Offenbach: Bahn is investing 800,000 euros in the S-Bahn station Marktplatz

Scientific study by the Hochschule für Gestaltung

The University of Design(HfG) in Offenbach has carried out a scientific study on behalf of the railway, which has developed suggestions and visions using the example of the S-Bahn station Offenbach Marktplatz, how a station of the future should work. The focus is on orientation, information and linking of the mobility offers.

The trainwill implement some recommendations later this year (see article). However, the 160-page study also contains ideas that can only be realized later because they are expensive or complex to implement. According to the HfG, an exhibition should provide information about these projects.

Whether the following suggestionsImplementation is open: bicycle garage, innovative lighting concept, moss walls or the greening of the platform.

Here you will find the HfG study

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Train stations are the business card of a city. The impression that 37,000 travelers received daily from Offenbach’s central S-Bahn station Marktplatz was not the best at all – expressed favorably. However, 25 years after the opening of the S-Bahn tunnel under the city, the railway company plans to invest 800,000 euros in the city’s busiest station by the end of the year.

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16 stations across Germany were included in the pilot project. The Offenbacher is the only underground one. The Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) was closely involved in the development of the concept and developed a comprehensive study of the potential and a “holistic” redesign of the station.

Above all, the Offenbach train station should be brighter, friendlier and more modern. Commuters are already struck by the colorful design of the access on the market square. Here the Offenbach artist Thekra Jaziri, who has already created cheerful accents in the harbor and in the Mathildenviertel with large-scale works, embellished the stair walls and the glass roof with warm colors.

The B level was upgraded with new lighting, mirrors on the ceiling and freshly painted tunnel walls. The cleaning intervals have been increased. A pop-up store at the entrance to the town hall should provide variety from mid-July.

For test purposes, the area will be used for six weeks by the makers of the fashion and art label “Offenbach Neue”, who want to sell sweaters, shirts and hoodies with the font design they designed there one afternoon a week. If the offer is well received, the train will offer the space in the long term, a spokeswoman said.

A DB store with travel supplies and a bakery are due to open in autumn. The previous migrant businesspeople, who used to sell Turkish sesame rings or Pakistani goods in the station, were no longer used as tenants for the “future station”.

The orientation of travelers and the control of traffic flows are to be improved. Some information boards have already been put up. A large information cube should provide information on departure times and connection options from August. This is urgently necessary because the Marktplatz station is an intermodal hub with four S-Bahn lines, local and regional buses, taxis and sharing offers for electric cars and bicycles. Only: This is not yet visible.

The Deutsche Bahn stressed that the HfG had given the main impetus for the innovations, analyzed commuter movements on the platforms and passenger behavior, and divided the 210-meter-long platform into different zones. A number of suggestions were taken up. By the autumn, the platform is to be divided into areas for arriving, informing and waiting, and equipped with leaning furniture, including USB ports, for charging cell phones.

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