Frankfurt cultivates friendship with its twin cities in a very diverse way. One very nice way, which also makes it clear to many Frankfurt residents who our twin cities actually are, is the so-called friendship trains. Last Friday, Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann presented the two newest additions to such friendship trains of Frankfurt's twin cities at the VGF depot Ost. The cars are dedicated to the cities of Eskişehir and Tel Aviv. In addition to motifs from these cities, they also bear bilingual lettering in German, Hebrew and Turkish respectively. Feldmann, his counterpart Yilmaz Büyükerşen from the Turkish twin city, Helge Eikelmann for the Israeli Consulate General and VGF Managing Director Thomas Wissgott took part in the presentation of the trams. Vice Consul Kadir Orhun Poyraz represented the Turkish Consulate General.
The choice of date for the presentation of the friendship trains was certainly no coincidence. Because that weekend, youth soccer teams from Tel Aviv, Eskişehir and Frankfurt met for a friendship tournament. According to Mayor Feldmann, the idea of the latter is the inspiration for the presentation of the two trains. "I am pleased to be able to present the new trains for Tel Aviv and Eskişehir to the public on this day," Feldmann said. "The citizens of Frankfurt will see the vehicles in the cityscape and "experience"" impressions of our twin cities. This is a wonderful idea to arouse curiosity," the city leader underlined.
Whether within Europe, in the Middle or Far East or across the pond - with 17 twin cities on four continents, Frankfurt has excellent contacts in many parts of the world. This is also reflected in Frankfurt's cityscape. Six twin cities already present themselves to Frankfurt's citizens on tram and light rail vehicles on a daily basis. Now the Turkish twin city of Eskişehir is being added and the Frankfurt-Tel Aviv railway is also shining in new splendor. It thus takes account of the transformation of the friendship between the cities into a twinning arrangement. The Frankfurt-Tel Aviv-Bahn has already been in operation since 2015.
