AIRail Service
AIRail Service is offered by Deutsche Bahn AG in cooperation with Lufthansa, American Airlines and Emirates. It is one example of several a dedicated air-rail alliances currently operating worldwide.
AIRail Service is currently offered between Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Fernbahnhof (the long-distance rail station at the Frankfurt International Airport) and Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof (the main railroad station in Stuttgart), Köln Hauptbahnhof (the main station in Cologne), Dusseldorf Hauptbahnhof and Dortmund.
It enables all passengers to check in their baggage at the stations and use the ICE high-speed train service to Frankfurt Airport (first class for passengers with Business and First tickets, 2nd Class for passengers with Economy tickets) without having to carry their baggage themselves. There is a snack/drink service for passengers in 1st Class – voucher at check in.
All passengers receive their boarding passes for connecting flights from Frankfurt upon checking in online or at counters in Cologne or Stuttgart.
AIRail Service uses the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line (maximum speed of 300 km/h) and between Stuttgart and Mannheim (maximum speed of 250 km/h), rendering the train service faster and more reliable than air transport on the same route.
AIRail Service was established some decades ago, when Deutsche Bundesbahn (now Deutsche Bahn AG) established a direct connection between Düsseldorf and Frankfurt Airport using the DB 403 "Donald Duck" EMU with tilting technology in Lufthansa livery. In the 1990s they established the Stuttgart-Frankfurt connection after the high-speed train line between Stuttgart and Mannheim was opened. Both services were closed due to high cost some years later. In 2000 they re-established the service between Stuttgart and Frankfurt, now using only some seats in regular cars in standard ICE service.
References
- Deutsche Bahn AG. "Take off with the Train to the Plane". Archived from the original on 2008-07-31. Retrieved 2008-08-16.