Quirks of the Frankfurt U-Bahn

[@namenamename390]

The limit on when you can use the mirrors as the background for dances is so wonderfully German, thanks for sharing that

[@rolandropnack4370]

I don't understand, zis is just reasonable, isn't it? What is so special german about zis?😉

[@LiftandCoa]

*clears throat* Wo kommen wir denn da hin, wenn wa dat nich machen?

[@raileon]

Rewboss slowly turning into the German version of Geoff Marshall and I'm all for it.

[@progreviews]

I’m born and raised in Frankfurt and thanks to you I learn new things!

[@_tucty]

Mein Beileid

[@mbah14]

You had me so excited thinking you were going to dance 😄. Vielen Dank, Andrew!

[@orange13]

finally a Geoff Marshall video about the U-Bahn in Frankfurt 😀

[@mtr801]

😂

[@neeha9449]

I came straight after his video 😂

[@annabelholland]

or Jago Hazard 😄

[@Mainyehc]

@@annabelhollandor both. No Charles Tyson Yerkes on sight, though 🤔

[@actua99]

@@Mainyehc That does make me wonder who the German @CharlesTysonYerkesOfficial equivalent is...

[@timowagner1329]

No I didnt think you were going to dance BUT I would have enjoyed it even more!!

[@imxdsky]

I gotta say, as a Frankfurter you pronounced some complicated names very good

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

Shame, he didnt visit Intzestrasse! 😜 Or Auf dem Trip...

[@Lochris]

Nice video, thanks. The station "Leipziger Straße" is even cooler with the stacking. There is a hole in the upper platform, with a bit of luck you can see both trains at the same time. And you can ride the glass elevator from street level right through the B-Level and the first platform to the second platform.

[@ametamaa]

i study here :p. our computer science department is due to move to riedberg (but it has been "due" for years and nothing of note has been done as of now), the campus and university library are still open though and i still go there for lectures

[@Canleaf08]

There is another mural at the Messe, commissioned to celebrate the twinning of Frankfurt and Toronto since 2021. Frankfurt is represented as an eagle, whilst Toronto is represented as a raccoon.

[@scottmuc2112]

I love this kind of stuff! Please do more. My favourite thing as a traveler is noticing the little details, not the grand spectacles. The religious icon was is an excellent example of this.

[@lindvanholt6190]

Given that Bockenheimer Warte station was built in the 1980's, I have feeling that those vaults for the museum were more meant to protect against (nuclear) bombs than they were meant to protect against natural disasters. We have to remember, the Fulda Gap leads to Frankfurt.

[@kleinweichkleinweich]

genau!

[@Roberternst72]

Not that part. The U4 uplink from Hauptbahnhof passing Senckenberg Museum was realized in the late 1990s. The older 1984 part of the station is the upper level with the eastbound and westbound U6/U7 lines.

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

You could think so, because there were many of these bunkers around here in the 80's many of them have been sold or just torn down by... no, I don't want to say it! The closest complex is the old Goethe-University. It's more likely they would have used the bunker to store things of scientific value, like in a time capsule. Believe me. Back then no one wasted time on post-apocalyptic scenarios. We knew: all but the evil men were going to die, in case of a nuclear war. AND: it was a time, where everyone wanted to show, how advanced they were. So they stuffed this retro train in the asphalt to show the advancement of technology. The same motive continues downstairs, if you pay attention. 😉

[@Felixkeeg]

Frankfurt actually not looking like a complete hellscape in this is some great filming work!

[@mertenbohn5952]

That's just like, your opinion, man

[@Wandfigur]

And mine

[@ololh4xx]

@@mertenbohn5952 Frankfurt is "mostly" looking like a hellscape - either its a drug hellscape, a banking sector - hellscape, a downright "dirty place" or a hellscape of criminality. Thats no "opinion" - these are facts and everyone knows it. "But", apparently there are a few local residents of Frankfurt who live in complete bubbles of fantasy and there also are a few hired PR people on the internet who spread BS about this horrible city.

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

Nope, it's just not showing all the BILD-Zeitung locations AGAIN! Life here's pretty normal, for people used to live in cities...

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

@@ololh4xx Ever been here for other reasons than to refill your drug supply? It's all in the eye of the beholder. You can still move back to the Taunus, if you don't like it. You may interpret our junkies as dirt, for us, it's the first line of defense against gentrification!

