzle piece, theoratically enabling travel from Ingolstadt via Frankfurt and Cologne all the way to Aachen, and, if a line to Brussels would happen sometime, all the way to there. Also, it would serve as a great option to introduce the ICE 3neo, looking kind of like the ICE 3 but having the feel and style of the ICE 4, also it will probably be one of the most requested german trains now that we have the ICE 4. One wouldn't even need to publish the ICE 3neo with the route, maybe just later on? Here's what the route delivers, as compact as possible: 180km of highspeed-line (300km/h) Lots and lots of ICE services at their maximum speed 13 intermediate stations, 4 of which the ICE services Genuinely insane rollercoaster-like parts of the route with up to 4% slopes Important link in the TSW route network that is missing at the moment Only half as much tunnel as Kassel-Würzburg Calmer sections at the ends of the route Freight- and shunting services in Cologne and freight yard Gremberghofen Regional- and S-Bahn services, at the ends of the route, especially in Cologne Possibilty for players to finally continue the services coming from the Cologne-Aachen route Good point to introduce the ICE 3neo sometime Now that was a lot of writing. I hope I am able to convince somebody at Dovetail or TSG or whatever of my idea, personally, I think it would be a great idea, and I'm definetely not the first proposing this idea. It's just so cruel only being able to enjoy the like 5km of the route on the Frankfurt S-Bahn DLC. Thank you for reading and thinking about it! Ethem Cologne central station, the rhine, and the Hohenzollernbrücke running over it The Cologne/Bonn Airport station, with the architecture aspect I mentioned before The rollercoaster-like sections of the route, just look at this! Inside the Frankfurt airport station, heres the fascinating architecture again (of course we already have this station in-game with the Frankfurt S-Bahn route)
I don't know. As nice as it is to connect Cologne with Frankfurt, I personally hardly ever play Kassel - Wuerzburg as I am finding those highspeed routes a bit off a snoozefest.. AFB on, hable on the table and wait... Koeln - Koblenz on the other hand... ... or Koeln - Duesburg .. would be much welcomed routes too!
