Following two years of construction work, the centre opened in 2013 with an "open house" event for the public on 15 June 2013.[2]
As of 2019[update] the facility had been open for six years, and remained one of the most modern in Germany.[3]
The facility additionally offers direct three-year training as a fire fighter.[4]
Rail system
In addition to the FRTC model U-Bahn station, the Fire Brigade also use a section of real underground tunnel at Frankfurt Hbf originally built for U-Bahn Line D[5]
The standard gauge rail system runs north‒south through the facility for 150 metres. The south end is laid as a tramway in a mock-residential area,[1] with a loading dock on the opposite side for industrial training.
In the middle section is a set of points between two S-bends.[6]
Straight on northwards from the set of points is an enclosed building containing the mock-underground station.[6] The U-Bahn station is equipped with real timetables.[1] The station platform signage permanently shows a line U10 departure to Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof, via Frankfurt Konstablerwache station and Römer [de].
As of 2021[update] two piece of rolling stock were permanently located on the railway system, and can be shunted around depending on the required training scenarios.
A fifth generation Frankfurt U-Bahn U5 train Frankfurt U-Bahn U5 train [de] number 602 is based at the facility. The unit had been damaged during high-water flooding at the manufacturer and was cosmetically restored and stripped of useful parts before being sold to the Frankfurt fire-brigade.
The unit was delivered by VGF [de] to the Messe (Exhibition) U-Bahn station [de] for collection by the fire brigade.
During a night-time rescue exercise the fire brigade towed train 602 along U-Bahn Line A to Eckenheim Depot [de]. Road transport was used for the last metres to the training facility.[7]
The second piece of permanent railway stock is a four-wheel railway tank wagon provided by the Deutsche Bahn. The wagon was delivered (free-of-charge) by the Frankfurt harbour railway (Frankfurt City Link Line) to the East Harbour for collection by the fire brigade.[8]
References
^ abcScheuermann, Fabian (2013-06-17). "Feuer in der falschen Stadt" [Fire in the Fake City]. Frankfurter Rundschau. Retrieved 2021-12-27. Sogar die Bahnschienen auf der Straße können befahren werden: Eine Stadtbahn der Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt kann wahlweise als Tram in die Halle oder als U-Bahn in eine Station gerollt werden, die auf dem Gelände ebenfalls neu errichtet wurde. Sie ist hübscher als so manch reale U-Bahn-Station im Stadtgebiet und wurde sogar mit einem aktuellen U-Bahn-Fahrplan bestückt.
^ abc"Vorgestellt: Das Feuerwehr & RettungsTrainingCenter". Museums-Depesche. No. 16. Feuerwehrgeschichts- und Museumsvereins Frankfurt am Main. August 2013. pp. 13, 15‒24. Retrieved 2021-12-27. durch das große Torin Richtung Norden und folgt dem in der Halle begin-nenden Gleis über die Freifläche des Geländes, kommt man an den Übungsbahnhof. Vor dem Bahn-hof teilt eine Weiche das Gleis. Nach links führt dann eine Gleisstrecke zu dem außen liegenden Übungs-gleis. Geradeaus führt das Gleis durch ein Tor direkt in die U-Bahnstation. …
^"Im U-Bahnsimulator angekommen" [Arrived at the Underground simulator]. Frankfurt Fire Brigade. 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2021-12-26.
Wieczorek, Tatjana; Kress, Alvin (2013-04-13). Eine U-Bahn für die Feuerwehr [An Underground train for the fire fighters]. Feuerwehr Frankfurt. Retrieved 2021-12-28 – via Youtube.