[@TheKalle45]

Thank you for your nice little subway-guide through my Frankfurt ! 🦅

[@peterkoch3777]

Having museum/library vaults in or near U-Bahn tunnels... what could go wrong? Hold my Kölsch😂🎉

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

True, but we don't tend to dig more holes, than we need, around here. 🤣😜

[@genegreen9613]

Yes, do make more like this one. I especially enjoyed this one. I lived in Frankfurt/Hoechst from late 1961 to early 1963. It was fun to visit the modern version of familiar locations with you.

Aw, nostalgia... I used to live near Miquel-/Adickesallee, often taking either bus or U-Bahn to the Computer Science Campus (Bockenheimer). Thanks for the video!

[@manuelsteiner9480]

As someone born and raised in Frankfurt I really enjoyed this video! The library at Bockenheimer Warte is still in use though, I just returned some books for my studies there some months ago

[@Thoringer]

Great video! More like it, please!

[@MrGreatplum]

This is like a mix between a Geoff Marshall video and a Tim Traveller video - love it! 😀

[@vassili7572]

I've been following for 14 years! I never thought I would see my student dorm in one of your videos while sitting inside it. I love how you shared this very unknown information about the Miquelallee-Tunnel and how it's actually a "Bauvorleistung" vor the planned underground Autobahn

[@truckerallikatuk]

I did indeed enjoy this video, and would watch many more like it.

[@quentinlynch]

That was really interesting. Thanks for the video, rewboss!

[@Ross17033]

"Well, this is, after all, Germany". Perfect!

[@ajfrostx]

Wonderful video! I spent ridiculous amount of time in Frankfurt U-Bahn a couple of years ago - and it’s great to learn about more reasons to visit.

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

When I was a child, I always wanted to live down there. That was even before Ninja Turtles were a thing! 🤣Damn shame, I never learned to use spray cans properly...🤫

[@ewerybody]

Really cool stuff! 🔥🔥🔥 I'm in FFM for 12 years now and didn't know a couple things here.

[@lordcola-3324]

Not a civil engineer, but I too would have rather seen more about the stacked rail lines than that piece of art.

[@migga86]

The U4 tunnel has more stations like this. The crossing lines (Bockenheimer Warte, Konstablerwache, Hauptwache, Willy-Brandt-Platz) also all are built on two levels. On Hauptwache and Konstsblerwache even the regional commuter trains have their stops parallel to the U-Bahn.

[@ChiaraVet]

Love this kind of video you are doing. I was only once in Frankfurt and wanted to visit again soon (I live in Munich so not that far and easy by train), with this kind of quirky tips I have even more motivation to go 😊.

[@jaromir_kovar]

That was amazing Andrew, great and interesting information. But that ending too! I was about to click away but then the music started and just stopped dead and couldn't believe my eyes! For about 10 seconds 😆Well done and thank you!

[@expatexpat6531]

Completion of the U4 section from Bockenheimer Warte to the Hauptbahnhof was delayed for several years when ground water seeped in. Some sections of the "U-Bahn" also run overground and only go underground in the inner city area. Some U-Bahn lines also replaced existing Strassenbahnlinien, e.g. from the Bockenheimer Warte to the Hauptwache - faster but less scenic.

[@migga86]

One of the entrances to the city tunnels ("Industriehof") is still connected to the tram lines on a now defunct track from tram line 16 (turning to Bockenheimer Warte) passing by Frankfurt West.

[@expatexpat6531]

@@migga86 Is that the track from Industriehof to Hausen? I haven't been down there for many years.

[@nicolasblume1046]

That's why it's actually not a U-Bahn, it's a Stadtbahn

[@migga86]

@@expatexpat6531 The track from Industriehof goes to Hausen (now U6) and Praunheim (now U7). They separate shortly after they surface near Industriehof. When I went to school, these ends were the other way around. They kept their respective other end (Enkheim, Ostbahnhof) though.

[@migga86]

@@nicolasblume1046 It's a U-Bahn in the sense of U-Bahn. A documentation with one of their longest employed drivers said the U stands for "Unabhängig" as in "independent of other road vehicles". The upper arms of U1-3 and U8 have train like bars at their outer city crossings.

[@hibertansiyar]

This's a nice video. As an expat I enjoy finding out these kind of hidden nice things. (last week I've finally visited Aschaffenburg's arsch and found it using your video)

[@Danny30011980]

Bockenheimer Warte m- ost interesting entrance

[@stelleratorsuprise8185]

Ich muss mir unbedingt mal die neue Altstadt ansehen ;)

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

Lass es, is überteuerter fake. Spannend wird es erst wieder ab " Little Mannheim"!

