In the continuation of the regional planning process for the Körle–Bavarian/Hessian border section, which had started in February 1974, two other variants were introduced into the discussion in June 1976.
In 1976, DB adopted Option III and it was approved by the regional planning process in Fulda, which was completed in July 1978.
All existing tracks had to be rebuilt for this work, including the bridges of intersecting roads and water systems.
Overall, between 1984 and 1991 (according to a planning document from about 1988), there would be 89 construction stages with 28 intermediate track layouts, during which the operation of passenger and freight through the station was to be fully maintained.
[8] At the opening of the Frankfurt–Bebra railway to Fulda, the city received a station building that was of an appropriate size for those times, but architecturally conventional, in the Rundbogen style.
Due to this lowering of the station forecourt, the entrance building now appears higher and more monumental than it did originally.
[9] Close to the station to the southwest and northeast are tight curves with radii of 600 and 675 m.[7] This limits speed to 100 km/h, even for trains that are not stopping.
Due to its location on the north-south line, numerous fast trains ran through the station (often stopping) for many decades, including well-known services of the postwar period, such as the Blaue Enzian, which ran between Hamburg and Munich.
Only the Intercity-Express trains of lines 20 and 22 (Hamburg–Frankfurt–Stuttgart/Basel) and the ICE-Sprinter line between Berlin and Frankfurt (a premium service with one service running each way non-stop in the early morning and the evening of each working day and Sunday evening) run through the station without stopping.