Vehicle fleet

Just like the trams, Frankfurt’s local trains are identified by a series of letters. To make them clearly distinct from the different types of trams, all the different types of local trains have consecutive numbers beginning with a ‘U’ (as in underground train). VGF runs U2, U3, U4 and U5-type trains on its local network; although U2 trains no longer operate on the A route. The numbers used to identify the different types of trains should not be confused with the numbers of the underground lines (U1 to U7). For example, U3-type vehicles run on underground line U4.

The ‘P’ is a special type of train. These were first used as tram carriages, but have now been converted to run on certain local train routes. Extra letters are added to their names to distinguish the different types of carriages.

• 1. Version: ‘P carriages’ – vehicles with full folding doors (no longer in service)
• 2. Version: ‘Pt carriages’ – vehicles with dividing folding doors and fold-down steps (no longer in service)
• 3. Version: ‘Ptb carriages’ – similar to Version 2, except that the door area has been widened for use on the underground.

Local trains travel on stretches of track where the platforms have different heights, which means that not all vehicles can be used on every route.

Please note in the following vehicle data that ‘old’ U5 vehicles are steadily being taken out of service as new trains are delivered.