[@alexandermarquardt597]

I enjoyed it. A lot. „Säulen der Eintracht“ - the pillars at the station Willy-Brand-Platz was missing.

[@Minuku42]

I just want to let you know that I enjoyed it and I wouldn't mind if you maybe make some other like that!

[@jamesharrison2374]

And the Police station is built where the Px/Commissairy use to be, as well as the Topper club.

[@vyvienn]

Aha, a fellow former service member?

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

There is still an old blocked tunnel leading into the basement of the police headquarter, but I won't tell anyone!!!😈

[@simonlitten]

Thank you. I visited Frankfurt for a few days in 2017, staying opposite the main railway station - and total missed the fact that there was an U-bahn system. I may have domestic blindness.

[@Canleaf08]

6:53 This reminds me on the Montreal station "Charlesvoix", where the tracks are equally stacked. This is a quirk there.

[@Albi310]

Yes, more videos about public transport, please. 😊

[@Cantseemuch]

Miquel-/adickesallee, meine Station 😊

[@LN-tp7ti]

I moved away from Frankfurt over a decade ago but I remember spending many of my teenage nights out at an U-Bahn styled club. U60something? Can't quite remember. Wonder if it still exists.

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

If you don't rememer it: that was due to the club. And no, it has been closed several years ago. No loss, depending on who you ask. Parts of it are home to the "Electronic Music" "Museum" now. Just follow the trail of pills....

[@jamesharrison2374]

Just returned from a July 2024 trip to Frankfurt, sadly most of these lines I used during the 80-90’s working at the Abram’s complex are all under renovation currently.

[@lillywho]

Definitely going up on /r/frankfurt! :D

[@stroll-and-roll]

Oh thats neat video! it has surprisingly many informations that are new to me! Thank you rewboss!

[@Nikola-tn8fu]

Great video, very interesting

[@thisisnootnoots]

Genuinely intriguing video of an absolutely beautiful country. And what a dance floor! Danke @rewboss.

[@user-tj1is1nk1g]

Good video, but I was initially drawn to it because of the thumbnail. I thought the video would be about the Rossmarkt subway station near the Hauptwache, which housed a techno club from the 1990s to the early 2000s. The station had closed earlier and was later reopened as a club and bar.

[@rainerwaansinn]

Vorschlag: Ein Beitrag über "U-Bahnhof Niddapark" (U1 und U9). Ansonsten: Großartige Arbeit, Andrew. Ja, und eine ausführliche Betrachtung der Geschichte "Drei vershiedene Bahnsteighöhen normalisieren" wäre auch spannend. Suggestion: An article about "Niddapark underground station" (U1 und U9). Otherwise: Great work, Andrew. Yes, and a detailed look at the story of "normalising three different platform heights" would also be exciting.

[@ArthurKorn]

I demand a dance demonstration!

[@j.lietka9406]

5:30 those rescued stone carvings are beautiful! Danke Actually, all the artwork is dazzling! Dance? You bet!

[@singsansandra]

I didn't know that I needed to know that 😉😊

[@Slammigon]

It's so weird to see the the U-Bahn stations where I am almost every day, in a rewboss video.

[@slartybartfarst55]

Excellent, I really enjoyed this. More of the same please!

[@ChaoticDucc]

I used to frequent Höhenstraße station a lot. I can confirm, very popular with dancers and TikTokers.

[@DrSprick]

enjoyed the video, thank you for the pleasent small documentary

[@0marcus]

this is fantastic. i know all these stations and still learned a lot :)

[@takpuilo9776]

not sure if it's difficult to reach from Aschaffenburg, but Kassel, a city that is also in Hesse, has a very stark contrast of the city centre, which is a hub for modern art and its remaining historical buildings like the UNESCO heritage site Bergpark WIlhelmshoehe, just like Frankfurt. I personally think It might be a good city for another destination video.

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

All people I knew, that were from Aschebersch ended up at the HBF, starting mostly with a Guitar, that they later sold for "Schore". There still are exceptions.

[@eltfell]

Coming to underground art, I recommend a tour of the Stockholm Tunnelbana.

[@Ross17033]

Actually, takes a lot to beat the Mexico City metro.

[@philiplawton]

Yes, I honestly did think that. I was worried.

[@krudilahetzmannreturns8292]

Love your videos!

[@wherethebirdsgo]

I liked this video

[@strafrag1]

Thanks, Andrew. Great vid. Cheers.

[@Aslanov99]

1:00 It also seems to be unuasualy clean for me, but I only had to use the U-Bahn systems in Stuttgart so far. I only use the S-Bahn, ICE and Bus or I just walk

[@PoiSonSonic]

I live there, I saw my house in the video. Well, I want to move to Netherlands even more now. Frankfurt is depressing.

[@LuminalSpoon]

I remember that station from the Resident Evil movie

[@1989Nihil]

Which station?

[@LuminalSpoon]

Sorry I should have said, Bockenheimer Warte

[@1989Nihil]

@@LuminalSpoon Ah. Wait... it featured in the movie? Time for me to give Resident Evil another watch. Has been years.

[@jamestregler1584]

Way better than the airport 😜

[@clemensmuller2543]

5:00 In Bergbaugegenden haben auch Protestanten ihre Heilige Barbara.

[@Roberternst72]

The tunnel saint is placed there because of the crossing underneath the river Main, iirc.

[@ronik24]

Nice, thanks! 🙂 0:20 that looks to me like a classic railway coach, not a tram. Perhaps more American than European.

[@BR618]

🏅 nice and informativ video, thank u Andrew.

[@COPKALA]

Even in Hamburg and Pinneberg when digging tunnels..... We had St. Barbara and we had women as Patin. BTW also the digging machine were named with female names.

[@Eric_Hunt194]

The British dancing paradox: the phenomenon of British men who, in order to think that dancing is a good idea, must also be too drunk to stand up, let alone dance.

[@backwoodssam2790]

lovely video!

[@Ned-Ryerson]

And a nice little drink on the Berger Straße to end the video. Do they still serve Jever at the place behind Rewboss?

[@JBobjork]

I mean, the whole U-bahn system in Frankfurt is quirky with its stretches in the middle of the road and in the street, with indicators on the train cars.

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

That's why we try to get rid of the roads, too!

[@arnomrnym6329]

Top! 👍🏾😎 Danke 🙂

[@knilschbromen7147]

I enjoyed this video.

[@MhLiMz]

7:48 yes :-)

[@TheEulerID]

I wonder if Jago Hazard watches this channel. I think he would be intensely intrigued by this eclectic collection of historical factoids.

[@Sampler19]

5:53 Nächste Station: Kobstablerwache!

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

DRNNZ DRRNNZ DRRRNNZ! Dr-dr-DRNZ! DRNZ! 🎧 Unn des heist "Copstapler"!

[@TomStevieOnTour]

Nice video.

[@Kackspack0815]

I thought he would show something like the Dorian Gray beneath Frankfurt Airport. 🤪

[@Tyrkir100]

keep it up ... this is great :-)

[@qtluna7917]

The amount of major U-Bahn stations named after major police stations is amusing.

[@1989Nihil]

The "Polzeipräsidium" is just an appendage, and was only added, when the Frankfurt Police Headquater was completed. The actual name is still Miquel-/Adickesallee. Colloquially the locals call the station just Miquel.

[@expatexpat6531]

@@1989Nihil And, the Polizeipräsidium used to be somewhere else - just beyond the Mainzer Landstrasse on the way to the Messe.

[@peterpotato1]

Is there a hidden hint for an upcoming Video about the Riederwaldtunnel? xD

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

Yess, please!!!

[@TheZett]

4:15 did I hear 'scythe' of the river? :D

[@Sinthoras155]

0:30 I've read Dom/Römer as Dom / Döner lol

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

Still happens to me, too. And I'm local! 😂👍

[@Wayclarke]

You can dance if you want to! You can leave your friends behind. 'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance then they're no friends of mine.

[@ReisenderRaumplaner]

Da war ein Mehr-Eis-Plakat von Volt...

[@gerdforster883]

You can't use the phrase "bringing something into the [fill in appropriate century] century" without adding "kicking and screaming"!

[@rewboss]

Why does it have to be dragged kicking and screaming? Can't it, just once, be led gently by the hand? ...to paraphrase Terry Pratchett.

[@Desmaad]

6:09 I find it weird that the captions all use North-American style quotes instead of the styles normal for their language

[@hugorm5098]

Miquel is the Catalan version of Michael, is Johannes von Miquel related to Catalonia in some way or is it just a quirky coincidence? Searching through Wikipedia, I found that he came from a French family that emigrated during the French revolution, his family could be originally from Northern Catalonia.

[@varana]

According to the German Wikipedia, the family had been living in Cahors since at least the 17th century. I'm not entirely sure, but I think Miquèl is one of the variants of the name in the Occitan language as well, and that would've been spoken in that region at the time. So while it's not impossible that the family moved there from Catalonia at some point, I'd probably first assume Occitan ancestry. :)

[@hugorm5098]

@@varana Makes sense, Occitan is the closest language to Catalan, a lot of things in Occitan are the same as in Catalan.

[@chithien305]

I was here! Hehe

[@Titamiva]

02:08 Tell us more about the vault dwellers.

[@grendelkeep]

Hah, and I thought you were talking about actual dance floors in subway stations. They did exist, actually two of them: one was a legitimate club and the other one was illegally used for "underground" raves. I think there was even a third one, but I am not sure and I've never been there.

[@rewboss]

If you're still talking about Frankfurt, Willy-Brandt-Platz station did have a direct access to a shopping centre which basically went bust and closed down; it's now a nightclub.

[@Roberternst72]

@@rewbossI think that’s a reference to Eschenheimer Tor Station. (Southern entrance to street level nowadays used as a temporary overnight shelter for homeless people who refuse to go to better - but more controlled - accommodations during the winter.)

[@grendelkeep]

@@rewboss No, I didn't know about the Willy-Brandt-Platz shopping centre. Where is it? The first one was U60311, which I believed was a subway station, but actually isn't. It's just a pedestrian tunnel. The second one I discovered by accident, when I was looking for the U60 and asked strangers on the street for "techno parties" in "underground stations". Now, it could be the guy knew that U60 was no subway station thus didn't direct me to the U60, but I guess we simply both didn't know where it was. Anyway, he pointed me to Miquel-/Adickesallee. It was the strangest rave ever. When I arrived there, some guy in a trenchcoat was standing in the pedestrian tunnel and you could hear the music behind the walls. I asked him about the party, he turned around and knocked on a wall which was opened from the inside: turns out a stretch of the underground Autobahn had been already built and someone got the keys to open the doors hidden behind the panels. When you walk through the passage under Miquel/Adickes (which is rather narrow), at least on one side there is a stretch of pre-built Autobahn. They simply put three party tables in there, two for the DJ equipment, one as an impromptu bar and even managed to bring a sofa or two. Just two speaker towers with a red laser on top, a bit of lighting and a fog machine. It was a great rave, one of the best I've been to. Nice people and very interesting dresses! The third one is rumoured to have been at Hauptbahnhof, at the end of the subway line U5 in an extra stretch of unused tunnel (back then when the U4 didn't even pass through to Bockenheimer Warte). It was also rumoured to have been used for firefighter training, but I have never been there. If it was, someone might have gotten the keys and a rave there could have been possible.

[@GalacticCommanderMars]

Looks much better in the Video, than in reality. Also doesn't smell in the Video, so that is a good plus.

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

Frankfurt without the smell, is just half the tour. You're free to go, if you don't like the steam of our..

[@naruciakk]

You could've titled this video “Secrets of the Frankfurt U-Bahn”, like one other Englishman making videos about quirks of the metro lines ;)

[@kleinweichkleinweich]

but he is the Andi traveller not the ...

[@catcatcat-meow]

I thought the only thing you can find in U/S-Bahnhofstation is piss. Well the only thing reliabilitly in all, especially in the Hauptbahnhof...

[@chrisdoherty2199]

More train videos please

[@WhateverMan35]

Which Frankfurt? I know I know I kid.

[@EingeborenerVollblutmischling]

Some years ago some friends and me travelled to the East.... Locals: Where you're from? We: Frankfurt. Locals: Oder? We: Oder WAS, Lan!? 🤣🤫

[@officialmcdeath]

Always see the Heilige Barbara in videos about Swiss tunnel building and wonder how atheist tunnel builders deal with the ritual \m/

[@eisikater1584]

Probably the same way I (atheist) deal with the wooden statue of St Florian in my house I inherited from my grandparents (catholic): Hoping there might be something about the superstition that it protects the house from fire. "Heiliger Sankt Florian / Verschon dies Haus, zünd and're an."

[@rewboss]

Rituals seem to be an important part of human psychology. Tunnelling is, even today, an insanely dangerous undertaking, and I think that ceremonies like this that remind us of that fact, even if they have their roots in religion, aren't a bad thing.